Drummer Hoff Fired It Off!

Tuesday Tune-Ups with Firsties!

I very much enjoy my lesson with my first graders this week. I started with a couple of opening Thanksgiving songs, but dove straight into our lesson after that...

DRUMMER HOFF FIRED IT OFF!

LESSON ONE:

I love using this great book, because it has so many great rhythmic qualities and I always tie it in with instruments. Adapted by Barbara Emberly & illustrated by Ed Emberly (yes, we always have to make sure we make the connection of their names.. haha), I always have a good time hearing how the two may be related! Cousins, siblings, parents, etc. So cute!

Anyway, we start the first day by reading the book and I have them actively participate by clapping as a whole group once after I say the sentence, "Drummer Hoff fired it off!" I like to keep them on their toes, so I tend to change it up and a pause in different places to really test their listening skills. At the end of the book, I tell them, "When I say this next word, I want you to pat your legs as quickly as you can until I give you this signal." And yes, the next word is "FIRE!" so they pat their little legs as quickly as they can until the explosion is over and I give the signal. LOVE THIS!

After we finish reading/clapping, I have the names of all of the officers in the book and I have the students put the names in order. Then, we clap the rhythm of each. "General Border gave the order" = ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti and "Major Scott brought the shot" = ti-ti ta ti-ti ta and so on.

DRUMMER HOFF FIRED IT OFF!

Our school has adopted Safari (which is a recent switch from Discovery Education), and I actually found a great reading of the book that has animated the pictures and "makes them come to life!" Firsties were super impressed with that! (Let's be honest, I'm impressed, too. I'd love to know how to do that myself!)

That usually takes most of the first day, since I only see them for 30 minutes, so the next lesson is when we really dive into our instrument time!

LESSON TWO:

We start off by reviewing our book by either reading the book again with the claps or watching the video. (Always keeping fresh on their minds the explosion and cut-off signal.)

Next, I have my instruments set up in the front of the room, with each instrument representing a different character. I assign 3-4 students to each character, and then we read through the book. Students play the rhythm of their character on their instrument and stop once it gets to the next character. Of course, my Drummer Hoff could be a giant drum that only a few kids get to hit at the end, but since I do not have many drums in my classroom, I chose to use small cymbals. (I kept it a very small group of 1-2 kids only. It was plenty loud enough.) ;)

Again, always anticipating that explosion at the end, I have ALL instruments play when I say the word "FIRE!" If there's time, I have the groups change places, so the students are able to play more instruments. All is good fun though!

I need to take a cute pic of the students actually playing these instruments, but for today, you can see the set up of how it all went down.

DRUMMER HOFF FIRED IT OFF!

Hope you enjoy!