Going on an Egg Hunt!

In preparation for the Easter holiday I found a great unit by a fellow musician called Goin' on an Egg Hunt by Adron Ming III.  It is a song and game for k-2nd that I adapted to fit the kindergarten students here at Snyder.  In the game students use a call and response to echo a chant about finding Easter eggs.

The lyrics go like this " Going on an Egg Hunt, Lookin' all around me, gotta find a bright one. Something green!"  The color changes at the end of the song for which ever egg the students are hunting for.

 I have been looking for a way to start stick notation with the kindergarten students, and this was the perfect opportunity.  Stick notation is the first step in getting them to read music. Which is part of the National standards that all students in music have to follow. Standard 5. Reading and notating music. Every time there is a single stick we say "TA", I have the students clap the rhythm and say it.  The fun twist is that around the room are Easter eggs that they have to find. Once they find it they read and clap the rhythm then run back to me and clap/say it. The picture to the right shows the first rhythm they learned, Ta, Ta, Ta, Ta









When the stick notation is connected then we say ti ti. ti ti's are twice as fast as ta's and always come in pairs (at least at the kindergarten level.)

Finally if they get it right and they are the first ones to get it right then they get to choose an Easter egg from my Easter basket and keep whatever prize is in it.  The picture below shows the Easter basket I used and how they chose their prizes!