Lessons with Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree

Lessons with Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree is a charming children’s book about a too-tall Christmas tree that keeps getting whittled down, providing Christmas joy for a variety of humans and animals alike, from a wealthy man to a mouse.  I actually don’t remember how I learned about the book, but it…

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Rhythm Lesson: Queen Caroline

Queen Caroline

This piece can be used off and on throughout the elementary school years. It has a “perfect rhythm.” Kindergarten and 1st Grade, beginning of the year: 4 Voices: Whisper Shout Talk Sing – Create a story about a king and queen. 1) All the people in the castle were whispering about the queen’s hair (whisper…

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Good, Better, Best

Good, Better, Best A Rhythm and Movement Lesson for Grades 4-6 Download a printable version of Michael Chandler’s lesson here. Objectives: Working with beat and divided beat through movement, body percussion, and instruments. Choreographing simple movement to elemental forms. Rhythmic and melodic improvisation and composition with elemental forms. Arranging and orchestrating a performance piece. Materials: Unpitched…

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Class Composition Using So, La, and Mi

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: Class Composition Using So, La, and Mi Suggested Grade Level: Late First Grade, Early Second Grade Objectives: Students decipher eighth and quarter notes by ear Students compose and notate melody using So, La, and Mi Students play melody on Orff instruments from written notation Materials: …

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Explore Rhythm and Meter With the Chrome Music Lab

Katie Wardrobe of Midnight Music shares her music tech lesson plan, which guides students to compose and play rhythms in different meters with Chrome Music Lab. In March, Google launched the free Chrome Music Lab Experiments site to celebrate Music In Our Schools month and to allow users to explore the way in which music works.…

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Purposeful Pathways Lesson: Old Mother Brown

We hope you and your young students enjoy this Old Mother Brown lesson taken from Purposeful Pathways: Possibilities for the Elementary Music Classroom, Book Two – by BethAnn Hepburn and Roger Sams. Designed to encourage active music making, this lesson includes pathways to pitch, literacy, composition, rhythm, and ensemble. Click on the link to download the lesson: Purposeful…

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