Yesterday I posted about King of the Mountain, a fun & competitive rhythm reading game that I use with 3rd, 4th and 5th graders (you can use it with 2nd, and I have done it with them with success, but I hold off until 3rd grade to make it more "special"). Another fun reading activity, that is not competition-based, is "Glynnis' Game". . . a.k.a. "Question & Answer" or "Who Has/I Have". I also mentioned in my post yesterday that Aileen Miracle did a really great post about this earlier this week. You can see her post by clicking here. Her cards are much more visually appealing then mine!! :)
Please note that this activity is more
advanced then flashcard reading.
Students must be very independent in their rhythmic reading skills. Because of this, I have included a set
of flash cards that are derived from all the patterns of my Q & A
Games in their files. It's best to spend some time practicing the rhythms from the game with your students
before having them play the game.
To play "Q & A":
•Pass out one card to
each student. [I do NOT number my
cards (students in the past have tried to look at the numbers instead of
listening to the rhythms being read.)
If you would like to number your cards I included some slides that you
can use to print the numbers on the back of the cards- see below.]
–If you have 24
students, you can pass out just the first 24 cards and then make note of what
your beginning and ending rhythms are. . .
–Or, for
differentiation, you can challenge some students to have two cards. This is great for those G.T. kiddos! The kids LOVE this challenge!!!
•Either the teacher
starts or you can choose one student to start (card #1). The first time we play it I always start. That person would read their card. For example, they would say, “I have ta ta ti-ti ta. Who has ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta?” The
student who’s top rhythm (the “I have” rhythm) matches would read their card,
“I have ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta”. Who has
________?” The game
continues until all students have read their cards.
–I have them read
their cards by saying the rhythms only the first couple times we play this.
•The first time I’m
not particular if their beat isn’t that steady
•The second time
playing the game we strive for a steady beat and rhythmic speech as we read our
cards. That is, they also say "I have" and "Who has" with rhythm.
–As their reading
levels advance, I ask them to also clap the rhythm as they say their cards.
- After much familiarity with the game, you can "up the ante" by making it a clapping only game. This is a HUGE challenge and a very difficult way to play. So, here's another chance for differentiation. If you use this in small groups, you could group according to ability and challenge those high kids (your kiddos that take private lessons, for example) to play this way.
•Additionally, you can
use in this in small groups or as a station in your classroom, adjusting the
number of cards you use to meet your needs.
Here are a couple examples of "tom-ti" cards:
I also included a key. I find this helpful for me. This way I know the order of the cards and if the students have read their pattern correctly (in addition to walking around while the game is being played):
And here are a couple preparatory flash card examples:
Happy Sunday everyone!
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