Whole Step Half Step Game

 

Whole Step Half Step Game

This is the time of year when students learn about whole and half steps so they can construct scales, which is a requirement for many theory tests.

If you have ever used little tokens or figures on the keyboard to construct scales and noticed it was confusing to some students, I think you will find placing the W’s and H’s behind the keys is a big help.

This has turned out to be a great success for my “hands on” learners, as well as students who have trouble understanding the entire concept of scales. Students who were very frustrated with  theory worksheets quickly caught on using manipulatives and these cards I designed to be placed behind the keys.

I made many sizes and styles of cards before I settled on this design. I wanted the cards to be big enough for children to handle, but small enough to see the W and H when placed behind the piano keys.

I am so happy to report how much it has helped my students who were confused. My philosophy is that if they don’t understand what you are teaching, change the way you teach. The student is not going to change!

You can use these cards in a game or simply as a way to visually show scale patterns. Be sure to use sturdy card stock and laminate the cards so they will stand up behind the keys. For major scales, consider using the sentence “We Were Happy When We Were Home.” I’ve noticed my students and I say this continually as we play. All the W’s and H’s are hard to remember, especially for some students.

The inexpensive, colorful pencil erasers in the photo above can be bought in bulk this time of year. Go look now while all the school supply material is on sale.  I bought a large pack years ago and  I use them all the time, especially with an older child who who might be insulted with all the cute toys I have collected. They are also good for the easily distracted child, or the child who takes 5 minutes to decide if they want a kitty or a puppy.

I am posting some of the ways I use these cards, but I would like to emphasize that after you have tried them, adapt the activities to fit your needs. If you have a better idea, please leave a comment. My students have really enjoyed learning scales this way, and I hope yours do too!

Material

• Whole Step Half Step free printable from my website, cut into individual cards
• Pencil erasers to use as game tokens
• Piano keyboard
• Optional: W W H W W W H written on a chart for student reference

Directions for playing as a game with two players

• There are two color backgrounds, making it easy to separate the cards for two players. Each player receives 8 cards of one color. However, when I play against a student, I often do not give myself a “wild card” because students really enjoy winning and love to beat me.
• Place the cards on the piano book stand, with the blank side up.
• Decide which scale you are going to construct. C major is  good because the half steps are so easy to see.
• Both players put an eraser (or token) on the first note of the scale.
• Player one draws a card. If it is a “W”, place it behind the D on the piano keyboard, because that is the first whole step. The student also places a token on the D key. The first whole step has been completed.
• If the player draws an “H”, the player discards the card by putting it in the back of his stack on the piano stand. No token is placed on the piano.
• If a “Wildcard” is drawn, the student can place it aside to use later and draw again, or he can use the wild card immediately. The wild card can be turned upside down to be either a “half” or “whole” step.
• The second player then draws and plays in the same manner as above.
• Play continues between the players. The game is over when one player completes a major scale.
• An alternate version for younger students is to let the student (but not the teacher) draw again if they draw the wrong card. Obviously the objective is to learn how to construct the scale, not for the teacher to win.

Directions for other ways to use the cards

• With one player, the student draws all the cards, continuing until a scale is completed. This is a good way to explain how to construct scales to beginners.
• The cards can also be used to simply explain whole and half steps, placing the cards and erasers randomly on the piano keyboard and not constructing a scale.
• In a group lesson, 3 or more players can play. You will need to print out more cards.
• Younger children love to use my collectible erasers of cute animals instead of the erasers in the picture above.

Objectives

• To learn how to construct major or natural minor scales.
• To learn half and whole steps on the piano keyboard.

Ages

• Elementary to middle school, depending on the scale and the student’s abilities.

Why I like this activity

• There is only one page to cut out!
• It is colorful and students like color.
• Students like the games and activities we use with these cards.
• Students tell me the WWHWWWH cards really help to understand how to write scales.
• When we get to natural minor scales, a light bulb comes on as they change the order of whole and half steps.
• It really works.

I wish

• I wish I had room on the printable to add a  “step+half step” card to construct harmonic minor scales.
• I wish I had made a matching WWHWWWH chart.
• I wish I could remember the sentence for the natural minor scale pattern! Can anyone help me?

Hearts and Clubs – Keyboards

Hearts and Clubs – Keyboards

A few readers wondered if I had some keyboard cards to use with the Hearts and Club Note game I posted last week. As a matter of fact, I did, but I was having a problem with what to do with the extra space on the page. I just hate to leave a space blank!

Jennifer Fox suggested I use an empty keyboard, similar to the Fly Keyboard cards, so that is what I did. You can either use it as a wild card, or take a red marker and make it whatever key you wish. Or use it for your student to draw the letters on the keys.If it is laminated, you can use it reuse it next year.

In order to play this game, you will have to use the game board for the Hearts and Club Note game. You will also find the rules for the game on that post. All you need to do is modify the game for use with the keyboard cards. You can also use these cards as flash cards, if you don’t want to play the game. And don’t forget the famous “run up to the piano and play this card as fast as you can” game!

Valentine Rhythm Hunt

Valentine Rhythm Hunt

I made this last year, using a variation of a game idea from Cecilly. All of my younger students played it at their private lesson the week of Valentine’s. They liked it so much we also played it at our performance class.

Students should be familiar with the rhythm names of notes. If they are beginners and are not secure in the names yet, use the game as a way to teach rhythm identification. It is a fast way to learn the names of notes.

Objective

• review rhythm note names by sight
• quickly identify rhythms under pressure
• play a fun, seasonal game in less than 3 minutes

Ages

• Younger children, ages 5-8

Materials Needed

• Printed Valentine rhythm cards, cut and folded, but not laminated
• stop watch or mobile phone timer

Directions

Print and cut out these Valentine rhythm cards and fold to make a tent card. Before your student arrives, place the cards around the room with the heart side facing out. Call out a rhythm value, such as “quarter note,” and start the timer. Have your student quickly find all the notes of that value. If you have time, your students can hunt for other note values. Depending on the age of the students, don’t hide them too carefully or they will not be able to find them! It is so much fun to watch them quickly run around the room looking for notes!

Children love this game. It can be used at an individual lesson or with a group. For a non-seasonal version of the same game, see Cecilly’s game, Quarter Note Hunt.

Hearts and Clubs – Notes

Hearts and Clubs

This is the first in a set of “Hearts and Clubs” activities that do not take up much valuable lesson time. I am posting this note identification printable in time for Valentine fun, but I made it generic enough so that it can be played all year long. The game board is just a starting place for all the different ways it can be used. Have fun coming up with new ideas!

There are 3 pages of flash cards included in this PDF document. If you wish, you can use your own flash cards. To keep from printing the flash cards, set your printer to print page one only.

Objective

• learn to identify notes on a grand staff  by sight
• quickly identify the notes on the grand staff
• use flash cards in a fun way

Ages

• Suitable for elementary and older piano students

Materials Needed

• Printed game board
• Note flash cards included in the download (or use your own), shuffled well
• Bingo chips

Directions

There are several ways to play this learning activity.

1. Individually: Put the flash cards you want the student to review in a stack face down. Using an hourglass sand timer, the student quickly draws a flash card and places a bingo chip on the corresponding note name. The object is to cover all the note names on the  game board before the hourglass runs out.  An alternate version is to use a stopwatch instead of a sand timer.

2. Two players, such as student and teacher or two students:  One player uses the hearts on the game board and the other uses the clubs. Players take turns drawing flash cards and covering the corresponding note names with chips on their game board. The first person who covers all their hearts or clubs wins.

3. In a group: Each player has a game board and bingo chips or you can put two students on each card. Students take turns drawing flash cards and covering the corresponding note names with bingo chips. Place discarded flash cards back in the deck or print extra if you have a large group. If the group has different levels, give the beginners the easier flash cards.

Snowmen and Reindeer Games – Rhythm

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Every Christmas WordPress lets a little snow fall on their blogs. Hover over the picture at the top of the slide show and you will see snow begin to fall.

I designed these 3 Christmas games as timed games because students like to play against the clock and I haven’t done that lately.  Today I am posting the rhythm version of this set.

Students should be familiar with the rhythm values of notes and rests. Be sure to mention these are the values in 4/4 time.

Snowmen and Reindeer Rhythm Game

I have tested these games with students in grades 1-4 and they have liked them. As a matter of fact, we test  every game before I post it!

I have an inexpensive 1 minute sand timer  that I bought from a school supply store, but I also have been using the stop watch timer on my phone. Most of the time  we  use both,  because they love the novelty factor of the sand timer. In fact, I think that’s one reason they like this game so much!

You will need at least 7 rhythm flash cards for this game. I am posting the set I use, but you can make your own set if you want to modify the game.

Cards for Snowmen and Reindeer Rhythm Game

Students should be familiar with the rhythm values of notes and rests. Since note valued change depending on the meter, be sure to mention these are the values in 4/4 time.

Objective

•  review rhythm values in 4/4 time
• practice fine motor speed and coordination
• quickly identify rhythm values under pressure
• to play a fun seasonal game in less than 3 minutes at an individual music lesson

Ages

• Younger children, ages 5-9  who like cartoon graphics

Materials Needed

• Printed game board
• Flash cards with individual rhythm values to match the numbers on the game board
• Sand timer or stop watch
• Bingo chips

Directions

Give the student a set of rhythm flash cards. Set the timer.  The student quickly draws a flash card and places a bingo chip on the corresponding number of beats the note gets in 4/4 meter. The object is to cover all the numbers on the game board in the fastest time possible. Using a stop watch, let the student try 3 times to increase their speed.

The game is more challenging if there are more flash cards than there are spaces on the board. I’ve tried it both ways and for the younger children  I settled on 7 cards, enough cards to cover the board. My students wanted to play it several times as I timed them on my phone stopwatch. One of my students said he liked it because it was “different.” Sometimes my older students see my games and want to play, too, especially in a private lesson when they don’t have to act older than they are. I try to think of ways to make the game harder for them.

Tomorrow I will post the interval version of this game.

As a music educator, I know how important it is to know the objectives of educational games and activities. That is why I am going to try to post the objectives of each game from now on, if I have time. If you find this useful, please leave some feedback in the comment section.

Cards for Christmas Note Bingo

Cards for Christmas Note Bingo

Here are the cards I promised yesterday that you can use with Christmas Note Bingo.  (To help out teachers in the country that gave us Bach and Beethoven, I included an H, which they use instead of B.)

When you play Christmas Note Bingo, if you wish, the red cards can be treble notes and the blue cards can be bass notes. For fun, students can take turns deciding if the green cards are treble, bass, or both. Use your imagination. The wild card can also be used any way you wish. [Honestly, I added the wild card because I had a blank space to fill.] There is no right or wrong way to use my games. Well, that’s not quite true. The right way is to adjust a game so the students win more than they lose, and to make it light-hearted and fun. If you find the game is a struggle, change gears and help them out. Of course, you know that.  I’m preachin’ to the choir!

By the way, yesterday’s printable was in landscape mode, and today’s post is portrait, so be sure and change the mode if you are printing both. My printer does not do this for me, and I am always forgetting.

Other Ways to Use These Cards

Here are some suggestions to use these cards in other ways than the bingo game.

Beginners can learn the music alphabet by stringing the cards out on a table. These cards are small enough to use on the piano bench, unlike some cards, which are so big they have to be put on the floor. I don’t mind getting on the floor. It’s the getting up that’s the problem! Be sure to remove the H so they won’t get confused. (Unless you’re in Germany!)

For a Christmas piano party with young students, print out enough cards for 8 octaves. Divide the cards between the students. Tell them they have to make a string of cards on the floor that are the exact letter names on the piano. They will keep running over to the piano to count the keys and it is a good game for the group to work together.

Give a set to a beginning student and tell him you think you made a mistake. Ask if he can pick out the cards that do not belong.

If you’re like me and don’t know what to do with the H card, try using it as a wild card and call it the “Help” card. We all need a little help now and then. Plus it makes the game go faster.

I love it when teachers think of other ways to use material I post, so please feel free to leave a comment if you made up a fun game for your students.

Save the Turkey-intermediate set

Save the Turkey Intermediate Level

If you have been following my blog lately, you know that I’ve been playing this game with my students. If you missed it, here are the instructions, found in the post with the first set.  That post also includes how to add the back of the cards. Set two is found here.

When I make a game for beginners, my older students want to play, too. So this time I made some cards for them. Included in this set are a few ledger line notes and all the key signatures. If students don’t constantly review these concepts, they forget them. A game is a great way to review!

You can mix and match these cards to suit yourself. Remove the ones you don’t want to use and save them for another day. You can also add some of these cards to set one or two. You can even use cards from the Memory Game found on my website (there are 6 sets) because they are the same size.

One thing I have discovered as I play this game with students, is that the more skip a turn cards the better, so you might want to add some from the previous levels. They also love it when I make a “mistake” and lose a turn.

Be sure to email me if you can’t figure out how to play. I really have trouble following game instructions, so I don’t mind helping. But first, read through my instructions in Set 1 so you can ask me specific questions! This is a fast game and you can easily play it in less than 5 minutes.

Here is a little guy playing with the first set. I think he liked the turkey!

Save the Turkey Game – Set 2

Save the Turkey set 2

In my last post I mentioned that I would post more  cards for the Save the Turkey Game. This set has a few more notes to identify and some more terms. My students have been enjoying this game. It is so easy to set up and play and doesn’t take much lesson time.

For directions to play please see read my previous post. You can find it here. I did not include the back of the cards in this PDF. If you want to print backs to these cards, set your PDF printing setting to Page 2 when you print the back. If you don’t want to print backs, I suggest you use some cute stickers on the back of the cards.

Hint: I printed this set on a different color of card stock than the first set so I can keep the levels separate. Or, you could combine the two sets.

Does anyone want another level? I have one but I don’t know if it’s too late to post this year.

Enjoy!

Save the Turkey

Save the Turkey

Save the Turkey is a fast and easy turn-over-the-card game. It only takes a few minutes of lesson time. It is a great game for teacher and student, but it can also be modified for groups. We have a few more weeks before Thanksgiving and I hope someone can use it.

The purpose of this game is to review music symbols and guide notes, so it is perfect for beginning students. Later I will add cards for more advanced students.

How to play

I tell students that whoever draws the turkey will save it from being turned into Thanksgiving dinner!

Shuffle the cards and put them in a stack on the table. Be sure the Turkey card is not near the top. The Skip a Turn cards should be evenly distributed. Player one draws a card and identifies the symbol.  As long as they answer the card correctly, they continue to draw until they draw a Skip a Turn card. Then the teacher (player 2) does the same thing. Whoever draws the Turkey card has “saved the turkey” and is the winner. The game is short, so the cards can be shuffled and played again.

For a variation,  I tell the student that if I make a mistake or “forget” the correct answer and they correct me, they take my turn. That keeps the student on his toes and it helps to keep the teacher from answering all the questions. I love to hold up the bass clef card, pretend to think really hard, and call it a treble clef. They giggle and bounce up and down and generally have fun. Feel free to make up your own rules and post them in a comment here.

I like the fact that even a beginner can win. All they have to do is draw the turkey card! However, along the way, they will be learning or reviewing important musical concepts. Let your younger children win most of the time.  They love it and it really helps make lessons more fun.

How to print

Download the PDF. In the PDF printer setting, set Print Range to  page 1. You do not want to print 2 pages right away because page 2 is the back of the cards. Set Page Scaling to None.

Print the first page on sturdy card stock. I used yellow card stock and below you can see how it looks.  Re-insert the page back into the printer (so you can print the reverse side) and set Print Range to page 2. If the front and back do not line up correctly, you either do not have page scaling set to “none” or you are not using 8.5″ x 11″ paper.

Alternately, if you don’t want to print on the back, put some cute Thanksgiving stickers on the backs of the cards.

After printing, cut the cards out along the dotted lines.

Please make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Reader. If your printed copy has odd black lines or boxes, or if some parts are missing, it is probably because you are using an old version of Adobe Reader.

Musical Memory Game 5B

Musical Memory Game Level 5B

I’ve finally found time to post the second half of the vocabulary words to the 5th level of the Musical Memory Game. The cards for the first half of the words (which I call level 5A) were posted last week and can be found here. Feel free to mix words and symbols from different levels to suit the needs of your students.

It is not necessary to print the back of the cards to play the game. Please go to last week’s post for more information. If you want an easier game, check out levels 1 – 4. To make it a little easier, I have posted the links to the earlier levels here.

Level 4

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

Bats and Cats – a Halloween Game

Bats and Cats

My students have been enjoying this Halloween rhythm game lately and I thought your students might like it, too. It is fast, and can be played the last 5 minutes of a lesson. The cards span several ability levels, so it is appropriate for  all elementary age students.  It is helpful for students to recognize that a dotted quarter + eighth equals a half note, and I think this game helps that concept. Beginning students enjoy using the first page with the easy rhythms.

The object of Bats and Cats is to match the ‘bat” card with a corresponding note or rest on the game board. This game works with one student and teacher, or it can be modified for a group. It can also be used as a rhythm activity for one student.

Directions

• Print two game boards, one for the student and one for the teacher. If playing with a group, print one game board for each student.
• Print out the bat playing cards and cut them into squares. If playing with a group, print more cards. Using your printer’s settings, print the cards with the rhythms that are appropriate for your student and omit the rhythms the student has not learned.
• Divide the cards equally among the players.
• Players take turns drawing a card, counting the rhythm, and placing it over a corresponding rhythm on the game board. If a player draws a card with the corresponding rhythm already covered, place it in a discard pile to be shuffled and used again. The game is over when the first player covers all 9 squares.
• Please feel free to make up your own rules according to the age of your students! If you have a good idea, share it in the comment section.

Note-Go-Find

Note-Go-Find

I designed this game for my youngest age group, because they told me Quarter Note Hunt  was their favorite group lesson game. It is also a quick game at an individual lesson.

This black and white printable looks great printed on different colored cardstock. After printing both sides and cutting them out, score each card in the middle and fold like a tent card. It is better if you do not laminate it, because that makes it hard to fold.  If you’re worried about smearing, spray it with a fixative.  A few of my cards did get a little smeared, but it only slightly.

Hide the cards around the room. Now you can play several different games:

• Play it like a scavenger hunt. Give students a list of the notes they should look for. I made a list for every student, and each one was  different.  There was a check off box on the sheet. If a student finished, I asked him to help a younger student.
• Give each student one specific note to look for. This way a beginner can look for an easy note he knows, such as middle C.
• Play it at an individual lesson when you introduce a new note. After introducing E, for example, tell the student to find all the E’s you have placed around the room.  Since there are other notes hidden as well, the student quickly learns that E is on the first line. There is nothing like a game to learn notes. It is much more effective than flash cards!
• Use the blank card for you or a special student to draw and hide a challenge card.
• If you have a student who doesn’t know the notes yet or has learning disabilities,  make up an answer sheet or give him some flash cards with the names on the back.  It might be good to have something on hand in case you see a student struggling in a group situation.
• I found that I can’t hide the cards too well. They have to be easy to find! 

Thanks to Cecilly for giving me the tent card idea.

If you use this game in a creative way, consider leaving a comment here so we can share with other teachers.

UK cards for Rhythm Round About

My students love this game. It is fast, and doesn’t take up very much time in the lesson.

Rhythm Round About Game Board

Until today I didn’t have a version of the cards for those of you in the UK who use those quaint rhythm terms that always seem such a mystery to those of us in the U.S.,  such as semi-demi-hemi-mini-quaver. (That’s a joke!) I made these cards to fit business card cardstock, but if your paper is a different size, (such as A4) you might need to draw lines and cut it out.  Don’t forget I made some colorful backs below that you can print out. This photo was a prototype, so the final version looks a little different.

UK Rhythm Cards

 

Colorful Backs for Cards

On another topic, Wendy, over at ComposeCreate posted a picture of one of my darling students who is learning Tangy Tango, an early elementary piece she wrote that I reviewed earlier this year. My student loves it, especially when I play the loads-of-fun teacher duet with her!

 

Rhythm Round About – to identify notes and rests

Rhythm Round About Game Board

I made this game to help students who can’t remember the rhythmic names of notes. My younger ones don’t have any trouble remembering how many beats a note is worth, but they often either forget the name, or get the names mixed up. This is especially true with rests. I wanted a fun activity that would only take a few minutes of lesson time, and this is what I came up with.  Rhythm Round About  really moves along quickly, and if you only have a few minutes left at the end of a lesson, you might be able to play it several times. I tested it quite a lot with my students and they gave me helpful suggestions!

Rhythm Round About Cards

I found that printing 2 pages of the card PDF is enough for a teacher/student game. The cards will run out, but shuffle them and keep going. 

I did something different for the cards that go along with this game. A few years ago I bought a huge box of blank perforated business cards at a warehouse store for a very reasonable price.  I made the cards for this game to fit business cards, and I really like the size, and the fact that I don’t have to cut out anything!  The cards are 2″ X 3 1/2″.  For those of you who don’t have any blank business cards, my PDF also contains short cutting lines.

Since I love graphics, I usually draw a colorful back for my game cards.  This one has little pianos covered by dots to match the game board.

Colorful Backs for Cards

I laminated the game board, but since the cards are perforated, I coated them  with clear acrylic matte coating to keep the ink from smearing. Here in hot Texas, students’ hands will cause ink to smudge. If you are in a cooler climate, you might not have this problem. 

This is a good game to check if your students really know the rhythm symbol names for association tests!

If your students enjoy this game, leave a comment!

Easter Season Games and Printables

Front                                                            BackEaster Egg Hunt

You might have seen this game last year, but I am posting it again for teachers new to this site. You will have to print on both sides, so be sure to adjust your printer settings carefully before you start. Cut them out and hide the eggs around your studio. Your younger students will be so excited when you tell them they are going on an Easter egg hunt!  When they find an egg, they clap or tap the rhythm. If your students can’t clap 8th notes, print only the first side and write in the rhythms you want to use. It is a fun diversion and a nice treat at the end of a lesson. Plus, students get to practice reading rhythms! If Easter eggs are not appropriate for your students, give me a suggestion and I might be able to come up with something else.

As an aside, and coming from a music education specialist,  *quarter, quarter, two eighths, quarter*, is the easiest rhythm pattern for children to clap. It is the first rhythm clapping pattern I start with. Just because eighth notes are not in beginning piano books doesn’t mean you  have to wait for the second or third year of piano to learn them.  Students can learn all sorts of rhythm patterns before they actually play them in their music, using syllables or words to clap the rhythm.

Here are some more Easter season activities from my website, including two composing activities for beginners. In the Music section of my website, www.susanparadis.com you can also find some beginning hymns you might be able to use. I also have a Mother’s Day composing printable.

• Easter Egg Notes
• Easter Egg Find the Notes
• See the Bunny - a pre-reading composing activity
• See the Bunny - an on the staff composing activity
• Follow the Bunny Trail

Steal a Heart Note Reading Game for Ledger Line Notes

Steal a Heart Game

 The purpose of this game is to reinforce note names with an emphasis on the really difficult ledger line notes like the ones below. Your older students will shudder in mock-dread when they see these little puppies!

I don’t like them, either, but the thing is, composers actually USE these notes so it comes in handy to know them!

I also included the ledger line notes in the middle of the grand staff on both the treble and bass staves, such as these.

However, the you can choose the level to suit your students, because I also made a page with the easy notes! You can print out the cards you want and select cards for different levels.

To play the game, give each student a game board and stack all the little heart cards face down in reach of everyone. Students will draw a heart card (that you are going to have to cut out; oh dear), name the card,  and place it on an empty heart on their game board. The object of the game is to cover all the hearts on the game board. There are only 12 heart spaces, so the game goes fast. If a student draws a Steal a Heart card, he may take a heart from the game board of the person on his right, but he must name the note he is stealing. If he draws a Be Mine card, he puts it over a card he has already named on his game board to “protect” it, and then draws another card.  Another player may not steal a heart that is “protected.” (It is important to draw another card to move the game along and also so he can practice naming the notes.)  If a student draws a Give my Heart card, he gives one of his cards to the player on his right, who  must name the card before he can take it. You can modify this game however you want, but that’s how we played it and everyone thought it was fun, since I gave them time to figure out the note names.

Steal a Heart Cards

You will need to print out enough little cards so that there are at least 12 to 16 note cards for each student. You will need about 1 page of the written conversation cards  for every 2 students so there will be a good balance between note cards and conversation cards. Look at the 4 page PDF before you print so that you can print out what  you need. Use card stock and laminate everything, or spray with a clear acrylic spray coating.

To be honest, I had trouble cutting the hearts out, so I added cutting lines.  I took a look at all those hard to cut out hearts and knew my hands would never make it for my large group lesson. When you start to cut a lot of these cards, you will thank me.

Have fun and thanks to all of you who are supporting this blog. I very much appreciate all of you!

New Year Game Reminder

New Year Game

Game Pieces

I have over 300 pages of activities, music, and ideas posted, all available at no charge to music teachers around the world. With this much material, it is very time comsuming for a teacher to sort through it all. With this in mind, I am reposting a New Year’s game you can play this month.  This is one of those games that it is easy to forget about until it is too late! 

When I first played this game, it was with a group of beginning students.  This week I plan to make it a fast activity at a private lesson. I plan to put the star game pieces in a bowl and let the student draw a star, name the symbol, and place it on the hat. This is simple and it won’t take very much time at a lesson. With an even younger child or with a new beginner,  you can leave off the identification and let the student match the symbols to help with visual identification.

You can also play it in a group, but notice there is only one game board.  You can go here if you want to read the directions I posted several years ago for playing with a group.  Feel free to make up your own rules and post your ideas as a comment to share with other teachers. 

For durability, laminate the game pieces and game board. You can cut the game pieces into stars, or keep the circle shape. 

 

Ornaments and Lights make your own worksheet

Ornaments and Lights

Are you tired of seeing material that I make for my own students and wish you could make a quick worksheet for Christmas that suits your own needs? Now you can!  You can use this one to match vocabulary words, rhythms, symbols, and even non-music concepts. You can make a lotto or bingo type game and call out words or rhythms for students to cover with  magnetic chips and swoop up with a magnetic wand.  You can have students color various concepts. Print on the back what colors should be used. You make an individual worksheet for each student, if your students are at different levels.  My advice if you want to make one that you will put through a photo copy machine is to use a dark, not-to-thin marker, such as a sharpie. Otherwise it will not show up.

As long as you leave the copyright notice on the page, feel free to use this in your classroom. However, you may not make a worksheet out of PDF and post it on your own website, or publish it yourself, or put it in a collection for others to use.

Once you have made your worksheet, post a comment here to share your ideas with others. You might come up with something I have never thought of. Or take a picture and email it to me. You do not have to register to post a comment here, and your comments are anonymous.  However, I do moderate comments to make sure I don’t get spam, so you might not see your comment right away.

Have fun!

Holiday Worksheets and Activities

I have so much on my website, www.susanparadis.com, that I have trouble keeping up with it. If I posted it and  can’t even remember what I have, it must be really hard for someone new to navigate through all the material I’ve posted over the years. While there is a category on my website for “seasonal” music if you are looking for easy Christmas music to play, there is no seasonal category for my worksheets and games, so you will have to scroll through it all to find things. To help you out, today I am posting a list of worksheets, activities, and games you can use during the Christmas season. Some of this material is really old and needs to be updated, but for now I hope you and your students will forgive some of the wobbly art and odd layouts. All of the links below take you to the original blog post. From there you will have to click on the link to my website and then click on “preview” to download the PDF document.

Ornament notes This is very simple for beginning readers. Students color the ornaments that contain notes around middle C.

 Christmas Worksheet I give these types of sheets to beginning students over and over to help them learn the notes on the staff. It takes a several years for notes to be secure in a student’s long-term memory. Beginning teachers often don’t realize you have to review this constantly.

Ornament Notes mixed up on a staff. Some teachers thought the worksheet above was too easy and asked for one with mixed up notes. Don’t use this with young beginners. It will take the entire lesson!

 

Color the Chanukah Gift We don’t want anyone to be left out when it comes to learning note names. My box is out of perspective, but it gets the job done! This one has hardly been downloaded at all. There is also a Chanukah composing activity on my website.

Peppermint Notes You can use any kind of candy with this one.  I had some peppermints on hand and that’s why I made it. You can play many games with this PDF, however. You can even use magnetic bingo chips and write scales,  chords, and key signatures.  

Musical Christmas Lights This is a game for up to 6 students at the beginning level. Students learn rhythm values and some simple vocabulary words.

Draw the Ornaments This one is a little more challenging than the Ornament Notes above. There are more notes and the entire staff is used.

Gingerboy Keys I made this one for a student who just started lessons right after Thanksgiving. You might have some pre-school students or beginners who can use it.

Light up the Tree I made another note worksheet with more notes than Ornament Notes shown above.  You can pick and choose which one you want to use. This one works well when printed in black and white.

Note Swap Race

Cecilly has come up with another fly swatter game called Note Swat Race. She sent me the directions and I set up the picture above using my own cards.

 

Of course you don’t have to use my Fly Flash Cards, but  students like them. The cards pictured above  might have notes too small for beginning students,  so you can use these Large Fly Flash Cards for your younger students. Or just use any flash cards you have on hand. 

 I have a beginning student, and Cecilly has given me an idea to play this game using my Keyboard Fly Flash Cards. When I made these I was very tired of my old fly, so I drew another one. The purple hair was just for fun!

 

Please note that Cecilly only used 5 cards with her student when she played this, so use as many cards as you think are right for your student. You might want to start with 2 or 3 depending on the ability of your student. The great thing about Cecilly’s games is that the teacher can modify them in many ways.

Here are the directions in Cecilly’s own words. Thanks, Cecilly for sending this!

Note Swat Race

 Materials: 2 fly swatters, note flashcards (with notes on the staff) representing whichever notes you want to reinforce, and letter cards (2 per letter) for each note card. Timer if desired.

 Set up: Lay out the note cards in a semi-circle from lowest note to highest note on the floor. Give student the flyswatters (1 for each hand) and have him sit on his knees in the center of the semi-circle facing the middle point. You, the teacher sit opposite student on the outside of the semi-circle with the deck of letter cards (shuffled and face down).

 To Play: At “Go” take the first letter card from the deck and hold it up to show the student. The student then, as quickly as possible, swats the corresponding note. It can be in either clef, but the student can swat the bass clef notes with the LH flyswatter, and the treble with the RH swatter. After each correct swat, immediately show the next card. (I just tossed the letter cards on the floor in front of me once the note was slapped). The idea is to go as fast as possible till all cards have been swatted. Repeat if desired. Add more challenge by limiting the time with a timer.

 Objective: For my student, I wanted her to have to continually return to each note, thinking its name from the letter card. What was interesting is that in the first round, there were several sequences forcing her to go back and forth between the same few notes. She was able to associate the letters and notes more quickly after this sequence. Also, a few letters were repeated back to back, again allowing for immediate reinforcement of the note associations. For my student, we only had 5 notes on the floor, but as new notes are introduced in her book, we’ll repeat the game incorporating the new notes.