Festival Maker · Lesson 1
Lesson 1: Welcome to Symphonia
Students enter the world of Symphonia to explore how music, creatures, and data connect, learning how the game works and beginning to use the Data Habits of Mind.
Student Objectives
I can…
- ✓ I can describe how the game works.
- ✓ I can identify materials and explain the data they show.
- ✓ I can use graphing tools to organize and label data.
- ✓ I can identify how I used the Data Habits of Mind.
- ✓ I can explain that gameplay will include collecting data and loot for future festival design.
At a Glance
Total: about 53 minutes| Section | Time | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome & Grounding | 5 min | Play music as students enter and display the "Think" slide. Invite students to notice how the music makes them feel. |
| Connector | 5 min | Project 2–3 "Would You Rather: Music Edition" slides. Students respond by speaking, pointing, or holding up one finger (option 1) or two fingers (option 2). End with "Fast vs. slow" and "Loud vs. quiet." |
| Review Visual Agenda & Create Agreements | 8 min | Review the "Today's Adventure" slide. Co-create classroom agreements or review premade ones, focusing on what supports safety, inclusion, and participation. Connect the agreements to the upcoming group work. |
| Station Rotation | 25 min | Small groups rotate through four stations — 3 minutes to explore and respond to the table tent questions, 1 minute to rotate. Students interact with creature cards, song sheets, graphing tools, and data habits, noticing how music data connects to decisions in the game. Close with a whole-group share-out where each group shares one discovery. Record key vocabulary on chart paper and reinforce it during discussion: data, tempo, loudness, graph, Data Habits of Mind, curiosity, context, communication, perseverance. |
| The Story of Festival Maker | 5 min | Before viewing, ask students to notice connections to the stations. Show "The Story of Festival Maker" video, then share connections and observations about music, data, and decision-making. Reinforce that gameplay will include collecting data and loot for future festival design. |
| Reflection & Closing Ritual | 5 min | Students make a connection to one Data Habit of Mind and record it in the Data Habits of Mind Tracker. Guide students through a brief "Creature Reset" calming routine. |
Materials & Prep
- Station 1 — Card Discovery Table Tent
- Station 2 — Website Wonder Table Tent
- Station 3 — Graphing Mat and Translucent Range Windows Table Tent
- Station 4 — Data Habits Table Tent
- Creature cardsUsed at Station 1 and during gameplay.
- Song sheets
- Data Habits of Mind cardsUsed at Station 4.
- Data Habits of Mind TrackerUsed in the closing reflection.
Gather
- Graphing mat (laminated)Station 3.
- Translucent range windowsStation 3.
- Red and black markersStation 3.
- Projector
- Optional supportsNoise-reducing headphones, pause cards, sentence frames, multilingual vocabulary cards, visual reference posters, and a sensory guide.
Digital
- Facilitation Slide Deck — Day 1
- dataadventures.orgStation 2 needs a computer or tablet connected to dataadventures.org.
- The Story of Festival Maker videoNeeds a computer with sound and internet access.
- Headphones
Before You Teach
- ☐Decide whether students will co-create agreements or use the premade agreements in the slides, and hide unused agreement slides before teaching.
- ☐Choose 2–3 artist preference slides in advance for the Would You Rather activity, and hide facilitator-only slides before presenting.
- ☐Place one table tent at each station and set out the station materials.
- ☐Open and test the Festival Maker video for sound and internet.
- ☐Display the visual agenda (and Sensory Guide if using it) and cue music for arrival.
A note on this lesson
This is Day 1 of Festival Maker, and for most students it’s their first step into the world of Symphonia. The goal isn’t mastery — it’s orientation. Students learn how the game works, handle the key materials, and begin using the Data Habits of Mind that will guide gameplay, data collection, and later festival design. Let the music and the “Think” slide set the tone as students arrive; the welcome and connector are designed to lower the stakes before the hands-on work begins.
The heart of the lesson is the station rotation. Four stations — Card Discovery, Website Wonder, the Graphing Mat with translucent range windows, and Data Habits — give every student a chance to explore, respond, and notice how music data connects to decisions in the game. Keep the rotations tight (about 3 minutes to explore, 1 minute to move) and protect time for the whole-group share-out so each group can name one discovery.
What to watch for
- Pacing during the rotation. The 25-minute station block is the longest stretch of the lesson. Maintain the rhythm of explore-and-rotate, and support students as they interact with the materials at each table.
- Key vocabulary. Reinforce the required terms — data, tempo, loudness, graph, and the four Data Habits of Mind (curiosity, context, communication, perseverance) — and record them on chart paper as they come up.
- Reinforcing the throughline. Keep connecting music, data, and decision-making, and preview how gameplay will lead to collecting data and loot for future festival design.
- Multiple ways to participate. Offer students the choice to explore, discuss, or observe. Allow students to watch gameplay before participating, and have sensory tools and sentence frames ready for those who need them.
After class
Reflect on pacing, engagement, and student understanding, and note any confusion about the materials or the gameplay structure. Prepare the materials for the gameplay practice in the next session.