Rhythm is one the fundamental building blocks of music.  It is how we organize sound into different patterns and sequences.  In first grade, we begin to read rhythm notation using quarter notes and paired 8th notes (later we will learn quarter rests as well).  This week students use pizzas to help them read quarter notes and 8th notes.  We learned about the notes and their matching pizzas (illustrates how many beats each note gets), played rhythm patterns on instruments as part of a game, then composed our own pizza rhythms to perform with a friend.

See the pictures below!

(NOTE – in the last picture I told the students to try reading their rhythm compositions upside because sometimes, in music, the notes are upside down!  They thought this was too much fun!)