Shamrock Measures

Ok...they say that admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it...I guess I am obsessed with foam shapes!  I couldn't help myself when I saw these little shamrock pieces at Michaels.  The bag came with 150 pieces in a bag and yes, I added notes and rests to everyone of them!  It actually went quickly - I just worked on it while watching the news one night and simply used a ballpoint pen.  I chose 10 different symbols - whote note, half note, dotted half note, quarter note, eighth note, 2 eighth notes together, whole rest, half rest, quarter rest, eighth rest - so I just made 15 of each.  Very simple!

I had planned to have a group lesson in February, but because I got sick, I am rescheduling if for March.  So, we just have to have something related to St. Patrick's Day, right?  Here's how I plan to use them.  I'm going to turn them all over (notes & rests facedown) on the table and give my students a specific time signature and the number of measures they need to build (For example, 3/4 time and 3 measures).  Each player starts by picking 10 shamrocks out of the pile and placing them face up in front of them.  Each player takes a turn trying to build measures with the shamrocks they have.  If they use 4 shamrocks to build a measure, but cannot build anymore, their turn is over.  They take 4 more shamrocks from the pile and then the next player goes.  The first player who can build the specified number of measures correctly, wins.  This will also give us a good opportunity to talk about full measures and making sure that we give each note and rest it's full beat.

I plan to use some painted letters I already had to remind students of the time signature.  It should be a fun game and the shamrocks are just the right size for little fingers! 

Easy storage as well!  The cost?  About $1.30 (yes...I had a coupon!)!