lesson plan

Lesson Plan Overview: Little Fingers - Lesson 4

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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.
Rhythm Read Along - Pumpkin Walk Video ( 5 minutes)
Before playing the video, go over the following with the students:
  1. Discuss words used last week and their syllables (apple = 2, pear = 1).
  2. Discuss today's words and number of syllables (bat = 1, pumpkin = 2).
  3. Begin by playing the video and pausing on the first rhythm. Then, discuss the empty box, what it is supposed to sound like, and the motion to use for the rest.
  4. Practice reading the video.
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. Discuss how many sounds in ta (1)
  2. Discuss how many sounds in ta-ti (2)
  3. "Would bat be called ta or ta-ti?" (ta). "How do you know?" (Ta and bat both have 1 sound).
  4. "Would pumpkin be called ta or ta-ti?" (ta-ti). "Why?" (ta-ti and pumpkin have 2 sounds)
  5. Show students this slide: "Which of these notes would be ta?" "Why?" "Which one of these notes would be ta-ti?" "Why"
  6. Pick a rhythm from the video and write in notation on hearts (start by reading as pumpkin and bat - have students read as rhythm syllables)
  7. 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.
Movement Activity - Video (5 minutes)
  • Select another movement activity to practice active listening, steady beat, and to provide a brain break.
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, "Body Piano Tonal Practive," as a reference to create a pattern.

Body Piano Tonal Practice (5 minutes)
*Do not show slide. This is for teacher reference only*
  1. Instructor sings using neutral syllable "bum" 4 beats at a time while using body piano
  2. Students echo
  3. Instructor sings using solfege 4 beats at a time while using body piano
  4. Students echo
  5. Draw attention to skips ("Was that a step or a skip? What note did I skip?")
High and Low Exploration - Dinosaur Song (5 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. Begin by explaining to the students that the "Dinosaur" song includes skips.
  2. Engage the students in singing the Dinosaur song for review.
  3. Lead a discussion on skipping using xylophones, specifically focusing on measure 1 of the Dinosaur song. Prompt the students with a question: "Starting on the red bar, if you were to perform a skip, which color bar would you play next?" (Answer: yellow)
  4. Instruct the students to add measures 1 and 5 to the song.
  5. Have the students play the entire song.
Review (5 minutes)
Revisit what the student learned earlier by asking the following questions:
  1. Review the words covered last week and count their syllables (e.g., apple = 2, pear = 1).
  2. Discuss today's words and the number of syllables (bat = 1, pumpkin = 2)
  3. Display the first rhythm of the video, explain the concept of the empty box, describe the intended sound, and demonstrate the appropriate motion for the rest symbol.
  4. Engage in a reading practice session with the video.
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.