I just returned from one of my favorite places, the beach. I love visiting the beach in the fall. The weather is slightly cooler, but the water temperature is still warm and good for swimming. One of my favorite things to do is to walk along the beach searching for sea shells. You never know what you will come across on a beach walk! This skill builder is an ode to my fall beach trip! I have several students who are in that beginning phase of music reading, and I like to give them extra skill builders to help them with their note identification.

I like to use lots of games and activities to help make learning the notes fun and hopefully easier for my students. In my bag of tricks I not only use different skill building sheets, but also flash cards, board games, and apps. Today I will tell you about my flashcards preferences. I have used a few different sets, the Piano Adventures and the Alfred are my two favorite. They are both color coded and have answers on the back. I use them in different ways.

* I time students to see how many they can identify in a set amount of time. Some students thrive with playing the time game, and others stress over it.

*When students identify a note I have them find it on the piano.

* I have students write the note on the music staff white board after identifying. This helps see whether or not the student truly understands what line or space a note goes on.

I have my own set of self made flashcards with no answers on the back. I use these to play games with students. I have a self made music board with the letters of the alphabet going through a path from start to finish. The students have to identify notes to move their token up through the path to the correct letter name. Whoever reaches the finish line first wins. (Hint: if the students starts they game, they usually win. Which they love! (Maybe I should work on making this gaeme a downloadable activity!)

PK