Grades 2–3
Whole Rest or Half Rest?
A whole rest hangs under the line like a hole. A half rest sits on the line like a hat. Write W or H under each rest.
Music theory worksheet · Rests
Beats of Silence
Write how many beats of silence each rest gets when a quarter rest gets one beat.
- Grade level
- Grades 2–3
- Time
- About 15 minutes
- Topic
- Rests
- Answer key
- Yes, page 2 of the PDF
- Kids practice
- Naming whole, half, quarter and eighth rests, Matching each rest to the note of the same length, Counting beats of silence, Telling the whole rest from the half rest
What kids do
Printed on the sheet:
- A dot works on rests too: it adds half of the rest’s beats. Two rests side by side add together.
- How many beats of silence? Write the number in the box.
Teacher tip
Whisper-count the beats of each rest together. Kids are often surprised that silence is counted as carefully as sound.
How to use it
- Teach that a rest is counted just like a note. The beat goes on, but you make no sound.
- Show the hat trick: the half rest sits on a line like a hat, and the whole rest hangs down like a hole.
- Make the sound first. Clap, sing or play the idea before kids see it on paper.
Watch for
Mixing up the whole rest and the half rest. Whole hangs down, half sits up.
Talk about it
- What do you do during a rest?
- How did you figure that out?
Take it further
Play a freeze game: move on the notes and freeze on the rests.
US Letter, prints well in black and white. Free for home and classroom use: print as many copies as you need.
More rests worksheets
Grades 3–4
Note and Rest Math
Add the beats of the notes and the rests and write the total. A quarter note gets one beat.
Grades 1–3
Note and Rest Partners
Every note has a rest that lasts just as long. Draw a line from each note to its partner rest.
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