The Great Snowman Challenge

I love giving my students in lesson challenges. Sometimes they run for a month or two, sometimes a couple of weeks. This is a one lesson challenge.

Wendy Stevens has a number of great resources on her website ComposeCreate.com. I found her set of snowman flashcards several years ago and have used them every winter since.

The basic principle is to match the top to the correct bottom. This set covers many levels of learners. They come with intervals, white keys, note names on the staff (up to 2 ledger lines!), and steps & skips.

Best part? They're free!

When I first used these flashcards in lessons, I didn't think to time my students until a little one asked how fast he did it compared to himself previously, and his 2 sisters.

And so, The Great Snowman Challenge was born!

I created a simple spreadsheet to track my students' times and had each student choose two categories to complete.

Here are a few things I love about this challenge:
1. It takes less than 5 minutes of lesson time including setup and cleanup.
2. My students get instant feedback about their learning.
3. I get a good view of my students current strengths & weaknesses.

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An extra bonus is my kids seriously love this challenge!

Wondering about rules? I only have 1: Everyone must start with their hands on their heads!

If you're looking for an alternative activity, Sara Campbell over at Sara's Music Studio uses these flashcards to play Go Fish with her students. You can find more about it on her blog post.

Here's a link to the free snowman download: Snowman Flashcards

Here's the link to my tracker: The Great Snowman Challenge Tracker


Happy Teaching!