Submitted by Julie Kellum, Indiana
Idea posted January 7, 2004
I was doing patriotic music at my 3rd-5th grade building and needed something easy for a non-music, non-techie sub the next day. I created a blank 3x3 square bingo grid and titled it "Sing for America" in Stars & Stripes font and a clip art flag in the free space. The three columns were labeled U.S.A. and the kids got to shout this out when they had bingo. I made eight squares with a different, size-appropriate patriotic song title in each. I could fit 24 squares on each page. The kids brought scissors and glue sticks and cut and pasted their squares while we listened to our SQUILT pieces one more time. Then we had the rest of the period to play bingo and sing the songs as a review of what we'd learned last year plus our new S.O.W. (Song of the Week), My Flag (from Music K-8, Vol. 12, No. 5). It was a great way to review the words and get the many new kids up to speed with what we had learned. And I could walk around and listen! Of course, the winner of each round was the caller for the next round.
We sang each song at least two times as we played the game. Older kids sang a different verse each time a song was called if they could. I had originally planned it only for 3rd but even the "too cool for the pool" 5th grade boys enjoyed the sing-a-long atmosphere! I was surprised that they didn't really mind the repetition. There were a lot of groans and moans when our 30 minutes were up because the time went so fast.
I sent the papers home and challenged the kids to see if their parents could sing the seven traditional songs and to teach them our new song. At least it kept them from wadding up the papers and trashing them on the way out!