Submitted by Tami Mangusso, Colorado
Idea posted October 25, 2011
Here are a couple of sorting activities for new SMARTboard users:
Two or more students come up to the board and arrange the items in the correct place. For example, you could have a couple of apple trees or just one. On each apple, you could put a picture of an instruments. Down below, you could have four baskets. Each basket represents one of the family of instruments (e.g. Brass, Woodwinds, Strings, Percussion). Then, have two or more students come up and start placing the apples in the correct basket.
This activity would also be good for things like rhythm dictation. Have three or four students come up. Each has a section on the board. In their section, they can drag quarter notes, eighth notes, rests, or whatever notes you are working on. Play a rhythm on a drum or whatever instrument you want. Each student must try to notate the rhythm they hear.
You could also do the same activity with the letter names. Give the students a word to spell, and they have to arrange the note heads (dots) on the music staff.
As the students are sorting, you can assess them. You will get some students who will copy their neighbor, but it's okay. It will tell you that they are not confident in their answer, and you can score them as such.