GAMES THAT TEACH

KORCOS 2011

Elizabeth Caldwell (Seoul Foreign School)

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

A LOT Anything can become a “game” if you present it that way- for children, a game tends to be active, it has rules, and people are “out” or penalized for not doing well.

For older students, a “game” is much more attractive than a “dance”. For younger students, a “game” is much more attractive than an “assessment”.

RHYTHMIC NOTATION

Spell The Word : show a set of rhythms on the board, each measure labeled with a letter, spell words by clapping rhythms in different orders without pause.

Rhythm Battle : show class one measure at a time (flashcards or SmartBoard), clap rhythms successively with the beat of the music.

Forbidden Rhythm : show/teach one rhythm pattern, students echo rhythmic patterns unless it is the “forbidden” one.

Who Has…? : each student gets a card with 2 rhythms- one “theirs” and one “question”, say “I have a _____, who has a _____?”

Pizza Rhythms : choose toppings, size, crust names and perform those rhythms (variation- ice cream sundaes)

SOLFEGE

Salami Game : students echo 3-note patterns unless it is sol-la-mi (extensions- with hand signs, no syllable; no hands, no syllable; other patterns; longer patterns containing sol-la-mi)

Mystery Tune : students identify the notes on the board, solfege names on the board, pattern shown by teacher’s hand signs

INSTRUMENTS

Recorder Fingerings : students race to place tokens on drawing of recorder for covered holes of note name that is called

Mallet Baseball : “batter” faces away from “pitcher”, who plays C and then another note, “batter” gets bases according to how many tries it takes to match

Ring Around Percussion : students sit in circle, each with different percussion instrument in front of them, play for 10 seconds, then stand up and move to next instrument (out if play incorrectly)

MOVEMENT

That’s The Beat : follow teacher’s movements to keep the steady beat with music (extension: students take turns leading)

Disco Duel : students follow cards on board to move with the beat, counting 8 for each motion, in canon with other teams

Every Bunny Rabbit : one student moves one body part with beat while others copy and sing “Every Bunny Rabbit” song and fill in last word with body part that is moved

4-Square : 4 students stand in diamond shape facing same direction, person at front leads dance moves, turns to left when ready to switch, keep rotating until song is over

Going Downtown : students stand in 2 rows, one from each row goes down between rows while one copies the other’s movement

Show Me : students close eyes and “show the music” with their bodies- high vs. low, loud vs. soft, tone colors, mood, fast vs. slow etc.

TRIVIA

Bingo : each square contains picture of instrument, rhythmic notation, solfege pattern, composer picture, country map etc.

Jeopardy : teams answer questions to earn points

Race : one student from each team goes to board, race to write correct answer

Baseball : correct answer gets base hit, extension questions get additional bases

MISCELLANEOUS

John The Rabbit : students sing “oh yes” after each line (extensions: students sing into “microphone”, only sing with “mic”)

Apple Tree : students sing “Apple Tree”, fall asleep, wake up when hear singing voice (extension: student does voices)

Clef Stories : write stories with some words spelled in note letter names (extension: audience tries to guess words by listening)

Ms. Julie Ann Johnson : make story to sing with class

STAY IN TOUCH!

ecaldwell@seoulforeign.org

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