Bim Bum Biddy hand-clapping game

Hello everyone!

I hope your Spring Break was absolutely everything you needed and more. But if not, hang in there! We’ve only got 2 ½ months until the big summer break! We can do this. It’s always this time of year when I need some lesson plans that really get me excited to go to work and teach. It’s even better if the lesson can incorporate some of the standards, or TEKS, I need to fit in before the end of the year. This song is called “Bim Bum Biddy” and is packed with standards that need to be taught, and will have the kids excited to learn a hand-clapping game. Standards included: Form, sixteenth notes, sixteenth-eighth note combinations, fine motor skills, singing techniques, and more.

Bim bum Biddy score (without colors)

First, I have my students analyze the song to see what they notice. I show them the score with colors and see if they can identify the patterns. Eventually I will explain that every song has a Form, which is the organization of a song and point out to the patterns. After this, I will point to the sixteenth-eighth note combinations and teach them.   

= sea-turtle or “ti-tika”

 

= jellyfish or “tika-ti”

 

Now, I’ve tried “croc-o-dile” for the latter, but I guess my students are too Texan for that. They end up breaking up the rhythm into “croc-o-di-al”, so I had to switch to “jellyfish” and that works out pretty well and is still fits into the sea-creature theme.

We spend a lot of time perfecting the rhythm before we add in the melody. After we’ve got the rhythm down, we add the melody and practice our singing techniques. After we master the melody, we add in the hand-clapping element.

BIM=clap, BUM=snap, BIDDY=pat

We will practice this as a class VERY SLOWLY or LARGO a few times, and then the students break up into groups of 2 or 3 and practice for about 7 minutes.

Then we’ll come together and practice with this video.

I love this video because it adds a visual element that some of the students need to see in order to grasp the fine-motor skills aspect. You can also incorporate teaching about tempo during this video, since it starts slow and speeds up. Usually if I can see that the class has mastered it, we will finish the lesson in one week. But if the class is having a harder time, we’ll slow it down and extend the lesson for one week so that they can be successful!

I hope you have fun teaching this lesson and that you feel rested after Spring Break!

 

-Paige Bell-