I love the Bullseye Playground, AKA The Dollar Spot at Target. Especially this time of year. They load up on back to school items for the classroom that are fun, colorful, and meaningful. I always find something I can use for the beginning of the year.
While scrolling through instagram I saw a fabulous idea from mswonderlymakesmusic . Target had these wooden wood turners. The white letters are painted on and can be painted over with a red paint sharpie. I did not find that took enough of the white out from the letter and it was still visible after my first two attempts so I am headed to Lowe's tomorrow for red spray paint. Then use black sharpie to draw rhythms on and voila! Students can turn these to create 4 beat rhythms to go with so many different activities. This could be a great addition to center/rotations. I bought enough for small groups of 3 to share within a whole class activity. If you color code, you could also spray paint them different colors. I am also going to try to create a variation of these with pool noodles and will share that when it is finished.
Enjoy!