If you haven’t used any of ComposeCreate®’s giant flashcards yet, you absolutely should give them a try! Flashcards already have so many uses in lessons – games, speed drills, review, giving them to students. But giant flashcards open up a whole new door for creativity! They’re excellent for helping students focus, great for group lessons and classrooms since students can see them better. And if you’re going to be teaching online for a while longer, these giant music symbol and meter flashcards are great for games and review.
What’s On the Giant Flashcards?
Our newest giant flashcards are music symbols and meters. As the name suggests, they are giant. Each flashcard is made to be printed on an 8.5×11” piece of paper. They can also be shown directly as a PDF on a promethean board or computer screen.
The symbols flashcards contain dynamic and tempo markings, clefs, and other symbols our students really need to know. The meter flashcards contain both simple and compound meter, as well as common and cut time. There are two files, and they both come automatically in the same download. There are 34 flashcards total, which means you have plenty of material to work with during lessons!
Why Should I Use These In Lessons?
If you’re teaching online right now, you’re probably familiar with this scenario: you hold up a flashcard to a student. The page looks fuzzy, so you try moving it back. Now it’s too small for your student to see, so you move it forward. The screen shows you everything mirrored, so it takes 30 seconds to get the darn flashcard to even be in a place where your student can see it. Now something that would have taken 10 seconds in person has taken a solid 45…and that’s just for one flashcard.
With giant flashcards, I can hold it up in front of me or next to my head, and my student can see it, no problem. Even easier, I can simply screen share, and they can see my screen with the flashcards right there! Games and speed drills become seamless, and all of that not only makes lessons easier, but adds to a sense of “normalcy” in our lesson time.
If you’re teaching in person, these flashcards are way more fun than regular flashcards. First, students pay attention when you whip out a giant piece of paper instead of a little stack of flashcards. Second, there’s something inherently more goofy about doing a giant version of anything. A flashcard matching game is fun. A giant flashcard matching game becomes silly because the cards are so big (especially for young students). The more fun they have, the better the information sticks!
If you have students with attention deficit disorders, I’ve found that the giant flashcards provide an opportunity for singular focus. Laminating the giant flashcards and allowing students to make notes on them with dry erase markers is even more helpful! For example, having a student draw alligator eyes and teeth on a crescendo marking has helped some of my students remember that the sound gets bigger just like the alligator mouth gets bigger. It would be hard to draw those details on a small flashcard, but on a giant flashcard, it’s easy!
What Games Can I Play Using Giant Flashcards?
- Flashcard Jump – Line the flashcards up on the floor in a straight horizontal row with space in between the cards. Have your student stand in front of the row, and then jump next to a flashcard. Students say the name of the flashcard they land next to, and continue hopping to the next flashcard. Add some difficulty to the game by making it a race, or laying out a circle instead of a line. This game is great for sibling sets or group lessons, which adds a layer of fun! This game is easier in person, but if you taught online siblings, it may be worth the extra setup.
- Flashcard Hot Potato – Have a stack of giant flashcards, and an MP3 recording ready to play. If you have any of our ComposeCreate® MP3s from purchases, this is a great way to use them – and if you can play a song they’re currently learning, it’s a great way for them to be aurally learning the piece! As the music plays, the student pulls flashcards from the stack. When the music stops, the student has to name the flashcard that they’re currently holding. If they answer correctly, the flashcard can be taken out of the pile. If not, it has to go back in. Continue playing the music and stopping it until the cards are out. This game works great for siblings or a group, but could also be used for a single student.
- Flashcard Duel – This game is so much fun if you have more than one student you can play with. Have two students stand back to back, each holding a flashcard facing out and away from them. When you say go, the students walk three steps forward. They then turn to face each other and name the card the other student is holding. Whoever says the word first wins! This one isn’t as easy with online students, but you can make a variation where you play with your student. You both walk three paces away from the computer screen and then turn around.
- Slap the Flashcard – Put a different spin on a memory match game. Lay all of the flashcards on the table face up. Set a timer for 5 seconds (or 10-15 if it’s a really young or new student). Call out a specific word from the flashcard, and the student gets those 5 seconds to find the card and slap it. If they get it correct, they can remove the flashcard. Continue playing until all of the flashcards are gone!
- Symbol Challenge – Have your student plan an exercise, scale, or piece they know really well. At random times throughout their playing, place one of the symbol flashcards in front of them. They must play according to the flashcard (ex: do a crescendo in the piece, or suddenly play forte). To modify this for online lessons, have the student play a scale, or something else they can play from memory. When it’s time for them to change to a different card, use a bell or some other sort of noise to let them know to look up at the screen and see what they need to play.
- Kaboom! – This is a student favorite! Take a few cards, and write the word “KABOOM” on them. Have all of the cards face down on the table as if you were going to play a matching game. You and the student take turns selecting a card. If you answer the term on the card correctly, you get to keep the card. If the card you pull has the word “KABOOM” on it, you have to return ALL of your cards to the center of the table. Beginning or elementary students love this one because there’s an element of chance in it with the “KABOOM” cards. Even though I know all of the answers, I may not win the game if I get one of those cards, which makes it really fun for them! (If you haven’t laminated your cards, you could just put a small light colored post it note on the front of the card with “KABOOM” on it!
How Do I Get the Giant Music Symbol and Meter Flashcards?
Just click on the button below to get your giant music symbols and meter flashcards! You’ll be prompted to give us your email address so we know where to send them. Once you see them in your inbox, just click on the link. They’ll automatically be downloaded to your “Downloads” folder on your computer!
Have you used these or our other giant flashcards in lessons? We would love to hear if you have any fun game or lesson ideas using them!
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