Rhythm Fractions
Overview
Students will use the Rhythm experiment on Google’s Chrome Music Lab to create a rhythm. Students will then use the rhythm they created to write three fraction questions and answer them.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
-
Be able to create a situation with fractions and then find the fractions of beats created.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary Words:
- Rhythm: A rhythm is a regular, repeated pattern of sound.
- Beats: A beat is a regular rhythmic sound.
- Fraction: A fraction is a part-part-whole relationship.
Pre-planning
To prepare for this lesson:
- This lesson assumes students already have a basic understanding of fractions.
- Access the Musiclab website.
- Watch this video with an example of Rhythm creator.
- Make a copy of the Rhythm Fraction recording sheet and share to your Google Classroom OR print a copy for each student.
Accommodations
See Accommodations Page and Charts on the 21things4students.net site in the Teacher Resources.
Steps
Directions for this activity:
- Introduce the vocabulary words rhythm and beat.
- Demonstrate the Rhythm experiment.
- Include showing different animals creating rhythms.
- Each vertical line represents a beat. There are six beats. The rhythm is the repetition of the six beats.
- Based on the demonstration, discuss how to think of this game as a fraction. Make sure to include model questions for the questions they need to create on the assignment.
- How many beats are there? (six, each vertical line)
- If there are five orange circles what is the fraction of them? (⅚) etc
- Give students time to create and play with Rhythms.
- After your allotted time, have them create their final rhythm.
- Complete either the online or paper version of the worksheet.
- Students copy the final rhythm onto the paper.
- There is a bonus page with a rhythm with 10 beats.
Assessment Options
Different options for assessing the students:
- Observations
- Check for understanding
- Formative observation
- Successful completion of assignment
MITECS Competencies & ISTE Standards
MITECS: Michigan adopted the "ISTE Standards for Students" called MITECS (Michigan Integrated Technology Competencies for Students) in 2018.
Computational Thinker
5c. Break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving.
Creative Communicator
6b. Create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.
Devices and Resources
Device: PC, Chromebook, Mac, iPad
Browser: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, ALL
App, Extension, or Add-on:
Websites:
Musiclab
CONTENT AREA RESOURCES
ELA
Students are practicing using correct question sentence structure and grammar.
Integrated Arts
Use the idea of musical beats/rhythm.
Math
An extension would be having students add/subtract the fractions they had on their rhythms.
Credits
This task card was created by Megan Stembridge, Mt. Pleasant Public Schools. December 2019.