Lawrence High School student Yosie Cardin-Ritter beat out a swing rhythm to Duke Ellington’s “Take the ‘A’ Train” Thursday morning as a group of fourth-graders at Sunflower School tried to follow his beat.

The fourth-graders, members of Carol Van Wyk’s music class, created their percussive rhythms using donated Pro-mark drumsticks and practice drum pads built by students at William Chrisman High School in Independence, Mo.

Lawrence High School band director Mike Jones, left, shows Addison Frei, 10, a fourth-grader at Sunflower School, how to hold a drum stick and play on a drum pad. On Thursday, students from William Chrisman School in Independence, Mo., presented drum pads they had made to the Sunflower students. Drum sticks were donated by Pro-mark, a drumstick manufacturer. The donations were made possible by an educational outreach program through Down Beat magazine.

The project, spearheaded by Tom Alexios, outreach coordinator for Down Beat magazine, marked April’s status as Jazz Appreciation Month and Ellington’s birth month, and united the efforts of students on both sides of the Kansas-Missouri line.

“We’ve given away 500 drum pads in the past three years to schools, nursing homes and hospitals,” Alexios said.

Three years ago, students in a woodshop class at Lawrence High School constructed drum pads and presented them to Lawrence Memorial Hospital. In addition to helping youngsters learn music skills, Alexios said the instruments can be used in therapy programs for patients with coordination or motor problems.

Nate Moore, who teaches vocational drafting at William Chrisman, said this is the second year for his students to design and construct drum pads through the Down Beat outreach program.

“We’re doing it as part of a service project. Ten kids made 45 drum pads this year,” Moore said. “Later we will take more to Swope Ridge Geriatric Center” in Kansas City, Mo.

Alexios said a similar drum pad project is also being organized in New York City. He also is working on pilot programs in New York and Kansas City to use harmonicas to complement traditional therapy for those with asthma and other respiratory problems.

In addition to the drum pads, the fourth-grade class at Sunflower received kazoos from Hume Music Inc.