Submitted by Andrea Cope, Texas
Idea posted July 16, 2002
Thought I'd share something fun I tried yesterday. I always spend the last two classes of the year singing out of all the books they've had so far and the one they'll have next year. We sprawl all over the floor surrounded by books, just a-singin' and a-singin'. The classes I had yesterday ended up one day ahead of everyone else, so I needed something extra for them. Here's what we did...
NAME THAT TUNE
- I divided them into four teams. Each team chose a name, which they wrote on the board for scorekeeping purposes. They sat in four lines on the floor. First person in each line stood and faced me.
- I wrote a number on a scrap of paper, and whoever guessed closest could choose to pass or play to start the round. I, of course, gave them awful ranges of numbers in the billions and quadrillions, but they eventually caught on to my trick. They were a little slower to realize it was better to pass than to play, because the first person got only one note.
- For each turn, I added a note. If they got it in five notes or less, their team got three points. If they got it in any number of notes, without help, their team got two points. After 10 notes (I counted like a golfer), they could consult with their team, but they only got one point. They could either name the song or correctly sing part of it. I only used songs we had sung this year.
One class just could not get Grandma's Feather Bed, which had been their favorite song just a few months ago. As I was playing it for the 87th time, the sub in the room next door came in and started singing it. Her daughter, who happened to be in that very class, came home singing it every day in March. I guess they're just suffering from two-weeks-to-go-itis.