Music Games Road Trip

     Well, I may not be on vacation, but I'm headed out on part of a musical road trip hosted by My Musical Menagerie. 

     This week's focus is games!  There are so many great games out there for music learning.  This year, I have focused on creating games to help students learn the proper names for notes and to show they understand music terminology.  Truthfully, I also like to include some games that are just for fun and enjoying the music you are listening to (see #5)!  Here are some of my current favorite games:
     1.  Music Note Bingo Bundle--Lots of great levels to name the proper names of notes so students can proper music terminology.  Great for non-music subs too.

     2.  Music Undercover--Great for stations or just to play with a partner as review.

     3.  Music Monster Match--Test to see if your students understand the relationships between notes and their rest counterparts.  It's like concentration with a monstrous twist that students love.  It can be played as a whole class or in partners/groups. 

     4.  Note Naming Bingo Triple Bundle--Teach you students how to name just the spaces, just the lines, or put them together!  It's up to you!  A great review for students who have been introduced to note naming.  It can be used with the treble or bass clef.

     5.   The Broom Game:  This is the game I close every year out with because students can get their energy out and have a blast!  Put three chairs at the end of an alley formation (2 lines facing each other).  Put one person in each chair with the person on the middle chair getting the broom.  That student can choose to hand it to the person sitting on either side of him/her.  Whoever gets the broom goes to the middle chair.  The remaining two students (including the student who used to have the broom) connect hands and gallop down the center.  The lines move forward (the lines end up facing the chairs) and two new people are seated on the chairs.  I usually put Rhythmically Moving CDs on while we are playing this game and the students love it.  If you want to make it more tricky, only allow them to pass the broom at the end of a phrase!  If you want to win your students over, put their favorite pop song on as a surprise :)
     One last thing, all of these games listed above will be 25% off through Wednesday!  I also really like:
Lindsay Jervis' Steal the Bacon 
Malinda Phillips' Annoying Aliens
Amy Abbott's Swat that Fly!
     If you want to read about more games that are on sale, check out other posts by clicking on the road trip logo at the top of this post!
     Catch you next time I have something noteworthy!

Instrument Scavenger Hunt!

If you are looking for a fun activity to do with iPads or just an interactive way to get your students interested in the instrument families, check out my latest product!  On sale for $2.00 the next 48 hours!

Up, Down, Same Activity

     So, as usual, I caught myself doing what I have learned is called "shorffing"--a.k.a.  shopping with Orff ideas in mind . . . and I found a Valentine's Day mailbox.  Now what to do with it? 
     Well, my 1st graders need to work on reading Sol, La, and Mi as well as learn if what they are hearing is going up, going down, or staying the same.  So here's the activity I came up with:

 Up, Down, or Same?

1.  Students sit in a circle and sing this song while one child, the "beat keeper," stands on the inside pointing to classmates on the beat (going counter-clockwise). 

2.  On the word "name" the "beat keeper" freezes on who they are pointing to.  That child is now "the singer" and goes to the mailbox to pick a letter.  

Here's the mailbox:

 

 The letters look like this on the outside:

3.  "The singer" identifies the solfege syllables notated and sings them if they are able (or the teacher can help the child sing after they identify the notes). 

4.  The rest of the class is listening to see if the notes are going up, down, or staying the same.  "The singer" calls on a student to give an answer.  If the answer is correct, "the singer" gets to open the envelope and see who wrote the song.  For example:

5.  The child who gave the correct answer goes to the middle to be the "beat keeper," and the game starts over again. 

     If you'd like the files to try this in your own classroom, you can get them here and here.  Let me know if you can't get to them and I can email them to you!

The graphics used to make the files were KB Fonts and Glitter Meets Glue Designs along with Finale.
 Catch you next time I have something noteworthy!

Monster Melody Game--Music Pin!!

Today I was perusing Pinterest to see if there were any new music teaching ideas and I came across this gem!  Anything that has an appealing look that I think will catch the eyes of my students, I click on.  Anyway, the short version of it is that the class has to sing melodies to "feed the monster." If they draw a "make a snack" card instead of a melody card, they have to write their own and sing it.  Click on the picture to get to the pin, and then click on that to get all of the directions :)  I'm thinking I may have to make a rhythm version for my students.  Always looking for ways to keep it fresh! 

By the way, I'm thinking I'm going to have to start following her blog.  You can check it out here! 

Cool Pin Time!

I was looking through my old pins and found this one!  I love the idea of getting instant feedback from students about how much they understand.  I am planning on utilizing a method similar to this, this year.  How about you?  What do you do to find out what your students know?