Work Smarter, Not Harder
I don’t know if your school is like mine, but I am the only elementary music teacher—that means my students have me every year from Kindergarten through Fourth grade.
I actually love that about my school for a multitude of reasons, but one of the top being that it allows for me to have wonderful, connected relationships with my students. They come to me as Kindies and by the time they get to Fourth grade, I know them quite well. Beyond being very familiar with their learning styles, strengths/challenges, etc. I know who plays baseball, who has a baby sister, who loves to eat sushi, and so on.
However, beyond getting to know my kiddos, they get to know me and how things operate in my classroom.
They know the classroom routines at the beginning of the year when they walk in (and yes, we always review a lot at the start) and find comfort in something familiar when everything else is seemingly new.
In that vein, kids appreciate repetition. They ask to sing songs from the past and play games from previous years.
While the repertoire is constantly changing, there are some activities that I bring back year after year.
Teaching elementary music is not like any other class. Unlike like lessons in other subjects where you teach a lesson and things can be more student directed, music teachers are often on and running class the entire time: conducting, accompanying, singing, playing—we have to interact and keep everything moving the whole time—not a lot of downtime! Which is why it’s so exciting when you find an activity that reinforces concepts, but that the students can run on their own!
Enter: Kaboom!
This is one of my students’ favorite games to play in the music room. I use different versions at all grade levels—which means: I teach it once and play often.
The rules are always the same, but the focus, concepts, and levels change for each grade. This means, after the kids have learned the rules, I can pull it out at any time:
Five minutes left
Sub-plans
Centers rotation
Assessment
Quiet work
I use TONS of versions of Kaboom!
Solfege (I recently played the so-mi with my Kindies)
Recorder (Note practice)
Ukulele (Chord practice)
Instrument identification (I like to use this after we study Instrument Families)
Music Symbol (I like to use this in centers with OO-NO)
I also have a large, expanding Kaboom! bundle where you can nab 16 different versions of Kaboom!
So, if you are like me and want to teach how to play a game once and then have your students know the drill for the year(s) to come, go take a look and think about turning your classroom into a class-Kaboom!