Pinterest Tweaks

Since Pinterest was launched I have been using it to find lots of great music ed ideas.  I know have SEVERAL boards on pinterest to better organize my new music ed ideas- a listening board, a general ideas/ games board, videos, smartboard activities, ideas for stations, etc. (Don't forget to follow my Pinterest Blog Page where I pin every one of my blog posts.)  Many pins don't get used that often, but I figure if I use at least a few each year from the hundreds I pin that is still a lot of good ideas to add to my bag of tricks.

Sometimes, however, I find that a pin does not have a link or source attached to it- so I have to tweak or make up my own version of what I think the game is. Other times, just seeing a picture gives me an idea for my own game or activity. 

2 of my favorite Pinterest finds are the following: 

DIRTY LAUNDRY- 

The pin looks like this:     

The caption for the pin is the following: New game: sing: socks in the washer, socks in the dryer, take a sock out, sing low sing higher. Pass around laundry basket and when song ends, child picks a piece of laundry and sings the notes. If sung correctly they keep the card. If they get underwear they can steal another kids card (after they sing it of course!). Kid with the most cards at end of game wins!

The pin does not give a melody, and there is no website attached.  I have done this game now 2 ways.  The first is exactly what is mentioned- I just made up my own melody for the song ( s ss mm, s ss mm, mm s s, s m m s s). 

The other version I tweaked is a rhythm version.  I put rhythms on the cards (quarter and eighth patterns) and we read (well, sang) Mary Wore Her Red Dress.  After the story, I sang about the clothing of a student (Jimmy wore a cars shirt, cars shirt, cars shirt- Jimmy wore a cars shirt, all day long) and that student came up and picked a piece of laundry to read out of my box (see other pic below).  After the student reads the rhythm, they get to sing about another student in the class.  If boxers were picked- the game ends (unless it was the first round.) This is great to combine two assessments into one- rhythm reading and singing alone! If a student is too nervous to sing alone I typically don't push it- I just have them stand next to me so I can hear them. They choose what the verse should say (or who we are singing about) and then we all sing together. 

Another pin I have tweaked is BOOMWHACKER RHYTHMS.  

The original pin looks like this: 

 

This pin links to a TeachersPayTeachers store (another great resource if you have not checked it out yet!).  This one, I have not tried as mentioned.  It sounds super cool- but you need an Ipad and other equipment to make it work.  This picture, however, gave me the idea for the following.  

BoomWhacker Dice Game.  Many of us have seen the dice game on the SMARTboard (or using real dice).  There are 6-12 rhythms in boxes, students roll the dice and what ever number the dice shows, they read the corresponding rhythm.  Seeing these rhythms color coded made me think- why not add another level of fun to the game and have your dice color coded too- one dice is colors (6) and the other is the rhythms.  A student goes up and rolls both, then the students with the corresponding boomwhacker have to play(and say) the rhythm.  The attached example is a dotted quarter practice for my 6th graders (get it here). Boomwhackers always seem to add one more level of fun for the students so they don't feel like they are just reading rhythms or singing patterns all the time.  

I hope to get my Teachers Pay Teachers site up and running soon with lots of templates for things I have already shown on the blog and more (including many levels of this game).  I will be sure to post an update when it is ready.