Music Jeopardy

My students LOVE music Jeopardy games. All my 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes ask for it and I make sure they get to play it at least once each year. It is a great way to either review information or assess students knowledge of the material. The great thing is if you create your Jeopardy game using smart notebook you can even add in short listening clips to assess students ability to hear different instruments, genres of music, etc. I created my first Jeopardy game on the smart board last year and then adapted it a bit this year. I have a Jeopardy game for Instrument Families (3rd grade), Instrument Families and their TIMBRE (4th grade), and Ensembles (5th grade).

These are the rules (I have them typed up on the smartboard file):

1. Students will be chosen by random drawing of popsicle sticks. When your number is called you will get a choice between the categories and numbers left on the board. Once your number is drawn it will not be picked again until all other numbers on your team are drawn.


2. Once a category and question is selected student will be given 1 minute and 30 seconds to answer. If no answer is given question is turned over to other team. (Some questions have a multiple choice option. Depicted by the multiple choice icon.)
   If a student has difficulty they can click the multiple choice option ONLY IF BEFORE time is up. – Once multiple choice options are given student only gets 45 seconds to choose an option regardless of how much time was left on the clock before and they receive half the points. (If question gets overturned the opposite team also only gets half the points as they already saw the choices.)
   
   ---I also say that if the multiple choice option was not selected by the original team and it goes to the opposing team for a steal the opposing team can NOT choose the multiple choice. They must answer the question without the choices.---


3. If question is overturned due to wrong answer or running out of time a number from the opposite team will be drawn at random to steal the question.


4. After each question regardless of right or wrong answer the opposite team will get a turn. Going back and forth ALL through the game. (The only time the same team gets 'two turns in a row' is if they steal and then it is their turn or if they get a Daily Double)


5. Two DAILY DOUBLES are hidden in the game. If you pick one of these your entire team will get to decide how many points you are betting. There will be no multiple choice given, but the whole team will get 2 minutes to come up with an answer. If the answer is incorrect or no answer is given after 2 minutes betted points will be deducted and game will go back to regular play. Student who picked DAILY DOUBLE will get a turn to pick next category to answer on their own.


6. Students must be quiet during the game to allow students answer questions to think. If talking name will be put on the board and if they receive one check they will have to take test version of the game, as well as, get a popsicle stick (this is part of my own behavioral system).


7. All teammates should be positive and show good sportsmanship. If there is name calling, bragging, etc. points will be deducted from that teams total.

If you are using this to assess students knowledge or even as a review, I normally keep track of students points and what questions they pick. That way I am able to go back and see if a certain category gave students problems, if a student only picked 'easy' questions, etc.

The best part about Jeopardy is that even if a team is down by a lot of points they may still win in the end with a Final Jeopardy question.

Now I know there are many different Jeopardy games templates already out there, but if you want to see the Jeopardy games I created to get an idea of how they work or you can adapt if for you classroom, feel free to leave a comment with your contact information and I can send you the file you are interested in seeing.

What Did You Learn?

Whenever I can find the time at the end of a day, unit, class, etc. I like to ask my students a few questions about the class. I do this for a number of reasons. First of all, I like to know what students enjoyed the most about the class. I also want to know what they enjoyed the least. This is not to say that I will get rid of what they enjoyed the least and keep what they enjoyed the most. It is just my way of getting student input and it helps me plan for the future. I also like to ask students what they learned from taking this class. If they can't tell me anything they learned, then what was the purpose of taking the class?

The last day of summer school, I only had the first hour class, which was my Fun with Technology class. We had a few minutes at the end of the class, so I asked them these questions about their experiences in the class. I was pleasantly surprised with the results.

The first question was what they enjoyed most about this class.
Here were some of the answers:

• Creating pictures for the Goldilocks project
• Having time to play different puzzle games online
• Using powerpoint for the first time
• Adding animations to their presentations
• Presenting their animations

The second question was what did they enjoy the least about the class. The majority answer for this was of course the typing practice. This was not surprising to me and I told my students that typing practice was one of my least favorite activities in computer class, too. However, it is important and helps you type faster and faster over time.

The final question: What did you learn?
Here are their answers:

• Homerow for typing
• How to animate on PowerPoint
• How to add pictures to a PowerPoint
• How to add additional slides in PowerPoint
• How to add and delete transitions on a PowerPoint
• How to export images in Pixie
• How to add stamps, pictures, and cool effects in Pixie

It is so exciting to hear about all the great things they learned in class. It makes teaching the class a success!

If I were to teach this class again, I would definitely keep the format of the class the same. I liked that the students had time to practice typing, play games, and work on a project every day of class. I feel like it was the right balance of work and play for the students.

I really liked the project, but would probably change it for next year so that the same students could take the class again if they liked. I would want to continue to include PowerPoint and Pixie in the project as these seemed to be big hits with the kids. Maybe even a project that really focused on all the cool things that PowerPoint can do. I think the kids would really like that.

That is all for now!
Thanks for reading,
~Brittany De Laruelle