Cross- Curricular Activities

Write a reflective portfolio paper. Prompt: “What would it be like to be in a real marching band?”
Write a friendly letter to a family member or your favorite teacher about the rhythms and sounds you created in class today.

Using craft sticks, have students solve math problems. (Addition, subtraction, more than, less than, equal, groups of ten).
For older students, craft sticks can be used to show right angle, acute angle, obtuse angle, parallel and interesting lines.

Discuss what sound is—the energy of vibration that causes the sensation of hearing. Have students close their eyes and make several different sounds and then have them identify the sound.
Discuss weather sounds and how you can represent the different sounds.

Have the students create rhythm patterns like Max did in the story. Guide them to say the pattern and tap out the pattern. Have the group repeat the rhythmic pattern.

Have students paint a picture that represents their impression of a marching band or themselves playing a favorite instrument.
Have students write why they made the choices in what they painted, the colors, they used, etc.
Have students write a story about another classmate’s painting and see how the artist’s idea is the same or different from the student who wrote about it.

Keep it simple. Sometimes all a kid needs to do is practice putting a foot down when they hear a drum beat.

Clapping games like Patty Cake and Miss Mary Mack can help a child learn rhythm cooperatively.

Get their whole body into rhythm practice. Jumping or moving to a beat can help too.

Add language. The rhythm of words and rhymes will help connect the body to the beat.

Add musical instrument like drums and xylophones as fine motor skills develop.

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