Drum notation borrows the look of melodic notation but throws away the pitch. Instead of a treble or bass clef, you'll see two short vertical lines at the start of the staff — that's the neutral clef, and it's the universal sign that says "this is a percussion part." There's no "C" or "G" here; each line and space is a position, and each position is a drum.
The staff is read from left to right, divided into bars by vertical bar lines. The two numbers stacked at the very start are the time signature: the top number tells you how many beats fit in a bar, and the bottom number tells you which note value gets called "one beat." In 4/4 — by far the most common — there are four beats per bar, and the quarter note is the beat. In 6/8, there are six beats per bar, and the eighth note is the beat.
The drums you hit go in fixed places on the staff. Higher-pitched instruments sit higher; lower ones sit lower. For this curriculum the layout is: hi-hat / ride as an X-shaped notehead at the top, snare on the middle line, kick in the bottom space (with stems pointing down), hi-hat foot as an X below the staff. Toms sit between snare and hi-hat in pitch order — high tom near the top, floor tom near the bottom.
Every note has a length, called its value. A whole note lasts four beats. Cut it in half: a half note, two beats. Cut that in half: a quarter note, one beat. Cut again: an eighth, half a beat. Again: a sixteenth, a quarter of a beat. And once more: a thirty-second, an eighth of a beat. Every note value also has an equivalent rest — a silence of exactly the same duration. The exercises below stay on the snare so you can put your eyes on the page and learn what each shape sounds like in your hands.