Fishy Scales
Arlene sent me a great idea to keep track of scales students learn. I already had these fish drawn, so for her idea, I just drew in the “fish scales” and the place for the student name. I tried to draw the fish to be easy to cut out. Younger students love this!
Print, cut out, and laminate one fish for each student. Post the fish on a bulletin board that you have decorated. When a student learns a scale, write it inside the “scale” on the fish. Use a dry erase marker to write on the laminated fish, and you can use them over again each year. In one of my earlier posts I mentioned the clear book covers that I used to laminate my material. Now that I have an inexpensive laminating machine, I don’t have to use that, but I encourage you to try it if you don’t have access to a laminating machine.
I included two colors, in case you want one color for major and one for minor. Somewhere on the card we write what kind of scale, such as 5-finger scale or one octave scale.
If you  teach in your living room or a church sanctuary and you’re not keen on posting fish all over the walls, make a portable bulletin board on foam board and keep it with your music supplies. Sometimes I prop things up on my hearth and remove it when I have company.
Arlene made a bulletin board which had blue paper on it and at the top said “Fishy Scales. ” She put some construction paper seaweed and other sea decor at the bottom of the board. Doesn’t that sound cute?  Here’s the really fun part. When they learned all the assigned scales, she gave them a bag of Swedish Fish! 🙂
Thanks so much Arlene for the great idea. I bet there are going to be a lot of “fishy scales” in piano studios this year!
[Edited: The graphics have been updated. There are 4 fish on each page.]
These have been so fun! In the top fin I have the student put what kind of scales they are working on, for example, 5 finger, sharp keys, flat keys, 2 oct, etc. After they fill their fish, we erase it and start on the next set of scales. I have a wall in my piano room where we put all the fish. I use painters tape on the back so it doesn’t ruin my paint. I’m not sure how it started, but some of the boys started seeing if they could get their fish higher than the others. Eventually I ended up with fish on my ceiling, and they seem to keep “swimming” across the ceiling each week. It’s been really fun to see where the fish will end up.
Thanks, Susan!
That is just great! I bet your students love taking lessons with you!
Susan, I really love this idea! And the fish are adorable. You are appreciated so much. ~ Marcia