Kahoot!

I have recently been introduced to a great on-line game called Kahoot! (www.getkahoot.com). It is an interactive game that allows me to create quizzes using multiple choice questions. You can also create discussions or surveys, but I've never used those.
I start by creating a quiz. So far, I have made a dynamics quiz, a tempo quiz, and a music symbols quiz. You are allowed to insert images as well which makes it great for identifying symbols. The students each need their own computer or iPad to play the game and must have your code to enter. The question will be displayed on my Interactive Whiteboard (you could just use a projector) and the students click the correct answer on their devices. They are given points for answering correctly and quickly. The top 5 scorers are tracked after each question. It also tracks what answers were given so I can see if there is one question that all of the kids are struggling with. The students go nuts when they see we are playing this game. They absolutely love it! I know they use it in their regular classrooms as well.

Eagerly waiting for the next question!

If you look at the girl on the bottom left you can see what the student screen looks like. It just has the colors and shapes, no words.  

Here is what it looks like on my board. 

Welcome to Google Classroom!

Our 6th graders are one-to-one again this year, meaning each student has their own Chromebook. Every year my 6th graders do an instrument building project. I usually preface the project by doing a very brief introduction of Ethnomusicology, the study of music and instruments of the world. We usually don't do more than learn the four families (aerophone, chordophone, membranophone, and idiophone). This year I decided to go a bit more in depth. My original plan was to have them do an instrument report on one world instrument and create a poster for the hallway. However, I started thinking it would be really cool if they could use their Chromebooks. It was then that I was introduced to Google Classroom.

All of the 6th graders are using it in their classrooms already to complete assignments, so I thought I would try it. I have created an assignment using Google Slides and now my students are going to create a slideshow presentation of four different world instruments, one from each of the four families. They must include the instrument's name, country of origin, how it's played, what it's made of, a picture, other interesting facts, and an optional video of one being played. All sources must be cited on the last slide. We just started working on them today, but so far it seems really cool! The best part is I have access to every project through my Google Classroom account so I can see how far students are, leave comments for them, and grade them online.

Who would have ever thought you would walk by the music room and see this!!