Lesson Outline
Little Fingers Title Slide (Slide 1)
- Welcome students
- Have students take their places
Class Expectations (Slide 2)
- Go over class expecations for the first class. After the first class you can remind the students of the expectations.
Movement Activity (Slides 3 - 6)
Movement activities at the beginning of class helps with:- Physical de-escalation if needed
- Mental preparation for student’s engagement at the start of class
Vocal Explorations (Slide 7)
OBJ: Students are demonstrating that they can change their voice to different types.
Directions
Introduce echoing different voices with students.
Teacher Script
- Instructor: “Repeat after me.”
- Students: “Repeat after me.”
- Instructor whispers: “I have a whisper voice.”
- Students echo in a whisper
- Instructor speaks: “I have a speaking voice.”
- Students echo in speaking voice
- More examples:
- squeaky
- low voice
- shouting voice
- monster voice
- have fun with different voices or have students give you a voice to try out.
Steady Beat Visual (Slide 8)
OBJ: Students are being introduced to the steady beat by physically demonstrating it.
Teacher Script:
- "Let's review our steady beat. Does the steady beat change or stay the same?"
- Stay the same
- "What part of our body keeps a steady beat? Where did we find our steady beat last time?"
- Heart
- "So now I am going to take my heartbeat or pulse and put it up on the board. What does the heart mean?" (beat)
- "So how many beats do I have on the board?"
- 4
- "Now I would like for you to read the steady beat with me. When we read, do we start on the left or the right?"
- Left
- "On the left! Just like when we read in our other subjects, when we read music, we will also start on the left. Go ahead and show me your pointer finger. Point at the heart on the left. I want you to point at each heart as we read from left to right. Every time you point at a heart, I want you to say 'beat.' For example..." (instructor points at each heart and reads "beat, beat, beat, beat")
- "Your turn!" (students read beats)
Assessment
Directions:
Please have zoom recording ready when you begin the assessment.
- Divide students into groups of 4-5 according to color and number on roll sheet and hand out assigned paddles. Be sure to ask in classroom teacher for support if needed.
- Place students in line according to color in numerical order.
- Have students place paddles on the floor in front of them.
- Ask Students to give examples of other ways/body parts to keep steady beat. Practice reading beats 2 more times using examples shared by students.
- Practice lifting paddles in front of their chest before performing the steady beats.
- Start recording assessment. Please use zoom recording and save file with yourname.homeroomteachername.schoolname.date.lesson#
- Call 2 groups at a time to stand and demonstrate steady beat as instructor points to heartbeats.
- Stop recording once all students have been assessed.
Steady Beat Practice (Slide 9)
OBJ: Students are reviewing the steady beat using specific body parts or motions.
Teacher Script
- “I have a video for us to practice our steady beat. Let’s think of a place we can keep a steady beat on our bodies. Can someone show me where we can keep a steady beat?” Students can show a variety of places to show steady beat including head, heart, knees, lap, etc. Instructor finds one example and leads the class in showing a steady beat.
- “So let’s practice our steady beat. In this video, we are going to be putting the steady beat on different parts of the body. Can you show me a steady beat on your head? What about your shoulders? How about your tummy? We will start with a steady beat on our heads.”
- The instructor starts the video and follow along with students.
Popcorn (Slide 10)
OBJ: Students are reviewing the steady beat using specific body parts or motions.
*This slide is for instructor viewing only. Instructors will stop sharing screen here.*
Teacher Script
- 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 (Slide 11)
OBJ: Students are being introduced to the tonal differentiation using opposites.
*This slide is for instructor reference only. Instructors may stop sharing screen here.*
Teacher Script
Instructor sings song and do motions for students to observe first.
Before singing song a second time:
- “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 thinking of other opposites we can do in the song. Give me some ideas.”
- Students suggest various ideas for opposites to perform. Examples include:
- loud and soft
- high and low
- up and down
- forwards and backwards
- 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.”
High and Low Sounds Game (Slide 12)
OBJ: Students are learning to differentiate between a high and low sound.
*Instructors will share screen again here.*
Directions
- 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
Movement Activity (Slides 13 - 16)
OBJ: Students are being prepped to transition to a new class and finish Little Fingers class
Lesson Recap (Slide 17)
- Review what you have learned with the students.