Composer Bingo Scavenger Hunt

Submitted by Linda Lawson, Elizabethtown, Kentucky

Idea posted July 9, 2004

I began the activity by making a transparency of one "Composer Bingo" game card. Then, I helped the students read and correctly pronounce the composers' names. When the students yelled "BINGO!" they could DOUBLE their prizes if they could correctly pronounce back to me the five composers' names on their winning card.

I wanted the students to connect the "Composer Bingo" names with those names they would see in their music books, music stores, in real life, etc. (reinforcement activity). On the second day, I again put up the transparency, only this time the students pronounced the names for me first and then I echoed. I was amazed when they remembered how to correctly pronounce names like Chopin and Wagner, and they were proud to show off that they could!

Students were then sent on a "Composer Race" with their books. They wrote down the Bingo composers names and each page number where the composers were mentioned. When time was called, the student with the most correct listings was the winner. To win, they had to name the composer and the page where the information was found. Those students who didn't already know about the index learned quickly when they realized how easily information could have been located.

Another discovery the students made was that the composers named in the "Composer Bingo" must be quite famous to also be mentioned throughout their books. They were making connections and having fun doing it!