Teaching Time Signature

I won’t lie, I feel like teaching this concept is always a little tricky. Perhaps it’s because it isn’t absolute. A quarter note isn’t always one beat and the idea of half a beat is often 🤯.

Confession: because of this (and because there is so much to teach), I often don’t spend much time teaching the topic. There, I said it.

However, since this isn’t helping anyone (including me and my guilt!), I created a some new games to help me tackle it.

Time Signature “This OR That”

A no-prep, Google Slides game that is guaranteed to deliver understanding and excitement! Students will practice identifying time signatures by determining which time signature matches the measure of rhythms. It’s comic book themed, which, in my experience, tends to get everyone zoned in and focused.

This activity is simple to implement and also works as a great lesson to leave with a sub!

Time Signature Pizza Matching Activity

This one is designed with versatility in mind. Want a centers rotation? This fits the bill! Looking for some independent work? No problem!

Print off the way you want to implement the activity (there are clear directions for prep and teaching for both centers and individual work).

No matter how you decide to use it, the concept remains the same: students practice recognizing time signatures by matching pizza toppings (each with rhythms on them) to the corresponding pizza (featuring the time signature). 🍕🎵

There are different size pizzas (small, medium, large) to allow for measures with fewer or more rhythms. There are even bonus pages that, if you laminate, can be used with expo markers to allow for students to compose their own measures and determine the time signature. Again, I’m all about versatility.

So, wish me luck as I lean into something a little outside my comfort zone.

Happy teaching!

Joanna