The Three R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
This is a exceptionally engaging song by Jack Johnson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USo_vH1Jz7E). In addition to reinforcing the importance of conservation, it reviews multiples of three. For the following sequence, I focus on listening and analysis with beat exploration.
Step 1: "Listen to this song and keep the beat like me" (keep the beat in some basic ways like clapping, patting legs, stepping, snapping, etc. change it up on the natural transitions in the song).
Step 2: "Show me how you can keep the beat" (while the song is playing, instruct the students to switch to a different way to keep the beat and then another way; watch the students closely to ascertain when they are ready for a change)
Step 3: Choose student leaders to decide how to keep the beat. Have the leader come to the front and lead everyone. On a cue ("switch" or something; it could be a sound), have the leader choose a new leader. Or the leader could just keep going until they are ready to choose a new leader. Play this game throughout the entire recording.
Step 4: Have everyone find a sound with which to keep the beat. Encourage them to find a variety of sounds (high, low, metallic, wood, plastic, snappy, scratchy, etc.) and to balance the sound with the recording and their own singing. At the end of the recording (or in the middle of the recording if you want to turn the recording down), have them keep playing their sounds and sing another chorus of reduce, reuse, recycle (or otherwise continue singing).
Note: As you move into steps three and four, you could replace the basic beat with repeated rhythm patterns.
Step 2: "Show me how you can keep the beat" (while the song is playing, instruct the students to switch to a different way to keep the beat and then another way; watch the students closely to ascertain when they are ready for a change)
Step 3: Choose student leaders to decide how to keep the beat. Have the leader come to the front and lead everyone. On a cue ("switch" or something; it could be a sound), have the leader choose a new leader. Or the leader could just keep going until they are ready to choose a new leader. Play this game throughout the entire recording.
Step 4: Have everyone find a sound with which to keep the beat. Encourage them to find a variety of sounds (high, low, metallic, wood, plastic, snappy, scratchy, etc.) and to balance the sound with the recording and their own singing. At the end of the recording (or in the middle of the recording if you want to turn the recording down), have them keep playing their sounds and sing another chorus of reduce, reuse, recycle (or otherwise continue singing).
Note: As you move into steps three and four, you could replace the basic beat with repeated rhythm patterns.