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This lesson is available as a simplified PDF. Click here.

Teaching fa and sol, reviewing drm and introducing note values using Thanksgiving-themed songs and visuals

1. Welcome Song (“Delicious Music“)
2. Review the school song. Learn or review a portion or all of the song for 3-5 minutes.
3. Nature/history/life connection: Discuss any changes in the weather, etc. or other events leading up to Thanksgiving vacation. It rained and then hailed the day I taught, so I had the children make a pitter patter sound, patting their hands on their thighs lightly, then faster, mimicking how the rain comes down faster, then louder and faster, pretending how it began to hail, then going in reverse order back to pitter patter. We then had a brief discussion about learning to listen to music in nature. I asked them what makes music in nature. They answered wind, rain, crickets, birds, and a turtle. I said that they would need to be a very good listener to hear the turtle! Other answers might have been thunder, leaves rustling, etc. Welcomed every answer and connect it back to learning to listen and observe. 
4. Review drm and “Hot Cross Buns.’ Ask them which hand signs and note names they remember from last week. Play these on the bells and review them as you play. Go slowly at first, then faster and faster. Do ascending (drm) first several times, making it a little game to go faster, and then descending the same way. As you sing “mrd” ask them what it reminds them of, and then sing and sign “Hot Cross Buns.” You could ask them if they are going to have special rolls for Thanksgiving.
5. “Over the River and Through the Woods.” Sing the song while reading from a picture book of the song. Many children are familiar with the song. Some are not. After singing it through once, sing the notes of the first line aloud. Open the bells set and start to play, beginning with sol. (ssssmrsss, etc.) Then point to sol and tell them it’s name, and fa and tell them its name. Play the first line again having them sing the new notes with you. Teach them the signs for these notes and sign/sing the first line. (ssssmrsss sd’d’d’tls). (As shown in the photo above, we use this version of the book at our school: Over the River and Through the Woods: A Thanksgiving Poem by Lydia Maria Child and illustrated by Christopher Manson.) 
6. Apple pie and note values and “I Am Like an Apple Seed” song. Hold up a green apple (Granny Smith—if you’ve got one—or any other variety if not) and a pie dish. Ask who loves apple pie at Thanksgiving. Tell them that when they help make apple pie next week that you hope they might think of something. Hold up the Song Seed© version of “I Am Like an Apple Seed” and/or “Hot Cross Buns” and ask them what is different about the notes besides their colors. (Size or how long you sing them, etc.) Hold up the apple slice chart and explain that the large circle is like a whole apple. If you cut a whole apple in half, you have 2 halves, right? If you cut it in half again, you have a (you can ask the children to fill in the blank by pausing and seeing if anyone knows) quarter, and in half again, you get an (pause) eighth of an apple. Each of these apples is half as big as the one before it. Notes are like this. Some are long, some are short, some are very short, and some are the shortest. Tell the children you are going to “sight read” (explain that that is what you call singing a song from a piece of sheet music for the first time) this song. Hold up the “Apple Seed” song and sing it. Sing and sign it. Teach them the words. Ask the teacher to be your metronome and clap one beat for the small notes and tell the children to listen and count how many claps the bigger notes at the end get. Sing it once while they are listening and then count it while singing the notes and count “1-2” at the notes at the end of the song. Tell them that the small notes are half as long as the larger ones in this song. Go back to the apple slices page and remind them that each each or note is half the size as the one before it. Invite them to think about this as they help someone make a pie for Thanksgiving.
7. Music composition. Tell the children you are going to write an “apple pie” song for Thankgsiving. Give them a line of lyrics (make one up) and then ask for suggestions for one more line of lyrics. (There isn’t necessarily time to write an entire song. It’s just the process of creation and composing that we are modeling.) Then ask for volunteers to suggest a Solfa note for each word/syllable. Write the abbreviation for each note above the word or syllable. After composing one line, sing and play it on the resonator bells for the children to hear. Then compose the second line and play it. Then sing the entire song all together while playing it on the bells. Invite them to compose a song over the holiday.
8. Sing “Adios, Amigos.”

Teaching Tip:

Sometimes I write my lesson plan on the board before I begin teaching.

Week 10 (For printable PDF of this lesson, go here.)

Thanksgiving Week

Welcome:  Delicious Music Theme Song

Review:  Anyone remember d,r,m,f,s signs?

Activity:  Feed the pig

1.  If You’re Thankful and You Know It Clap Your Hands – What are you thankful for toss?

2.  Who am I? (Mary Had a little lamb) – Use d,r, m, f, s bells

See my feathers colored bright, colored bright, colored bright (rpt) what a pretty sight.

See my tummy big and fat, big and fat, big and fat (rpt) what do you think of that?

See my head look all around, look all around, (rpt) for corn down on the ground.

See me as I strut and saw, strut and sway, strut and sway (rpt) gobble, gobble, gobble.

3.  A Thanksgiving Song (row, row, row your boat)  – Eddie Spaghetti

The Pilgrims sailed away, far across the sea

They came to America so they could be free

The Native Americans helped them plant the corn

Then they shared a great big feast, Thanksgiving Day was born!

4.  Thanksgiving Day Is Here (The Wheels on the bus)

The turkey on the farm says, “gobble, gobble, gobble” (rpt.) Thanksgiving Day is here

The farmer on the farm goes chop, chop chop, (rpt.)  Thanksgiving Day is here

The turkey on the farm says “Please help me! (Rpt.) Thanksgiving Day is here

The children on the farm say “Come and hide.”  (Rpt.)  Thanksgiving Day is here

The people of the farm eat Kentucky Fried Chicken, (rpt.) Thanksgiving Day is here

5.  I’m Thankful (Row, row, row your boat) – Pizza Contest

I’m thankful for my friends and my family.

I’m thankful for the food I eat

I’m happy to be me!

Week 1 (For a printable PDF of this lesson, click here.)

Getting to Know You Game:

Backpack filled with school items

Box of crayons – just like the different colored crayons, all the children are different and all are special.  Pick five children to play a short tune on the bells and tell us their name.  (Continue every week until all children have had a turn).

Bell – bell rings when school is out.  When we are finished with music time, sing “Adios Amigos” (teach first two lines).

Apple – introduce what Delicious Music is and a little about what we’ll learn.  Explain that every Friday when we gather together, we’ll sing “Delicious Music” theme song (teach first two lines).

Ruler – rules of music time (display poster).  1.  Everyone will have a turn (show apron with their names in a pocket to show how names will be drawn out so everyone has a chance to participate)  2. Lips closed when I’m teaching 3. Try your best and have fun!  Pretend you’re a ruler and sing “One, Two I stretch up tall.” (primary song)

Scissors – Just like we move our hands to make the scissors work, we will often use our bodies as we sing and move with the music.  Sing “I’m all made of Hinges.” (primary song)

Glue Stick – Share something about me:  I like to stick together with my family (show picture of my family)

I am going to be updating the website and including more lesson plans from the past 5 years of teaching.

I hope that parents who come here to get ideas for teaching music will be able to use these plans.

If you don’t understand something or need clarification, please contact me! I’m here to help.

Thanks!

I am SUPER happy today on several counts:

1. I found out that just this fall, the famous song we all have sung our whole lives, “Happy Birthday to You” (or “The Birthday Song”) is now in the public domain! That means we can use it on this website! We can make recordings to use in class! Woohoo! Time to celebrate!

2. I finished the page for “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” It is essentially what I hope all the free song pages will look like in the future when all the songs are written and have Song Garden© song pages, piano sheet music, Solfa note name dictation, and history about the song as well as any images that you might use to teach the song. Hooray!

3. I wrote some little lyrics for a Z song. Want to create the tune for it?

I would love anyone’s help who wants to help. Together we can build a great free resource for any parent, child, or teacher to use!

3.4: Composing and Composers (for a PDF version of this lesson plan, click here.

New Concepts: Composing music

Review Concepts: Composers

2 min.: Sing the DM theme song, then follow up on last week. Who remembers what a composer is? What composer did we learn about last week? What song did she write?

6-8 min.: A composer is someone who composes music. What does it mean to compose music? It means to write music. What is a song you know? Do you know who wrote that song? What about the song we sang last week? (“Over the River and Through the Woods?”) (See what the children remember, what they know.) Today we’re going to learn about some composers and then YOU are going to be a composer! YOU are going to write your very own song! Share 1-2 examples of songs and their composers (go to sidebar under Free Music and click on “The Happy Birthday Song,” “Over the River and Through the Woods,” or “Mary Had a Little Lamb“–as well as others!–for photos and stories behind these compositions.). Sing one verse of “Over the River and Through the Woods” in Solfa and using the book or just your own actions or with visuals—however you choose. Sing it more than once to help the children learn it. (Next week you will help them play some of it on the bells, so your goal is to help them have the tune solidly in their head. Words and multiple repetitions help the tune to “stick” and vice versa.)

5-7 min.: Teach how to retrieve, handle, play the bells. Tell the children that each set of bells is expensive and was a gift from mnay people. Tell them that they need to last for many kindergarten classes for many years, so we need to take care of them very gently. Does anyone have a new baby at their home? How do we take care of a new baby? That is also how you take care of a musical instrument: you are VERY gently. You don’t drop it. You open and close it very carefully.

If possible, have the children take their bells to their desks to play them. How you do this depends on number of students, where you store the bells, and how the teacher wants you to move the children. My best suggestion is to model how you want this done, and then invite the children to go get their bells one group–such as one line or one table–at a time. Tell them what you are looking for, and then praise them specifically for each part that they do correctly. Praise as specifically and as frequently as you can during this first time! (“I love how Fred is walking quietly to pick up his bells. I love how Judy put her bells down on the desk so gently. I love how Cindy opened her case but is waiting quietly for everyone to have their bells out before she gets the mallets out. I love how Roger is holding his mallet up in the air until I say to lower it,” etc.)

5 min.: Teach the children how to write a song. Model a simple composition process for 1 minute, then hand out a 3″x5″ card to each child. Have them write their name on one side of the card, then flip it over and color dots for the notes they want to play.

3 min.: Performances. Ask 3 children (or as many children as there is remaining time) to share their songs with the class. They play the notes that they colored on their 3×5 card. Remind the other children to use their best “audience manners” by listening politely to each performer and then clapping for each person at the end of their performance. The performers acknowledge the audience by bowing. You could also have “turn to your partner” performances if you want.

5 min.: Teach how to put away the bells in a careful and orderly way.

1 minute: Sing “Adios, Amigos” (Goodbye Song).

9-30-15: SOUND IS VIBRATIONS, and vibrations that are too loud, too often and for too long can affect our physiology by damaging our hearing.

We began class singing our DM song. I reviewed the Solfa scale (we sang it “up and down the mountain”–an ascending and descending scale) without handsigns, since I haven’t taught those yet. I put the pages up on the white board showing the colored notes going up and down (SONG SEEDS ASCENDING SCALE PDF; SONG SEEDS DESCENDING SCALE PDF). I pointed to each note as we sang. I taught them the handsign for Do, and we practiced it a few times.

We reviewed what sound is (“Sound is vibrations that travel to my ear that send a message to my brain to tell me what I hear”). They remember so well! We chanted it a few times to solidify their recall.

Then we spent the bulk of the lesson exploring vibrations and waves. I brought in three rubber bands that I stretched over a bread pan. We plucked them and saw how they vibrated. I reviewed that the vibrating rubber bands move the air molecules around them causing waves in the air, and these sound waves travel to our ears. Those sound waves travel kind of like waves in the water (when you drop a pebble in). I used a Slinky toy to show the idea of waves traveling through air. I pushed one end of the Slinky (that I was holding in the air) to see how they travel to the other side.

I took a large stock pot I had brought with me and stretched some plastic wrap across the top. I taped it on the sides so the plastic was taught. Next, I poured some little sprinkles onto the plastic. Then I took a wooden spoon and a large metal pizza pan and banged the pan. I did not let the pan touch the stock pot and pointed that out to the children, but had it close to the pan. The sprinkles “danced” on top of the plastic wrap, demonstrating how we cannot see the air molecules moving because our eyes aren’t able to see that small without magnification, but they still are there. I banged the pan for a minute and had them dance like sprinkles. They love that.

I told them that air molecules and sound waves are like the wind.  We don’t see the wind, but we know when it is there, because we can feel it, and hear it, and see the affects of its presence. I sometimes share this poem by Christina Rosetti (1830–1894) called “Who has seen the wind?”:

After these demonstrations, I explained how the little tiny cells in our inner ear , that are kind of like grass, can get ruined if we listen to sounds that are too loud too often or for too long. It’s kind of like trambling a path in grass when we walk over it continuously on the same spot. I encouraged them to be careful when they listen to music with earbuds/headphones on, to not have the volume too loud so that they don’t lose any of their hearing. (For more data on why and how hearing loss happens, go to the Dangerous Decibels website.)

At the end of the lesson, I taught them the song, “My Grandma Has a Green Thumb.” They love this song! It is just right for fall.

In closing, we sang our goodbye song.