Ever looking for a quick game to get your students' attention? I randomly came up with this game while teaching this year and my students love it!
My 4th graders finally learned all of the solfege for a full major scale--wohoo! It seemed like there needed to be a bit more of a celebration than, "Yay, you just learned a scale." So, I had them all stand up and told them we were going to play Simon Says, but a new way--"Sign"mon Says!
Rules for "Sign"mon Says:
1. All students stand.2. The teacher either says or sings a solfege syllable.
3. Students show the symbol for it. If they are incorrect, they sit down (most students did this honestly!).
4. The game increases in speed as it goes on, forcing students to respond more quickly. I let my students use the visuals hung up in my room as we began, but I warned them it would get faster and that it wouldn't help them eventually.
5. The last one standing wins!
My students LOVED this! Such a simple game, and I'm sure someone else has done something like it before. I just enjoyed how motivated my students were to get every sign correct. I was also surprised by who won! It wasn't always who I always expected...
I'm already formulating ways to differentiate this in the future:
Sing the note without saying the syllable, do a longer pattern, etc. What ideas do you have?
Catch you next time I have something noteworthy!
P.S. I'm posting this blog entry as part of a linky party, if you want to see more ideas, click the picture above!!