Grade: 1st grade

Class: General Music

General Topic: Week four in October
A. Objectives
a. Students will continue to develop their steady tempo, rhythm reading,
mallet playing, and ascending/descending notes by working through
various exercises as a class that vary to focus on certain abilities.
B. Standards
a. State Standards
i. Mu:Pr4.1.1.b
1. With limited guidance, demonstrate knowledge of
musical concepts (for example, beat, melodic contour)
in a variety of music selected for performance.
b. National Standards
i. 1a
1. Sing Accurately in small ensembles
ii. 6b
1. Listen and analyze uses of pitch, rhythm, timbre, in
music form diverse genres
C. Assessments
a. Informal
i. Participation
1. I will be observing the students as the class goes on to
see which students are actively participating and which
students are not. In addition I will be cold calling on
students to make sure that they are all paying attention
and have a chance to actively engage with the lesson. I
will also be able to answer any questions the kids have
ii. Questioning
1. I will ask the student’s questions as we go on that are
based on what we are learning. I will go more in depth
in these questions during the instruction and learning
segment.
iii. Formative Assessment
1. This lesson will also feature a short amount of time for
students to fill out and complete their opera booklets.
The students recently say an opera and the booklet
explores the different positions and jobs needed to have
an opera be a success. This 14-page booklet has been
provided by the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the students
are expected to finish pages 14 and 9. Along with as
much as they can in a half hour period. This will be
collected to show what the students had learned from
their experiences.

D. Instruction and Learning (45 min)

a. Opening: As the kids come into the room, I will welcome them and
remind the students that there should only be one jacket on each chair
and stool in the room. Once they are seated I will explain a pulse
exercise we will be doing. The students will listen to “In the Hall of the
Mountain King” and as they do that they are to mimic my rhythmic
movements to the song. (5 minutes)
b. Lesson (50-60 minutes)
i. After the opener we will be learning a song called Little Jack
Pumpkin Face. We will learn first the text of the song, then we
will discuss phrases. This song has four phrases and each
phrase has its own movements. We will slowly building their
knowledge of this song and then we will preform the song
three times in a row. (8-10 minutes)
ii. The next song we will sing is titled “What Will You Be?” I will
first teach the students the single line of then we will learn the
melody while the students keep a steady beat on their lap.
Then I will explain that we will sing the text, then i will choose
four students in a row to say what they were for Halloween in
rhythm of the song. During this it is important for the students
to keep the steady beat going. Then after the one kid says their
costume the class will echo it back. We will repeat this process
with the whole class. (12-15 minutes)
iii. Once this song is complete we will move on to talk about an old
poem we did a couple weeks ago. I will have students keep a
steady beat and say the poem a couple of times to refresh their
memories. Then I will notate four bars of simplified quarter
notes. Then I will explain to the kids that these are called
quarter notes and to sing them we say “ta.” Then I will have
them keep a steady rhythm on their lap and say “ta” for each
quarter note. Then I will make three quarter notes in each line
a pair of eight notes. I will explain to the class that these are
eight notes and in order to read them we say “ti”. So a line will
go “ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ta”. Then after I explained this we will sing
through what is written on the board together. After we finish I
will ask if the students noticed any similarities about the poem
and the rhythms we just played. The answer I’m looking for is
that they are both the same. (5-8 minutes).
iv. We will now move into a movement-based exploration of
ascending and descending sounds. The class will do this by
listening to me tell a story about a squirrel. I will be sitting at a
alto xylophone in the front of the room and when I say the
word “up” or the word “down” the students will move their
arms in that direction. After some time I have the students
provide some ideas about what should happen next in the
story. (5-8 minutes)
 v. Closer: Once the class has ended the squirrel story I will assess
to see if the class knows how ascending and descending
sounds. I will have them all sitting quietly with their hands in
their laps. I will be sitting at the piano in front of them. Then I
will instruct them that when I play something they have to
show me, with their thumbs, if the music is going up or down
in pitch. I will be observing the class to see if they have gotten
the understanding or if we need to solidify it in the future.
After this exercise the class will line up in two separate lines by
the door and they will leave the classroom once the teacher
guides them out. (5-8 minutes)
c. Support for diverse learners:
i. This lesson has been designed so students can learn in a
multitude of ways. We will be using some movements, reading,
conversation, imitation, visualization, exploration, and
listening. This approach will target students who learn the best
in a multitude of ways. I will also explain any terms that may
be new or confusing to non-English speakers.

E. Instructional Resources and Materials

a. Teacher needs: Game Plan book, alto xylophone, white board,
markers, and a piano
b. Student needs: nothing