Naughty Kitty Cat

My Kinder students are working on the quarter rest (shh).  I created this Power Point, Naughty Kitty Cat for them.  Recently, I figured out how to get pictures (I was trying to move rhythms around so they would slide to the correct place from a general location) to follow a pathway to the place I wanted them to go under the "Animations" tab.  In another Power Point, I wanted to link to a specific website.  A staff member showed me how to do that and how to also link to other slides in the same Power Point.  I double-checked this Power Point and I think everything works - feedback if it doesn't would be great!

There are a few versions of this song and of course a tune that goes with it, but I only show my Kinder students the rhythms.  When we create movement (see below), I use a track from the Making Music series to accompany their singing.

Students need the extra practice with rhyming - so I ask them to point out the words that rhyme (cat and fat).  Then, I ask them to think of other -at words and we create a list together.

Students also like to talk about why the butter was out where the cat could get into it.

Recently, we've been working on how to correctly play the smaller tubanos (the height of mine are just right for the kinders to play on) so I add a few students to that "job" while the rest follow the teacher (a student with a pointer) in tracking the steady beats on "cat" and then on the correct lyrics.

This slide is the rhythmic preparation slide.  The students track the pictures, saying "but-ter" and "cat" or nothing on the empty beats.  Sometimes I'll put an additional picture on the "shh" beat line.

My students have already been introduced to all these three rhythms, so I have them predict which rhythm will appear.  Of course the rests are easy, but the quarter note and eighth note pairs really require them to clap the word/pair of words to determine if they hear two sounds or one sound.

Students enjoy this simple movement activity while singing along to the track.

In a following lesson, I review the song with the students.  We also go over the first line together.  From then on, I project the worksheet, but I don't fill in the blanks.  I read each beat (they are in Kinder after all, plus I've got a mix of ELL and SPED students) while students dictate the rhythm.







Here are the new slides I created to give students a fun way for extra rhythm practice.  Click on each butter (be sure to click in order around the cat - starting with the one near the whiskers and ending with the one near the tail) and then a new rhythm appears.  The students must read this correctly.  Then, I click on the fridge to return us to the original slide.  One click anywhere on this slide makes the butter slide back into the fridge.  We repeat this three more times until all the butter is gone.

Students can read the slides in more than one way.  I'll repeat this activity 3 times:

1. Read pattern (ta, titi, shh) with body percussion (I use pat for 8th notes, clap for quarter notes, and shrug for quarter rest).
2. Body percussion only.
3. Play pattern on instrument (we'll use the tubanos)