The Plucky Pianista: The Great Sight-Reading Challenge!

Monday, July 23, 2012

The Great Sight-Reading Challenge!

Summer lessons are wrapping up this week! Already! I can hardly believe it. There is a three-week break between the end of my summer session and the beginning of the fall semester, and I wanted to have my students do something beneficial and easy to ensure they spend at least a little time at the piano during the break. I created "The Great Sight-Reading Challenge" to give them some motivation and to challenge them to read three pieces or sight-reading flash cards/exercises each day that they are at the piano between now and August 13. I had forgotten the name of Jenny's "Summer Sightreading Challenge" when I named mine, so I hope she doesn't mind the very similar-sounding title :)

*Updated 8/13/12 to include a semester version with 80 stars!
*Updated 8/15/12 to include a sign and a current standings sheet!

Objectives:

To encourage my students to become better sight-readers
To challenge my students to practice their sight-reading skills during our break
To have my students sight-read 40 items during the next three weeks (brief version)
To have my students sight-read 240 items during the next 16 weeks (semester version)

Ages:

Any age!

Levels:

Beginners through advanced students will benefit from this challenge

Materials:

The Great Sight-Reading Challenge sheet
Colored pencils, crayons, or markers
Lots of appropriately-leveled sight-reading materials

Instructions:

Print out The Great Sight-Reading Challenge sheet.
Have students sight-read 3 pieces/selections/items each day for at least 5 days per week.
For each 3 pieces they sight-read, they should color one star on the sheet.
They are sight-reading 3 selections during their lessons this week to get a head start on the challenge!