Elementary Music Lesson Plans
Your Students Will Love!!

I have written many elementary music lesson plans throughout my teaching career even though music is not my forte.

A good friend of mine who teaches Music to preschoolers (and also has a beautiful singing voice) expressed her strong feelings about music in schools. She views music as an equal opportunity.

Everyone can participate - no matter your age, learning level, or socioeconomic background. Music is universal.Music is a fabulous communication tool!

Music is sooo much fun! You regard it as holistic - it can cover the whole curriculum - e.g. Math (1/8, 1/4 notes, part of your music theory lesson plans), Art (making musical instruments), History (rock and roll, classical music).

Music education in school is essential! It's a way of learning and everyone can respond to it. For the primary division there's counting beats, rhythm and rhyme, echo clapping. For the junior division they can write their own songs.

I was very lucky in my last school. My kids were reading buddies with the DH (developmentally handicapped) class. Their teacher, my good friend, who is very musically inclined, sang and played the guitar beautifully.

Hence she taught my class Music, from songs to the various musical notes (music theory lesson plans), to appreciate music in a whole different light.

It was truly a rewarding experience for my students and I learned a lot as well.

My point is - do you have a teacher on your staff that you can buddy up with or do an exchange?

It can make life so much easier for you to develop your elementary music lesson plans (if music is not one of your strong suits).

However I wasn't so fortunate in many schools where I taught. Since Music was a subject that I had to comment on on the report cards, I created a variety of simple elementary music lesson plans.

Keep in mind that I don't have any musical background but I wanted to make it fun for my students and not become stressed out myself.

Here are a list of topics that I covered in my elementary music lesson plans:

1. Echo Clapping - more for primary kids, a good listening skills activity too.

2. Holiday Songs - Remembrance Day/Memorial Day - e.g. "Where have all the flowers gone" (by Peter, Paul and Mary), Halloween, Christmas and Spring time.

3. Music Theory Lesson Plans - can consist of the basic musical notes 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, whole and rest symbols, 4/4 time, the treble clef, the lines EGBDF (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge) and spaces FACE (both starting from the bottom of the staff and going up).

4. The Recorder - your school may have a class set tucked away somewhere in the school. I bought my own. They're pretty cheap and buying a class set would be beneficial as you can use them each year. Perhaps your school could pay for them. Teach your students simple songs like Baa Baa Black sheep.

5. Making Musical Instruments - Great to co-ordinate with your Science unit on sound, or a wonderful Art project which you can extend for a few weeks and then incorporate into your music curriculum.

In small groups, the students have to play recognizable songs like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Examples of hand made instruments (done in school) - drums, guitars, kazoo, triangles. My kids loved making them.

6. Classical Music - Now granted, this isn't my kind of music, but my students enjoyed listening to well known pieces like Beethoven's 5th or 1812 overture and other composers' lighter pieces. Perhaps another staff member who is a classical buff can help you select some pieces.

7. Songs - get some songs on tape, learn them first and then teach them to the class. You can type out the words so everyone has a copy or put the words on an overhead.

8. Biographies - the Internet is great for this - either you choose various musical stars from different decades such as Buddy Holly or Elvis Presley from the 1950s or your students choose by researching them on the Internet (a computer lab lesson). They then have to present their star to the class.

9. Discussions - on various topics such as why people like/dislike hip hop, rap, country, etc. or survey students in the class/ school (staff as well) to find out the most popular type of music or what songs were most popular with the students parents, etc., etc., etc.

The list goes on and on. Once you start brainstorming, you too can create other elementary music lesson plans. If I can anyone can. Just don't be afraid.

Make it fun, entertaining and meaningful so that your students will learn something. Try it, you'll like it. You too can create music in school and in your classroom!

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