Second Grade - Lesson 1B

• Music
• Age 5

Introduction (5 minutes)

Greet the students and introduce the K-Piano equipment and learning system.

Provide an overview of the lesson objectives and what students can expect to learn.

Class Expectations (5min)

• Read over classroom expectations for the Little Fingers class.
• Have students describe what these behaviors look like and don't look like.
• Example: A good choice is following directions. A silly choice is to be laughing at your friends.

Movement Activity

This movement activity at the beginning of class gets the wiggles out and helps mentally prepare students for the start of class.

Little Fingers - Lesson 1

Movement Activity Videos

• Choose a video from either 3 slides

Little Fingers - Lesson 1

Movement Activity Videos

• Choose a video from either 3 slides

Little Fingers - Lesson 1

Movement Activity Videos

Choose a video from either 3 slides

Vocal Explorations

1. Practice with students echoing different voices with you

2. Example

Teacher: "Repeat after me"

Student: "Repeat after me"

Teacher: "I have a whisper voice"

Students will repeat the same sentence in a whisper voice

Teacher: " I have a speaking voice"

Students will repeat

3. Examples: Whisper, Speaking, Squeaky, Low voice, Shouting Voice, Monster voice. 

Have fun with the different voices.

Steady Beat

Teacher Script

"We are going to show a steady beat with some music today. Remember, does a steady beat change or stay the same?"

Stay the same

“Show me a steady beat on your head.”

Students demonstrate

The instructor plays the video, and the students follow along. 

Be sure to assess who will need support for steady beat awareness.

Rhythm Echoes

Teacher Script

"Now let's continue keeping a steady beat, but now I need you to echo me. Remember, when we do echoes, who goes first? You or me?"

You (the instructor)

"And who goes after?"

Me (students)

Instructor reads rhythms four beats at a time using the neutral syllable "bah."

Students echo.

Once all rhythms are read, repeat using rhythm syllables (quarter note = ta, quarter rest = no sound, eighth notes = ta-ti; refer to rhythm syllable cheat sheet if needed)

Students echo. 

Steady Beat Practive - Popcorn song

This slide is for instructor viewing only and will stop sharing screen*

Ask students to stand up in their spots and put a steady beat in their feet (march) as instructor says the rhyme. 

"Now I want your feet to match this rhythm." (Instructor claps quarter notes. Students march quarter notes)

"I want you to continue marching, but make sure your feet match my hands. Listen again as I say the rhyme." (Instructor says rhyme again as students march eighth notes.)

"Now I am going to say the rhyme 2 times. I want your feet to match my rhythm again. Watch carefully. Don't get tricked!" (Instructor claps steady beat/quarter notes first time, claps eighth notes second time)

"Were those the same or not the same?" (not the same)

"So you showed me big beats and little beats. What did the big beats look like?" (students march quarter notes)

"What did the little beats look like?" students march eighth notes)

"Where else can we put our steady beat?" (students come up with other ideas such as head, shoulders, hands, etc.)

Practice rhyme using different body parts ("My hands love the rhythm of the popcorn...," "My head loves the rhythm of the popcorn...") 3 more times while practicing big and little beats

Opposites - Open Shut Them

This slide is for instructor viewing only and will stop sharing screen*

Sing song and do motions for students to observe first.

"Now I would like for you to do the same motions as me." Students perform motions as instructor sings.

"So in the song, we opened and shut our hands. What are open and shut?" (opposites)

"Let's think of other opposites we can do in the song. Give me some ideas." (students suggest various ideas for opposites to perform, e.g., loud and soft, high and low, up and down, forward and backwards, etc.)

Pick about 5 opposites to perform with the song, but end with high and low

"Low and high. 

Low and high. 

Low, low, low, low, high, high high,

Low and high.

Low and high,

High, high, high, high, low, low, low."

A

B

C

D

E

High and Low Game

Instructors will explain that music can be separated into high or low sounds. 

Give the students an example using your voice, xylophone, or piano. 

Play a few high and low notes on one of these instruments.

Instructors will continue explaining that we can hear high and low sounds everywhere not just in music. 

Use the slide and play through one audio at a time. 

Ask the students to vote using a number a 1 with their pointer finger if the sound is high or vote using 3 fingers if they think the sound is low. 

Drag and drop the answer so students can see if they voted correctly 

Continue voting until students have differentiated all audios correctly

High/Low Patterns (Slides 13-14) 

Students are solidifying high and low sounds to build fluency

Directions

• *This slide is for instructor reference only. Instructors may stop sharing the screen here.*
• These do not have to be sung with a steady beat. While it is important to maintain a steady beat while doing rhythmic exercises, it is not as important here when performing tonal exercises. The main goal is to get these tones into the students' musical vocabulary. 

Teacher Script

"Let's review our body piano from last week. What two places did we use?"

Forehead and chin

"Which one was for high sounds?"

Forehead

"Which one was for low sounds?"

Chin

"Echo me."

Instructor uses body piano and sings each measure, one at a time, on neutral syllable "bum." 

Students echo each measure

Once all the patterns have been sung, repeat each measure but sing using the words "high" and "low".

High and Low Patterns

*instructor viewing only and will stop sharing screen*

High and Low Reading Practice (Slides 15 - 17)

• "I have a melody here. Take 10 seconds to see if you can figure it out yourself. Remember to use your body piano."
• The instructor gives the starting pitch. Students practice singing and using body piano.
• The instructor gives the starting pitch. Class sings.

• "Now I have something different. Can you tell me what is different?"
• There are 2 lines
• "What else can you tell me?"
• The lines are going through the dots.
• "Can we still read music like this?"
• Yes
• "I want you to practice reading this one now. Remember, use your body piano."
• The instructor gives the starting pitch. Students practice.
• The instructor gives the starting pitch.
• Students sing and use body piano. 

• "Now I have a challenge for you. I want you to take 10 seconds to practice this song with your singing voice and your body piano. This is a secret song. I want you to see if you can guess what this secret song is."
• The instructor gives the starting pitch. Students practice with body piano.
• The instructor gives the starting pitch. Students sing and use body piano.
• "What song was that?"
• Seesaw

High/Low Exploration

*Instructor can share screen here*

"Let's review how to be safe with our xylophones. When carrying our xylophones, should we use two hands or one?"

Two

"And when we carry our xylophones with two hands, should we hold it by the top or the bottom?"

The bottom

"What happens if you carry your xylophones by the top?"

The bars will fall off.

"If your bar falls off, let a grown up know so they can put it back on carefully."

Pass out xylophone by rows and you may need to ask in class teacher for assistance. 

"Now look at my xylophone. Tell me something you notice about my xylophone."

If students answer:

"Now I want you to use your finger. Don't use your mallets yet! 

Just try to play with your fingers for now. Play the big red bar on the left."

Students play

"Now use your finger and play the small green bar on the right."

Students play

"Did the big red bar make a high sound or a low sound?"

Low

"The small green bar made what kind of sound?"

High

"So if we are moving from low to high, start on what size bar?"

Big

"And then we move which way to get to the high sounds?"

Right

The instructor asks students to show examples of playing from high to low or low to high a few times to demonstrate understanding 

Movement Activity

This movement activity at the beginning of class gets the wiggles out and helps mentally prepare students for the start of class.

Little Fingers - Lesson 1

Movement Activity Videos

• Choose a video from either 3 slides

Little Fingers - Lesson 1

Movement Activity Videos

• Choose a video from either 3 slides

Little Fingers - Lesson 1

Movement Activity Videos

Choose a video from either 3 slides

Lesson Recap

Recap with students what they learned.

• 
  
• Steady Beat
• Low and High Sound