Blog Posts

Great Games for the End of the School Year

Denise Gagne

Great Games for your final Music Classes

Many of our American teachers are already on summer holidays, but not in Canada. I taught my last preschool class today, and most elementary schools will be giving out report cards on June 27th.

By now, the report cards are done, so what do you do for those last few classes? In the Montessori school where I teach preschool music, today was the last day, and the routine was exactly the same as any other day. The children were great - just as focussed and attentive as they were on the first day I worked with them. (With 3, 4 and 5 year olds, that isn't always all that great!) If you continue your regular class routines right until the last day, you may find that your students are still ready to learn.

During the last week of school, I always like to do "Request and Review" or "Favorite Games Days". Ask the children to tell you their favourite songs, games or activities that they've done during the school year. List the songs/games/activities on the board, then then have the student vote for their favourites. Conduct the votes with their eyes closed. As you work through the list of games/songs/activities, review the concepts that were taught in the activity. I'm often surprised at the activities that are the children's favourites!

This is one of my favourites! It's in Musicplay 2, but because ALL kids like chase games, I've used it with Grades 1-4. It's a great song to teach low la and so, which fits well into Gr. 3 curriculum.

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Game Directions: The children form a circle. Choose one child to be the frog in the middle. The "frog" stands with eyes shut and arms out stretched. While the children sing the song. The "frog" turns. At the end of the song, the two children closest to the frog's hands step out of the circle and race in the same direction. The first back tag one of the frog's hands, wins.

A favorite Game from Grade 5 is Waddaly Acha. After you teach the patterns that are suggested, invite the students to try making up some patterns of their own.

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Student's favourite activities might include listening activities. In the Listening Resource Kits 3-4-5 there are cup games. For many of my students, these were favourite activities.