End of the year music lessons can be tough. The kids are antsy and the teachers are tired. We want fun review games and lessons to end the year. First, if you can get outside, I highly recommend you take advantage of the warmer weather! I have another blog post all about my favorite outdoor music activities. If you can’t get outside, here are some music lesson ideas for the end of the year.
Favorite Games
I love playing games with my elementary students! It’s a great way to get students singing, and seeing the joy on their faces makes the antsy behavior so much easier. Here are a few of my favorites.
Apple Tree
Have students stand in a circle. One person will be the tree and will stand outside the circle facing in and put their arms up. Students will walk in the circle under the Tree’s arms. At the end of the song, the Tree will bring his arms down, and whoever he catches will stand facing him and make the other half of the tree. When they catch someone, that person will become a new tree. The game goes on adding more and more trees until there’s one person remaining. This is one of my students’ most frequently requested songs, so I created a supplemental resource to help you teach quarter and eighth notes with it! You can read all about how I teach this song in this blog post.
No Robbers Out Today
First, students will stand with their eyes closed. I will tap one person on the shoulder to be the robber. Students will walk around while singing the song. At the end of the song, the robber will start chasing students. If a student gets tagged, he is frozen. Students cannot be unfrozen. To make it extra fun, pick two robbers!
We Are Dancing in the Forest
Pick a wolf to stand with their eyes closed outside the circle. Students will walk around the circle while singing the song. At the end of the song, students ask “where are you, wolf?” The wolf can say just about anything, like “I’m eating ice cream”, or “I’m taking a nap.” If the wolf says something like this, students walk around the circle and sing again.
However, if the wolf says, “I’m right here!” then the wolf will start chasing the students! If the wolf tags someone, that person is frozen and cannot be unfrozen. I let the wolf say two silly things, then the third time they have to say “I’m right here” so that we’re not singing the song several times for that same person.
If you want to use this song for more than just a game, it’s great for la and quarter and eighth notes. You can check out the resource I made to go along with that song here.
Grizzly Bear
To play, choose a grizzly bear. This person will sit on the ground with their eyes closed. The rest of the students will circle around the bear and walk in the circle during the song. At the end of the song, the bear wakes up and chases the students. If the student gets tagged, they have to freeze. Students cannot be unfrozen. The bear then gets to pick a new bear.
Review Activities
End of the year music lessons are a great time to review concepts you’ve learned throughout the school year. I have a few go-to games to help review concepts that maybe we haven’t covered quite as much recently but talked about toward the beginning of the year.
Fly Swatter Game- This one is a crowd favorite that they ask for even on free choice game days. To play, I have the students get into groups and stand against a wall. Each team gets one fly swatter. While they figure out the order they’re going to go in, I spread my rhythm or solfege flashcards out in the middle of the floor. I’ll say a pattern, and the first person on each team will go find the correct pattern. I give any students who choose the correct pattern one point, but the person who gets there first gets two points! But beware- once you choose a pattern you are stuck there, even if it’s the wrong one!
Steal the Bacon- To play this game I split the class in half and have them sit facing each other. Between them will be rhythm or solfege flashcards. Each person has a number 1-12 (or however many are on the team.) I say a pattern and then a number- whoever is that number has to go find the correct pattern and get it back to their team. For example, if I say “ta ta tadi ta, number 5,” whoever is number 5 on each team will race to get the correct pattern.
Rhythm play along with videos
The kids love playing instruments or doing body percussion with popular songs! Here are a few of my favorites:
- Avengers
- Happier
- High Hopes
- Sunflower
- Thunder
- We Don’t Talk About Bruno (Here’s a body percussion version, too!)
Compose music
Write a parody
Parodies are great for fifth grade because they take some of the freedom and guesswork out for our students. Rather than making our students the composer and the lyricist, which can be overwhelming, it gives students a place to start and feels more manageable.
I let my students partner up, come up with a topic they can both write about, and then pick a song they both know. Then, they’ll create the lyrics to match the rhythm of the song. Students could write songs about food, school, sports, video games…the possibilities are endless! You could then extend it by adding instruments or background music to the parody. Throughout the process I have them keep a journal on Google Docs so that they can set goals for each day and I can easily track their progress.
I wrote a whole blog post about songwriting using parodies! It’s one of my favorite units I do in fifth grade!
Create a song for xylophones or piano
If you don’t want to take on writing a parody, you could create a song with no words for an instrument like piano or xylophones. To do this, I’ll give students a 4×4 matrix where each box is one beat. Students will add a rhythm in each box, then they’ll choose the pitches they want to play. This is a really great way to show students the difference between rhythm and pitch! Some students might want to add words, and that’s awesome! Not all of my students want to, though, and I’m okay with that.
I have a whole pack of easy, versatile composition worksheets for you! I use these pages a ton in every single grade level, even preschool! Some are editable, too, so they can be really specific for your class. I’ve left these pages as sub activities, and it’s worked well that way, too. Click here to get your download. Did I mention that they’re totally free?
Create body percussion using iconic notation of their choice
For the younger grades, you could have students create a song using iconic notation. Use a matrix (I would probably use a 2×4 matrix from my composition worksheet packet) and have students determine which icons they’re going to use and what movement each one will represent. Have students fill it out, practice it, and then have them perform for the class!
Genius Hour
Genius Hour, or Passion Projects or 20% time, is the idea of giving students time to pursue their interests. The concept comes from Google, which allows its employees to pursue their passions for 20% of the week. The company found that employees were more productive when given time to work on their own projects. In fact, Google News was developed by an employee during this time! I give the students a lot of freedom in what they want to work on, but I do require it to be music-related. You can read about how I do Genius Hour in my classroom in this blog post.
The students do have to present what they’ve learned. I’ve had students learn how to make an instrument, learn how to play piano or guitar, and learn about their favorite singer or genre. One student presented about music from different countries around the world.
I have done this a couple of ways- when I taught each class twice a week, I would plan the first class as normal content and the second class as a quick review and then genius hour time. At my current school, I only see the kids once each week, so it’s an actual unit in our curriculum. I plan about 5-6 weeks for the entire unit, including presentations.
I do require the students to fill out a journal on Google Docs each day. This journal has them create a goal for that day, a spot to ask questions to the teacher and to fill in what they actually accomplished. I find it’s helpful to keep kids on track, it’s less paper for me to manage, and it’s easy for me to check in and see where they’re at. You can see that journal here.
Conclusion
The end of the year is a great time to do fun projects and games! I would love to hear your tried and true lessons! Comment below or DM me on Instagram (@caffeinated.j) with your favorite games or activities!
