Learning centers in the music classroom offer fantastic advantages. Teachers can tailor instruction, connect with small groups of students, and address specific curricular gaps. Centers also allow for the repetition of material through different perspectives, providing students with agency in their learning. The variety of activities helps keep students interested and motivated.
Learning centers offer exploration with guardrails! My students love it. So, what can you offer? How can you physically set up the centers and manage classes to rotate through them?
Pre-Plan–BIG TIME! I really micromanage the planning of centers because it ultimately allows for more student choice and seamless transitions.
Setting Up the Groups:
- You decide the group composition. For all the reasons you can imagine, this is not a time for student choice! Your time is limited, so prioritize the activities and set the groups yourself. You can change and rotate the groups throughout the year.
- Aim for different kinds of learners within a group of students. I always consult a class’s homeroom teacher, ask for their suggestions, and weigh them against how I see that student in the music room.
- Once you’ve decided on the student groups, project the group lists on the board so students know their groups as soon as they walk in.
- Group Size: With a class of 20-23, I aim for groups of 4-5 students. Duplicate your stations. So for example
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- 3 topics: 1 worksheet-type activity (a possible assessment opportunity), 1 game, and 1 station with me.
- 2 groups: the same worksheet activity but at different locations in the room
- 2 groups: at the same game, set up in different locations in the room
- 1 group: with me
Center Rotations
- Timers: Use a 10-minute activity timer and a 1-minute clean-up timer for easier transitions.
- Direction Cue: For smooth transitions, use a sound cue when the timer goes off and a catchy phrase that signals students to stop, clean up, and point to their next center.
Student Expectations
- Discuss Clear Expectations: Revisit center behavior expectations regularly, emphasizing respect for materials, treatment of group members, staying with the group at all times, and the volume of their voices (this is a big one for my students).
- Consider assigning a captain/president/leader to each group. This person’s role is to ensure the group cleans up the station before the next rotation.
Side Note
- I made many visuals to help students understand each station’s rotation and directions. Things like checklists, arrows, and other pictures placed throughout the room help students step more into their independence, which is one of my goals in using centers.
- I have very different expectations for Pre-K. There is no timer for rotating, and students can roam in and out of centers as they like.
Center Activities!
Ah….the best part! Creating the activities! Whatever you choose, align the activity with your current curriculum, ensuring it reinforces and supports what students are actively learning.
Games:
Kaboom reading rhythms, singing solfege patterns, pitch identification, music symbols, and classroom or orchestra instruments are a few ways to play this game. Game: students take turns pulling a card. They read/play the pattern on the card. If they read/play it correctly, point! If they draw a card that reads “Kaboom,” all the cards they accumulated will return to the box.
Memory: Like Kaboom, this can be matching pitch names on the staff, instruments, symbols, rhythms, and more.
Go Fish: You can use the same deck of cards for a game of Memory! Orchestral instruments, rhythmic durations, 4-beat rhythms, classroom instruments, and solfege patterns can all be used for a game of Go Fish or Memory.
Bingo: Bingo can be played in a center using a deck of cards rather than a caller. Bingo can be rhythm durations or instruments of the orchestra. Templates for this game can be found on TpT.
Instrument Station with Task Cards: I saw these from David Row and LOVE this fun way to reinforce concepts, skills, and technique! I made my own deck of cards with instrument-specific playing instructions that reflected things I was saying over and over in class (e.g., alternating mallets or how to hold triangles or claves properly). Players take turns drawing a card. Following its instructions, they try it out and receive gentle critique before the next turn.
Worksheets: I’m not necessarily a fan of worksheets, but they serve a purpose in learning centers. I find that including a quiet, independent activity—such as a worksheet—helps balance the noise level in the classroom. Additionally, worksheets can serve as assessments. Worksheet activities can include coloring by pitch or identifying musical symbols, music math, using rhythms, or exploring rhythm within the context of meter and bar lines.
I’ve sometimes set up this station with iPads and headphones. Students can watch a relevant video, complete a worksheet, or follow a listening map for a piece of music. They initially follow a map I’ve provided, and later, they create their own for a different piece.
Bring out the Manipulatives: This station can also serve as the starting point for a larger project— like composition—where students establish music form and rhythm before taking it to the instruments. The possibilities are endless!
Book Corner: This corner of the room has a few beanbag chairs and a variety of books against the wall. The books range in interest from encyclopedic and biographical to simple picture books. Here is an excellent list of books for the elementary music room from the Boston Public Library.
Station With Me: It’s always amazing to me what can be accomplished in a one-to-one setting with students, even in groups of 4-5 students. You can really take advantage of getting important messages through to them. Again, the possibilities are great, but align all of the activities with what you are currently teaching.
What types of stations can be done with me? Sometimes, I help students transfer their rhythm composition from a previous station to barred instruments. Other times, we will do question-and-answer improvisation or sing-along, where I play guitar! In the midst of a ukulele or recorder unit? This station is the perfect opportunity to address individual technique and questions students may have.
When it’s all said and done, learning centers in the music room empower students with a sense of choice in what and how they learn. However, this autonomy is guided by structure, ensuring they stay engaged, make meaningful progress, and have fun along the way!