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Notey Noteheads – Cards for Beginning Readers

Sight reading flash cards

Click here to purchase Notey Noteheads.

I  decided to make a new set of pre-reading cards, a set that both teachers and parents can use. With that in mind, I made them the size of playing cards with only 4 pages to cut out. There is one page each for steps, skips, and repeats. I also included a very detailed parent/new teacher instruction guide that took me a lot of time to write, so I really hope it helps. Trust me, if you only show these cards to parents, they make no sense. Once parents see how they work, they are delighted to know they do not need to know how to read music to help their child! I loan these cards to parents, but you can also email parents the link for them to print. Remind them they are free!

Parent’s guide and card backs are included in the file

There are 5 pages included in this printable. The first page is the instructions, then the cards and optional backs.  The colorful back to the cards, seems really important to my students because it makes it more fun. Children are very visual and are attracted to colorful images. For those of you who have no idea how to print on the back of cards, or how to print only a few  pages,  I posted a tutorial on my FAQ page. Scroll down to read it. When cutting out the cards with printed backs, use the colorful side as your cutting guide.

Daily use of these cards when students are learning notes that move up, down, and repeat can make a big difference in their music reading abilities.

They can help both the precocious child, and the child who needs lots of extra help.

One more thing. Start with the stepping cards. If students have not been introduced to skipping notes, save them for later. Be sure to tell your parents which cards to use.

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8 Comments

  1. Susan….Your site is AWESOME! I love your games and worksheets. I was looking for something for my young violin student for tomorrows lesson as his violin is at the menders…..WOW…What a resource to have found. THANK YOU for sharing your ideas.

  2. Susan, my beginner students love these! I just have to tell you that they have re-named them “NAUGHTY noteheads” because occasionally they don’t play the sequence correctly!
    Thank you for all you do

    1. susanparadis says:

      Lisa, that’s funny! Thanks for letting me know your students like them.

  3. I have appreciated the many activities and songs that you have offered, Susan, but these notehead cards opened my eyes to some tracking problems that a couple of my students have had. They learned some songs pretty well, but they seem to be very slow at progressing and focused on naming the notes. When we played these as a simple game – “play one card and move your marker one step up the hill; when you get to the top, you earn a small prize” – I discovered that they really were having trouble with going “up” and “down” and needed some extra work on following the line of music. Although I have a degree in learning differences as well as many many years of experience teaching beginning piano students, I had never had a tool that told me about this difficulty so well.

    1. susanparadis says:

      I know what you mean. I’ve discovered the same thing.

  4. Anonymous says:

    I have been poring over the wonderful resources on your site, and want say first how impressive and fun all of these games and activities are that you’ve developed, and secondly thank you so much for making them freely available! I now have a very good excuse to buy a color printer!

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