Hey friends!
Do you want to know what the most under-utilized household musical instrument is? Your every day, run-of-the-mill, PLASTIC CUP that resides in your kitchen cabinet. If you’ve never tried learning the cup game, there is no better time than now! Your kids will also be so excited for you to teach them this. I’ve incorporated this into lesson plans for 2nd-5th grade and they have a blast. It’s a great lesson to teach at the end of the school year, because they can practice it over the summer with any cup lying around at home.
Step 1: Give them each a cup. I borrowed stacking cups from the PE coach on our campus, but you can easily buy them online, such as these Stacking cups . Or buy some SOLO Red cups at your local store to get started. I usually teach them very slowly and use this chant to go along with it. This chant really helps the auditory learners.
“Clap, Clap, tap-the-cup, Clap, up, down
Clap, grab, hand, down, Switch, hand, down”
Step 2: Once the students have that down, I have them watch this video.
Step 3: Then, they practice in groups of 2-3 kids for about 7 minutes, and then return together and try it with the video again. It might take some time to add in the singing, so be patient with that aspect.
Step 4: I get students into a circle, and practice passing the cup to the person on our right. To get them accustomed to this, we might just tap the cup 3 times and then pass. 1-2-3 pass, 1-2-3 pass. And do this until they get the concept of passing to their right. Also, try it at different tempos. Type “60 bpm drum beat” into YouTube, and increase the tempo, or bpm, as the students improve.
Step 5: Teach more songs that go along with 4/4 meter. “Turn the Glasses Over” is a great song to teach with cups, and any popular song in 4/4 meter would work great.
So the countdown to the summer begins. 19 instructional days left! Part of me is already in summer mode- floating in a pool with drink in hand. but I have to constantly remind myself to stay present in the current day. I’ve been trying to incorporate a 5-10 minute meditation into my morning routine. It helps me to stay in a positive mindset and clear out some of the anxiety in my mind. I think it’s especially important for teachers and parents to practice some form of self-care. It could be yoga, a good book, meditation, taking a mid-day nap during your planning period, having a vitalizing conversation with a close friend, or anything that gives you life. Find the thing that feeds you, so that you can continue to have compassion, love and patience for those kiddos in your life. Keep up the amazing work you are doing!!
I hope you enjoy this cup game!
-Paige Bell
National Music Standards: 1, 2
TEKS: 2.A, 2.B, 5.B
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