lesson plan

Lesson Plan Overview: Little Fingers - Lesson 5

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Students will develop musical and physical coordination skills through engaging in rhythmic activities, body percussion exercises, rhythm play-along, hand signal demonstrations, and a fun freeze dance activity.

Lesson Objectives

By the end of the lessons, students will be able to:
  1. Engage in rhythmic activities, body percussion, rhythm play-along, and core exercises to enhance musical and physical coordination skills.
  2. Maintain a consistent beat.
  3. Combine movement and speech to create rhythmic patterns.
  4. Demonstrate understanding of hand signals representing different colors using the Tameda Method.
Materials Needed
Resources

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Lesson Plan Outline

If some classes do not complete this lesson in one day, do your best to cover as much as you can. When necessary, resume from where you stopped at the start of the next lesson.

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.
  • Review previously learned concepts. Heartbeat, Body Piano, and moving to Walk/Tiptoe
  • State the new learning concepts students will be able to build from lesson one and achieve in lesson two.
Class Expectations (5 minutes)
  • Read over classroom expectations for the Little Fingers class.
  • Have students describe what these behaviors look like and don't look like.
Ex: A good choice is following directions. A silly choice is to be laughing at your friends.

Movement Activity - Video (5 minutes)
  • Begin with a movement activity to allow students to practice listening, maintain a steady beat, and release excess energy before class. Click on one of the videos to choose a movement activity, or ask the students which one they would like to do.
Rhythm Echos (5 minutes)
*Do not show slide. This is for teacher reference only*
  1. Read rhythm syllable patterns on the neutral syllable "bah" 4 beats at a time.
  2. Students echo
  3. Read patterns under "Rhythm Syllables" again using rhythm syllables "ta" and "ta-ti" 4 beats at a time.
  4. Students echo
  5. Remind students of the translation challenge from last week, where the instructor reads rhythms using neutral syllables, and the students echo the rhythms using rhythmic syllables, four beats at a time.
  6. Discuss beat of silence. Did it make a sound? (No) This is what it looks like - show quarter rest 
Rhythm Review Activity - Instructor Drag & Drop (10 minutes)
This is a drag-and-drop activity meant for the instructor only. 

Before sharing your screen in teach/mode, make sure "Student Devices" is unchecked, located at the bottom of the screen. You will use this slide to drag and drop notes to write notations in the heart.

  1. Review how many sounds in ta (1) and what it looks like (quarter note).
  2. Review how many sounds in ta-ti (2) and what it looks like (paired eighth notes).
  3. Instructor write 4 beat pattern on hearts using combination of quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests for students to practice. Practice 3-4 different rhythms 
  4. Ask the class who would like to create a rhythm. Select a student and invite them to create a rhythm using 'ta' and 'ta-ti.' As the student shares their rhythm, drag and drop the corresponding notes into each heart. Once complete, read the rhythm aloud and have all students perform it together. Then, repeat the process with another student.

Rhythm Read Along - An Apple for Teacher ( 5 minutes)
Before playing the video, go over the following with the students:
  1. Discuss words in last week's video and number of sounds in each word (bat = 1, pumpkin = 2
  2. Discuss today's words and number of syllables (bat = 1, pumpkin = 2).
  3. Discuss using rhythmic syllables (ta, ta-ti) in today's video. Remind students what quarter rest looks like/means.
  4. Show first rhythm and practice as a class.
  5. Practice reading the video.
Movement Activity - Video (5 minutes)
  • Select another movement activity to practice active listening, steady beat, and to provide a brain break.
Body Piano Tonal Practice (5 minutes)
  1. Instructor sings using neutral syllable "bum" 4 beats at a time
  2. Students echo
  3. Instructor sings using solfege 4 beats at a time
  4. Students echo
  5. Draw attention to skips ("Was that a step or a skip? What note did I skip?
Use the next slide, "Neutral Syllables" as a reference to create a pattern.

Body Piano Tonal Practice Neutral Syllable Reference Page (5 minutes)
*Do not show slide. This is for teacher reference only*
  1. Teacher reads each measure one at a time while singing on neutral syllable "bum" while using body piano.
  2. Students echo each measure on neutral syllable while using body piano.
  3. Discuss with students new notes (fa and so - do not label for students yet) "Are they higher or lower?" (higher)
Body Piano Tonal Practice Solfege Reference Page (5 minutes)
*Do not show slide. This is for teacher reference only*
  1. Teacher reads each measure one at a time while singing solfege while using body piano.
  2. Students echo each measure on solfege while using body piano.
Tonal Reading Activity - Instructor Drag & Drop (10 minutes)
This is a drag-and-drop activity meant for the instructor only. 

Before sharing your screen in teach/mode, make sure "Student Devices" is unchecked, located at the bottom of the screen. You will use this slide to drag and drop notes to write notations in the heart.
  1. Have students build tonal ladder - "What note is the lowest? (do), "What note comes next?" (re), "What note is last?" (mi)
  2. Instructor move icons to make vertical line with do on bottom, re in the middle, and mi on top.
  3. Instructor points at and sings patterns of 4 beats on tonal ladder.
Patterns:
  1. drmm
  2. ddr-
  3. dmm-
  4. rrr-
  5. ddrr
  6. m-r-
  7. dmm-
  8. rrr-
  9. ddrr
  10. r-d-
Dinosaur Song (10 minutes)
*Do not show slide. This is for teacher reference only*
  • You can review the Dinosaur song on Prodogies by following this link: https://play.prodigies.com/programs/448604
  • Before continuing, please get your xylophone or use a digital xylophone from this link: https://playxylo.com/
  • Request the in-class teacher to distribute the Xylophones. Then, instruct the students to place their Xylophones before them and listen attentively.
  1. Sing the Dinosaur song with the students to start.
  2. Have the students sing the Dinosaur song using solfege.
  3. Have the students sing Dinosaur using solfege and play it on the xylophone.
Gently Sleep (5 minutes)
  1. Introduce students to "Gently Sleep" on the xylophones (you may introduce it by showing on the tonal ladder.
Review (5 minutes)
Revisit what the student learned earlier:
  1. What are Rest?
  2. Tonal Ladder Do, Re, Mi ladder stacking
  3. Dinosaur Song
  4. Gently Sleep
Conclusion: Movement Activity - Video (5 minutes)
If you have time, finish up with a movement activity.
  • Select another movement activity to practice active listening, steady beat, and to provide a brain break.
If some classes do not complete this lesson in one day, do as much as you can and resume from where you left off at the start of the next lesson.