Subject(s): Music, Math Grades(s): Grades 6-7, Grades 2-3, Grades 4-5

Title – Music Basketball for sports-minded students
By – Jamie
Subject – Math, Music
Grade Level – 3-6

Objective: Students will be able to identify the values of quarter, eighth, half, dotted half, and whole notes, as well as rests.

Materials: a small basketball hoop that will hook over a chalkboard or door, and a soft ball that will fit through the hoop, a “free-throw” line made of a strip of tape on the floor.

Flashcards with rhythm math problems on them. I use construction paper, and I draw rhythms as math problems, for example: “quarter note + quarter note + half note + whole note =” and on the opposite side of the card write the answer: 8 beats. (One 1/4 note = 1 beat).

Divide the class into 2 teams. Have one person from Team 1 step up to the free-throw line. Hold up a flashcard. They have to add up the notes and give the correct answer to the problem to earn a shot. If they give the correct answer, they get to shoot the ball. If they make the shot, they get 2 points for their team. Then, someone from Team 2 gets a turn. To make it more challenging, you can move the line closer or farther away, add 3-pointers, or play “1 on 1″, where one person from each team steps up, and whoever answers the problem correctly first gets to take the shot.

I use this game on my 5th & 6th grade boys, whose first love is basketball. They want to play it everyday, and now they can name note values in no time!!

E-Mail Jamie