First Grade - Lesson 1A

• Music
• Age 5
• 1st Grade

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 

"Today we will be learning about something very special in music called a steady beat. Say 'steady beat!'" (students say "steady beat")

"The steady beat is like the heartbeat of the music. See if you can feel your heartbeat. Your heart is going to be on the left side of your chest. Raise your right hand*." (depending on reflection settings on Zoom - instructor raises LEFT hand so students can mirror)

"Place your right hand across your body on the left side of your chest." (instructor demonstrates with left hand crossing over to right side of chest)

"This is where your heart is. Take 3 seconds to see if you can feel your heart. Can you feel it?"

"If you can't, that's okay! Another thing we can find is our pulse. We are going to find a pulse in our neck. Now this is very important. I want you to do this with ONE hand. How many hands are we using?" (ONE!)

"I want you to look up at the ceiling. Put 2 fingers on your chin. Remember, we are using how many hands?" (ONE)

"Now drag your fingers across your chin to your neck until you can feel a bump. That's your jaw! Slide your fingers down to that empty spot under the bump and see if you can feel your pulse."(instructors remember to demonstrate!) 

"Take 3 seconds to feel your pulse."

"What does your heart beat or pulse feel like? Does it keep going or does it stop?" (keeps going)

"Is it steady like this (instructor demonstrates what a steady beat looks like) or does it go faster and slower and faster and slower? (steady)

Steady Beat Visual

"So now I am going to take my heartbeat or pulse and put it up on the board." 

"What shape is this?" (heart)

"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)

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

*instructor viewing only and will stop sharing screen*

High and Low Patterns

*instructor viewing only and will stop sharing screen*

"Now we are going to try something new called body piano. First, I want you to use both hands and touch your forehead."

Students touch their foreheads.

"Now I want you to sing what I sing. I'm going to sing first. You sing when I am finished."

Instructor touches forehead while singing the words, "high, high, high, high" on an A.

Students echo.

"Now I want you to use both hands and touch your chin."

Students touch their chins.

"Sing what I sing. Remember, I sing first, you echo when I am finished."

Instructor touches chin while singing words, "low, low, low, low" on an F#. 

Students echo.

"Now I am going to mix them around. Remember to echo me AFTER I am finished singing. Remember to use your body piano!"

Instructor uses body piano and sings one measure at a time while using body piano (forehead = high, chin = low)

Students echo each measure after instructor while using body piano

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