Orchestra K-5

  I teach the orchestra in different ways in different grades.

K - mostly listening and naming instruments here and there, nothing formal.  Materials: (1) Saint- Saëns' Carnival of the Animals recording while students identify high/low or fast/slow or soft/loud contrasting sounds. (2) Zin Zin Zin a Violin book - and maybe corresponding Reading Rainbow DVD for a sub to show. 

1st grade - we learn about percussion, mostly by playing classroom percussion instruments. Materials: Here are some flashcards. 

more cards

In 2nd grade, strings - not only orchestral strings, but folk string instruments also. Materials: See post. Also, here are some fun books, maybe for a sub to read or a filler lesson if one class is ahead of another. I divided them strings into "plucked" and "bowed." I used the videos that came with the old Silver Burdett series, but it would be easy enough to find youtube videos.

 

 

In 3rd grade, we learn all of the families and how to distinguish between the families.  Materials:

Inst game

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In 4th grade, I focus on Brasses and Woodwinds, since those families are the easiest to confuse. Materials:

In 5th grade, we again learn all of the families to then focus on instruments of the whole world. Then we build our own instruments. Materials:

Orchestra

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Other resources