People Who Help Us Level: Key Stage 1 - Skills & games

Lots of People Help Us Clapping (rhythm)

Young children love repetition and it's a good idea to come back to familiar songs to practise different skills. In this video, we return to Lots of People Help Us to practise rhythm clapping. I was pleased to hear that the children not only kept a steady pulse but also clapped the rhythm of the words accurately. Remember to use the words, rhythm (sounds like the words) and pulse (stays the same throughout) in context.

Sergeant Sound and Sergeant Symbol (timbre)

Sergeant Sound and Sergeant Symbol are investigating a peculiar crime - the theft of sounds! The police don't yet know how many sounds were stolen but luckily the sound snatchers left a trail of pictures behind ...

First the children are all in Sergeant Sound's police force, in pairs with one instrument between two. Ask them to experiment to each find a way of playing the instrument that makes a different sound or timbre eg tambourine: tap with fingers, shake it). Ask each pair to think of a word to describe the timbre of the two different sounds they made. Give examples yourself first such as bong, ssscccrraaatchch, ting. Next, they each make a picture of how their sounds might look - 'If you could draw your sound, what would it look like?' The children need to write their names on the back of the paper, not the front.

Now the children are in Sergeant Symbol's police force! Working in fours, each pair swaps pictures with a different pair of children. Each child makes their sound in turn and the other pair guesses which picture goes with which sound.

Make Sound & Symbol Music (structure)

In their groups of four, the children decide what order to put their pictures in to make a little piece of music. They are responsible for playing just their own sound, for as long as they decide, in the chosen order. You could introduce them to the word loop by asking them to play their piece several times through in the same way. To end their piece, they could play all the instruments together at the same time, creating a thick texture.

Fire and Rescue Time! (tempo)

The children could work in pairs, with an instrument each, or with found sounds (eg slow scraping on a radiator, fast rustling paper) to create a sequence of slow/fast/slow sounds.

Ask the children to imagine they are firefighters. In their sequence they begin with slow sounds, then they make the noise of a siren, then make fast sounds to represent the firefighters rushing to the fire. They end with slow sounds for when the firefighters drive home after putting the fire out.