I am thrilled to introduce a few new workstations to my classes this week. December is such a fun time and I love that I can present such fun ways to assess their skills before winter break and then end of the quarter. Keep reading for ideas for Christmas music workstations that really work!
You probably know from previous blog posts that I am a big fan of Clip-It activities and so are my students. This set of Christmas Clip-It cards contains both sacred and secular images including Santa, the nativity, the twelve days of Christmas and more. Students clip the rhythm that matches the syllables in the picture. I have an answer sheet that I include, but sometimes I just let the students check each other's answers. Read more about Clip-It games HERE.
I have a set of Christmas Workstations in my store and this Swat the Rhythm game is from that collection. Students lay down the cards and two students choose a flyswatter. Another student claps one of the rhythms on the card and the first one to swat the correct rhythm is the winner. FUN!
Also from the Christmas Workstations set is this Frozen Instrument Families word find. I have found that it helps to mix up the stations so that students are physically active at some and rest and work quietly at others. This quiet center is a great way to review instrument spellings and instrument families.
Nutcracker activities are also wonderful to include in workstation rotations this time of year. Although this Rap It, Clap It, Music Match It Set could be used any time of year, it works well in this rotation. Students match the cards with the number of syllables in each picture and then complete a worksheet to show what they have learned. You can download it HERE.
Cool Composition is a workstation that I use periodically all year long. Sometimes we use it to composer, take rhythmic dictation or in this case, decipher the rhythm of a familiar song. The little cubes are foam cubes from Dollar Tree. Each side has a 1 beat note/rhythm written on it with a permanent marker.
The ice cube trays are made by Rubbermaid. I had to look quite some time to find trays with 16 cubes. This makes the perfect vessel for composing in four-four time. Most ice trays come in 14 cube size. I never really knew that until I started teaching music!
At this station, students are asked to notate the rhythm to "Jingle Bells".
Ornament Puzzlers are the next stop in the Christmas music workstation rotation. This activity has students put together simple, 2 piece puzzles and then write down the information they have pieced together. This is a great way to reinforce note values without being to difficult for special learners. You can get these HERE in my store.
My students LOVE using dabbers and I love how easy and quick assessment can be when they use them! Check out this Dabber Activities Christmas set for many great print and go worksheets to include at a workstation. Students tend to go through these quick so you should probably plan to have 2-3 sheets for them to complete. Learn more about using dabbers in music class in this previous blog post.
Speaking of previous blog posts, you might want to revisit THIS post about my Snowball Scoop center. It is such a novelty that students hardly realize they are learning!
More ideas for Christmas Workstations:
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So many fun learning ideas! Did you BUY all the ping pong balls?? (is there a good bulk price somewhere?) Where did you eventually find the 16 cube trays? Thanks for sharing your many interactive learning ideas!
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