PreK-K
Exposure to orchestra instruments, but no official assessment
- For instance, when listening to music, you can name instruments or act them out.
- When learning the opposites, such as high/low, fast/slow, soft/loud, we listen to animals from Saint- Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals.
- Zin Zin Zin a Violin book & DVD
1st grade
Name classroom and some orchestra instruments and families
- Peter & the Wolf
- Classroom percussion instruments – Name them as you use them in class.
Visuals / Worksheets / Assessments
2nd grade
Learn orchestra and folk string instruments
Visuals / Worksheets / Assessments
3rd grade
Learn families of the orchestra
Teach the 4 orchestra families and the main instruments in each family. Describe in general the differences between the families. Students must be able to name the family each orchestra instrument belongs in. They must also listen to an instrument (such as trumpet or flute) and identify which family that instrument is in.
Worksheet / Assessment
4th grade
Focus on Woodwind and Brass Families
Instruments in these two families can be easily confused. Students learn the names of all of the instruments in the two families and have to identify which family the instrument they hear belongs to.
Worksheet / Assessment
5th grade
Quick Orchestra Review
In 5th grade, we do a quick Orchestra review before the Ethnomusicology lesson, followed by the Invented Instrument unit.
For the Orchestra review lesson, I begin by meeting the students in the hallway and explain that every student will receive a card with an instrument on it. I have divided the board into 4 sections, labeled with the 4 families. Students must stick their cards on the board in the correct families (there is a small magnet on the back of each card). Orchestra visuals here.
I explain all of the instruments (This is review from previous years). Then I assess their knowledge.
Worksheet / Assessment
