Submitted by Jenny Quandt, Benicia, California

Idea posted August 26, 2003

I use this technique when I need a group of 2nd or 3rd grade students to memorize the words to a song. Before the students come into class I write the whole part of the song I want to memorize on the white board, careful to make sure each word is separate. Then I have the class sing the song reading the words off the board.

Next, I have a student come up and erase one word of his/her choosing and ask the class if they could still sing the song? Of course they are ready to prove that they can. I do this once or twice and then I just hand the eraser to a student while we are singing it and have them hand it to the next student (anyone who has not done it yet). Each student knows that they must erase just one word as we sing the song over and over. They think they are proving to me that they can sing it without the missing words. I know that they are learning by repetition because they have to do it over and over. There gets to be a lot of uh-oh's near the end but they just love it!