Well, it's a new school year and a new month next week. This year I want to incorporate some different ideas to use with Piano Explorer. I find that if I just hand them out, they don't get read by most students. I usually give some sort of assignment (read the main article, answer the quiz), but there has to be something more creative to do with the composer of the month, etc. What are your ideas?

With each composer of the month, I also give a blurb about the composer on their assignment sheets each week. With the younger kids, I will usually go through the magazine at a glace, possibly play the student composed piece in the middle (they always love to hear this).

I, too, feel that the PEs I hand out generally go unopened. I'm not sure what to do about that, except perhaps assigning that they read (or have a parent read for/with them). I do have some kids who love looking in their folder and seeing that they have "mail", for whatever that is worth.

I have a 10 question activity on the composer of the month, so students can do back ground research. I also have a listening assignment with several suggested pieces, which they can download. Most of them have accounts anyway, so downloading some classical music and listening to it as a family activity enriches all. Sometimes I have little prizes for the best reports.