Musical Chairs- Simple and Fun!

Everyone knows the elementary game of Musical Chairs. The teacher plays music while a number of students walk around a circle of chairs. There is one less chair than there are students. When the music stops, the students rush to get a seat. The student who didn't get a seat is out of the game. Another chair is taken out and the next round begins with the students who are left.

 

There is an INGENIOUS way to make this game content-based and appropriate for older students. Give students a number of questions (study questions, study guide, review questions etc.) after they have went over the content. Allow students to play musical chairs such as described above. After the music has stopped and students have gotten a seat, THIS is where the content-based method comes in. In order to stay in the game, students need to correctly answer ONE of the questions from the study guide. Any student who gets a question wrong, is out of the game and can be replaced by the student who didn't get a seat OR a student in the class. After the correct answer is given (by one of the students in the game), the answer should be posted on the board or shown via a PowerPoint. 

I use songs that my kids like to listen to (except I use the edited version:)

SPED Accommodation- Allow these students more time to answer AND allow them to use their notes or the textbook to answer.

Songs That Teach Pollution (Science and Geography)

One day I had to teach the following objective "7.3.spi.13. recognize the definitions of modifications on the physical environment (i.e. global warming, deforestation, desert, urbanization)" I wanted to think of a creative way to really get the students to recognize the modifications. Then this INGENIOUS idea popped in my brain. Why not have my students view Micheal Jackson's "Earth Song" video and identify the examples in it? Think about it. All of the modifications listed are in that video. So I created this worksheet Environmental Consequences using Earth Song for students to complete. I also have a SPED version Environmental Consequences using the Earth Song SPED too. A more tech savvy activity would be for student to complete a voicethread identifying the modifications as they happen on the video. In their explanation they would evaluate how this modification impacts Earth.