Fifth Grade Week 2 -- Constructing rhythm patterns

Today the fifth grade classes learned about repeating rhythm patterns -- called "ostinati" -- and how they can be used to construct music.  We used chopsticks on sheets of paper to compose our rhythmic ideas -- the chopsticks represent quarter notes (one chopstick) and eighth notes (two chopsticks) and the paper represents the underlying meter (4/4).  This fun technique was taught to me by friend and teacher James Harding. 

Later we used our patterns to construct polyrhythmic compositions like the one posted above.

Homework -- complete the rainbow rhythm puzzle box.  Remember to color your half, quarter and eighth notes before assembling.  They try clapping out your rhythm before you you glue it down.  If you can see white between the notes, you've used too few notes.  If you can't see the black outline of the puzzle box, you've used too many.