"Go Play in the Snow!"
Over the weekend I held my very first group lessons. After a round of sickness and really bad weather, I had quite a few lessons to makeup. (Like many, I do not offer reimbursements for tuition, but I do offer makeup lessons if given at least 24 hour notice.) The students were split into two separate group lessons based on their level and lesson lengths.
One of the activities that I had planned was a game of GO FISH, played with the Snowman Flashcards by Wendy Stevens at ComposeCreate.com. Read on below for game instructions:
Go Play in the Snow Instructions
Players: 3-6
Materials: Snowmen Cards and a Wipe Board Staff
Setup: There are a total of 60 cards in this deck (30 tops and 30 bottoms). You can determine the number of cards that students start with – we started with 5 tops and 5 bottoms each. The remaining cards are kept in separate piles (tops and bottoms) face down in the middle. Prior to playing, we all reviewed the sayings of the lines and spaces — then I filled out a staff with the sayings for the SPACES ONLY and placed it in the middle of the floor. This helped keep the pace of play moving quickly, and encouraged students to figure out the lines by using space notes. The objective is to run out of cards by making as many snowmen as you can!
Directions: Once the cards are passed out, students take turns (clockwise) asking other students for cards that they need. For example: If a player has two tops with A’s, but no bottom A’s, they might want to ask: “Katie, do you have any bottom A’s?” If they do, they must give their card to the active player, who can continue asking other students for cards. Once a snowman is complete, the player puts it face-up in front of them. If a student does NOT have the card which was asked for, then they say “No! Go Play in the Snow!” and the player must pick a card from the two decks. Play then continues with the next student. Note: Depending on what the player asked for, they must pick that corresponding part (i.e. tops and bottoms). The student who runs out of cards first wins, and the student with the most matches gets second place!
This was a fantastic game to review note names. You could really see each student thinking hard about the cards in their hands. I played as well, and assisted players when they had a note that they were questioning. For a bigger challenge, you could try it without using the wipe board staff. I hope you enjoy!
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