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Elementary Unit: Fa

4th grade

Michael Fibelkorn

2 November 2017
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Table of Contents
Introduction to the Unit………………………………………………………………....3
Pre-Assessment………………………………………………………………....4
Post-Assessment………………………………………………………………....4
Interdisciplinary/World Music………………………………………………………………....5
Unit Outline………………………………………………………………………………6
Lesson Plans…………………………………………………………………………...8
Prepare 1: Lesson 1………………………………………………………………….8
Prepare 2: Lesson 2………………………………………………………………….11
Prepare 3: Lesson 3………………………………………………………………….14
Present: Lesson 4………………………………………………………………….17
Practice 1: Lesson 5…………………………………………………………………21
Practice 2: Lesson 6…………………………………………………………………24
Practice 3: Lesson 7…………………………………………………………………27
Practice 4: Lesson 8………………………………………………………………....29
Practice 5: Lesson 9………………………………………………………………....32
Practice 6: Lesson 10………………………………………………………………....35
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Introduction to the Unit

For my 4th grade Elementary Unit plan, I have selected to focus on the melodic concept
of “Fa”. This is a musical concept that focuses on students learning “Solfege” (Do, re, mi, fa, sol,
la, ti, do) and applying it to reading and performing music. By completing our knowledge on
solfege, students can apply these concepts and skills to their future music classrooms.
According to the USD 383 Manhattan District Scope and Sequence model, where this
unit stems from, students will have already learned and be proficient with melodic concepts
such as “Low Do”, “Re”, “Mi”, “Sol”, “La”, “Ti”, “High Do”, as well as these other concepts that
are in their prior knowledge:
• Transposition to C
• Pentatonic scale
• Low La
• Low So
• F, G, & La pentatonic
• Names of lines and spaces on staff
• Pitch matching
Thanks to the USD 383 Scope and Sequence model, the songs and all of their exercises
and activities are appropriate, yet challenging, for their musical abilities. With this model, I can
scaffold their new information with all of their prior knowledge so students can grow in the
most efficient, yet powerful, way.
Though “fa” is the main focus of this unit, other skills and abilities will be worked on and
included in the activities planned in the unit. These skills and activities include concepts such as
Ties, Syncopation, 6/8, dotted eighth-sixteenth, ties, function of 4/4 and 6/8, keyboard
percussion technique, improvisation, and much more. This unit will feature opportunities for
cross-curricular connections as well. Connections include different musical genres, reading
comprehension, geography, dance, and the historical and cultural backgrounds of the songs.
Every time a new song is introduced into our classroom, we will be sure to explore their
traditions, languages, and music.
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Pre-Assessment
The pre-assessment tool of choice I will be using for the “Fa” Elementary Unit will be a
checklist of all of the pre-requisite skills needed for the new melodic concept. Each student will
have their own checklist and I, as the teacher, will formatively assess each student’s ability to
meet these prerequisite skills within the first 3 lessons of the unit. These first three lessons of
the unit are known as the “Prepare” Unit. By doing the pre-assessment early on in the unit, I
can make the proper revisions or add the extra assistance needed for all students to succeed. If
students are struggling before beginning the unit, I can add some more prepare lessons to
prepare students for the concepts to come. Though I currently only have 3 prepare lessons, I
am not afraid to add more if that means that my students will gain more from the unit if I take
that extra time for them.

Pre-Assessment Checklist
o Low Do, Re, Mi, Sol, La, Ti, and High Do
o Transposition to C
o pentatonic
o Low La
o Low So
o F, G, & La pentatonic
o Names of lines and spaces on staff
o Pitch Matching

Post-Assessment (Summative)
In my “Practice 5, Lesson 9” Lesson plan, the class gets to explore the song “Welcome to
New York” by Taylor Swift. Within this lesson, I am using the assessment tool of an individual,
summative quiz. Students will have many of these “quizzes” throughout the unit where they
have to fill out the solfege under notes—but the times before involve teacher support, peer
support, and more guidance and accommodations within the assignments. This final post-
assessment will release all of those supports and let students have the opportunity to showcase
their mastery of the melodic concept of “fa” with exact quantitative data of how well the
students performed.
The great thing about this post assessment is that there is more than just one skill and
ability being measure. Students are using other solfege syllables, hand signs, analyzing
recordings, and sight singing abilities. All of these aspects have also been worked on throughout
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the unit so the post-assessment allows for students to use all of their abilities and knowledge to
increase their chances of success.

Last 8 measures of “Welcome to New York”

Interdisciplinary/World Music
Throughout the unit, many musical concepts were learned and applied within practices,
activities, and games. In the present lessons, students gained knowledge of musical form
through call and response and composition of their own forms. Many genres were touched on,
including sea shanties, lullabies, and Blue Grass. And though focusing on melodic concepts,
rhythm was used every single lesson, with keeping beat with body percussion, keyboard
percussion, and auxiliary instruments. Through teacher echo techniques and call and response
strategies, students were able to perform all types of rhythm with struggle. With different
genres, students were able to able to explore using their voices in different ways. By exploring
different genres, students could perform with many types of timbre.
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While working with so many types of songs that come from all over the world, many
cross-curricular connections were able to be incorporated within the unit activities. Students
were able to benefit from reading in “Abiyoyo”, dancing in “Big Rock Candy Mountain”, history
in “Rio Grande”, “Lullaby”, and “Tortoises”, and physical movement in “Welcome to New York”.
Each song provided opportunities to learn in an almost interdisciplinary setting.
In my World Music section, “Abiyoyo” proved to be a great starting piece for students to
realize that other parts of the world have similar traditions, though their culture may be
different. The song was written from the Zulu language in South Africa, it is a folk tale, and
students were able to discover on a map where this folk tale originated from. World music
allows for my unit to express many points of while preaching the importance and fun that
music can provide, no matter where it comes from.

Outline of Unit
Prepare Lessons (Lessons 1-3):
The first 3 lessons students will get to experience will be “Abiyoyo”, “Big Rock Candy
Mountain”, and “Rio Grande”. The focus of the present lessons will be to cover all pre-
requisites (which will be taken care of with the pre-assessment checklist), introduce the
concept of “fa” through wrote learning, and use creative activities and cross-curricular methods
to make the learning memorable and fun. Within these 3 lessons, students will be able to
explore history, improvise on instruments, read literature, dance, and compose.

Present Lesson (Lessons 4):

In the Present section of the elementary unit, students are supposed to discover the
concept of “fa” on their own in three different ways. Aurally, I want the students to be able to
hear the new concept and realize that there is something new within the song. In my present
lesson, I chose to have the students sing a piece of music they already know, “Amazing Grace”,
then I changed up one note—changing it to fa. Students will be able to recognize and identify
the change in the music and where it is at. Symbolically, students are also to discover how to
perform the new concept, but not using regular musical notation. Students are supposed to use
symbols, or alternate notation, to make that next level of discovery. In my lesson, I have the
students perform the new concept on keyboard percussion in “Amazing Grace”, making sure
that they not only know how to perform fa, but how to feel it in their bodies as well. Lastly,
students are to discover the new concept in regular notation form. For this, I take a song from
the prepare lessons, “Big Rock Candy Mountain”, and have students connect the note names to
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the solfege syllables using the solfege chart by the whiteboard. By allowing all three types of
discovery, students can make their knowledge of these musical concepts lasting.

Practice Lessons (Lessons 5-10)

To begin the final chunk of my lesson, I started off by reviewing the final 2 songs that I
never came back to in my prepare lessons, “Abiyoyo” and “Rio Grande”. In first 2 lessons,
students are able to still compose, read, and play percussion instruments, but now they are
needing to begin connecting the concept of “fa” into the song they already know. Through
teacher modeling and peer support, students are able to discover with some assistance how to
perform the new solfege to the older songs.
Next in my practice lessons, I was able to introduce 3 new songs that students could
apply their new found knowledge to: “Brahms’ Lullaby”, Saint-Saens’ “Tortoises, and Taylor
Swift’s “Welcome to New York”. In “Lullaby” and “Tortoises”, students get the opportunity to
write in solfege multiple times, experience the beginning of solfege hand signs, and exploring
the history of new pieces of music, as well as their composers. In the final song, “Welcome to
New York” students get a chance to showcase their solfege abilities through writing, singing,
and hand signs. By allowing this lesson to incorporate my post-assessment activity, students
receive the best chance possible to succeed in the classroom.
In my final and 10th lesson, students are challenged to begin taking the next step of the
melodic skillset—intervals. All throughout the unit, I was practicing these solfege intervals as a
warmup. By introducing this early into the unit, students will have an easier time grasping
future melodic concepts thanks to the strong structure this unit was able to build.
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Lesson Plans
FULL Lesson Plan for Prepare #1
Teacher Name: Michael Fibelkorn

Objectives:
 Students will improvise with auxiliary percussion instruments to the right characters of
“Abiyoyo” singing the chorus.
 Students will perform the interval song as a group with no mistakes in memory of the
words.

Standards Being Addressed:

 2.1 CK The teacher knows the characteristics, ranges and traditional usages of various
musical sound sources to make the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to
assure mastery of content.
 6.2 PS The teacher selects, designs, and applies music assessment strategies that
evaluate the program to ensure students’ learning, skill, and artistic development.

Materials of Instruction:
 Piano
 Power Point of book, “Abiyoyo”
 World map bulletin
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 Auxiliary percussion

Lesson Sequence (lessons may have more or less activities as appropriate):

Entry Activity/Transition/Warmup:
T will sing Interval song for students

Activity #1: Interval song

1. T sings whole song (with piano chords to solidify key)
2. T asks students “What songs did you recognize in there?”
3. Ss reply
4. T sings “Do Re, Happy Birthday to you” (no piano or just melody)
5. Ss echo
6. T sings “Do Mi, 3 blind mice”
7. Ss echo
8. T sings “Do Sol, Star Wars, oh how I love Star Wars”
9. Ss echo
10. T sings “Do La, My Bonnie lies over the ocean”
11. Ss echo
12. T sings “Do Ti, Maria”
13. Ss echo
14. T sings “Do, high do, somewhere over the rainbow”
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15. Ss echo

Transition: “Be on the lookout for this warmup in the future.” T will stay at piano

Activity #2: “Abiyoyo” Introduce with history

1. T sings “Abiyoyo” as a whole (play chords along to provide key center)
2. T asks tells students that this folk song is from South Africa, in the language of Zulu, and
other historical facts about the song being a folk tale for children—originally being a
poem then set to music later.
3. T goes over to world map and asks if there are any students who like to come point out
South Africa on the map
4. Student can go put a pin on where the song originated from
5. T echo “Abiyoyo” 1st phrase back and forth until solidified
6. T echo 2nd phrase back and forth until solidified
7. T echo and perform the 2 different phrases connected

Transition: “Now that we have learned the song, let’s read the story
Activity #3: Students read story on PowerPoint
1. T asks students to gather closely to the board into 2 rows
2. T turns down lights
3. T starts story and leads class whenever the time to sing occurs
4. T picks students to read aloud to class (volunteers only to keep it feeling safe)
5. Finish story by singing “Abiyoyo” as students walk back to their seats
Transition: T and students sing song as they all move back to their seats
Activity #4: Improvisation with Instruments and the story
1. T asks students who were the 4 main characters in the story (asks for hands)
2. Ss answer “Abiyoyo, boy, father, and towns people”
3. T says “I would like to read the story one more time, but this time we are going to add a
twist. I would like for you all to pick and choose and play your own instruments”
4. T “I need an instrument for Abiyoyo. Which instrument to you guys think will fit his big
monstrous self”
5. Do the same for the father, son, and townspeople
6. After choosing all the instruments tell class to go to one of the four instruments and
whenever your character is being shown in the story, they can play their instruments.
Whenever we all sing “Abiyoyo” we can all play!
7. T reads whole story while Ss play instruments and play instruments.
Conclusion: After students finish story, T will ask “What made the second time we read the story
different than the first?” Students can answer by raising their hands.
Assessment:

 T will use a formative assessment while the students are performing the interval song.
The main purpose of the song in this lesson is for them to memorize the words and start
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putting them in the right order so that when the unit continues on and we decide to pull
out the warmup again, they will be able to have prior knowledge of the activity.
 T will use a formative assessment while observing the students as they sing the interval song. T
will mainly focus on the accuracy of the words as they sing the warmup. Since this will be the
first time hearing the warmup, note exact note accuracy correction should not be the main
focus, as it is a warmup and will be re-introduced later in the unit.

FULL Lesson Plan for Prepare #2

Teacher Name: Michael Fibelkorn

Objectives:
 Students will continuously dance to the beat of the song by stepping on 1 and 3 as
Teacher sings “Big Rock Candy Mountain”.
 Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the beat of “Big Rock Candy Mountain” by
performing the choreography, staying on beat the entire time.
 Students will perform the refrain 100 % from memory with echo modeling from the
teacher.

Standards Being Addressed:

 4.3 CK The teacher understands the common elements of music and their interaction
through aural and visual analysis.
 5.2 PS The teacher evaluates a varied repertoire of music through planning, engaged
instruction, performance, and assessment.

Materials of Instruction:
 Open floor space
 Piano
 World map bulletin
 https://youtu.be/oyJ4Pz0eFJM (audio track for the dance)
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Lesson Sequence (lessons may have more or less activities as appropriate):

Entry Activity/Transition/Warmup: T has students stand in a circle, asks students to follow along
with their feet, and plays “Big Rock Candy Mountain” recordingl. T begins stepping on 1 and 3
as song is sang. Ss follow along stepping to the beat.

Activity #1: Students learn song (whole group will sing chorus)
1. T tells students that they will be learning the refrain of the song (T will sing “oh the
buzzin of bees”)
2. T provides harmonic context (Do, mi, sol, mi, do, ti, do). Sings whole refrain with piano.
3. T breaks refrain into 4 parts. T sings 1st part (no piano)
4. Students echo
5. Polish if need be
6. Repeat with the remaining 3 parts of the refrain. Start by singing one part at a time then
add slowly until they can sing all 4 parts of the refrain from memory.

Transition: T asks students “The name of this style of music is bluegrass. Can anyone tell me
where on this map does bluegrass originate from?”

Activity 2: History
1. T takes answers and leads students to the Appalachian Mountains (Appalachia).
Volunteer student can come place a thumb tack up on the bulletin world map.
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2. T asks students “Can anyone tell me what this song is telling us we should do” (T sings
the chorus one more time if students are stuck)
3. T leads students to the message of “the hobos paradise” (aka: appreciating the simple
things in life that don’t seem extravagant)
Transition: T says “Today, I would love for us to learn a simple dance that shows how much we
appreciate the simple things in life that are given to us for free”
Activity #3: Students learn dance to song to verse and chorus
1. T asks students to join in when they are comfortable (no singing yet)
2. T sings the verse and alternates stomps on 1 and 3. T will sing (no piano) and only
stomp until all students are stomping correctly.
3. T sings the verse again and adds claps on 2 and 4. T will sing, stomp, and clap until all
students are stomping and clapping correctly.
4. T will move onto singing the refrain (students still no singing). T tells students to be
prepared to move around the circle.
5. T sings refrain while doing a shuffle step while leading with the right foot.
6. Practice this until all students understand the right foot shuffle
7. T sings refrain again and has students do a left foot shuffle around the circle
8. T then does the refrain while alternating between a right foot and a left foot shuffle.
9. T sings verse and refrain together, having the students perform both choreographed
movements in succession.
10. T plays audio recording and sings along while students practice dance and singing the
refrain when it comes.
Transition: T will have students move back into their circle ready for their final performance
Activity #4: Choreographed Performance with song (teacher can sing verses)
1. T and students perform their choreographed dance and song to the audio recording to
finish out the class.
Transition: If time allows, students could perform for their homeroom teacher when they come
and get picked up—giving the students a more realistic performance for an outside audience.
Assessment:

 T uses formative assessment where the corrections and instruction is given during the
activity. We are still in the prepare stages of the lesson so I am wanting to keep the
learning of concepts still all by ear and movement, without any visuals or summative
assessments where they are to write down their knowledge.
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FULL Lesson Plan for Prepare #3

Teacher Name: Michael Fibelkorn

Objectives:
 Students will create a group arrangement of “Rio Grande” using auxiliary percussion
instruments as they perform straight through without stopping.
 With a teacher model, students will sing on pitch while coming in correctly every time
there is the chorus or refrain.
Standards Being Addressed:

 2.4 The teacher creates music appropriate for various developmental stages.
Materials of Instruction:
 Bells and all shaker auxiliary instruments
 Triangles
 Hand drums
 World map bulletin
 White board with markers
 Piano
 https://youtu.be/UgzkDzbVqWQ (Walk in warmup music)
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Warmup/Intro: Students will walk into the room with https://youtu.be/UgzkDzbVqWQ music
playing, setting the sea shanty music. Students will be guided into a circle and be told to find an
instrument on the ground and begin playing to the beat of the song. T will sway to the song so
students will engage their bodies as they play to the beat of the shanty.

Transition: T will walk over to computer and turn down the volume on the warmup song.
Students will then be asked to set instruments down on the inside of the circle and find a seat
within the circle.
Activity #1: Students learn choruses and final refrain to song (with teacher singing verses) (big
group)
1. T sings the entire song of “Rio Grande” with piano chords of piece.
2. T then guides students into an echo (no piano)
3. T provides harmonic context (Do, mi, sol, mi, do, ti, do)
4. T sings refrain part 1 of 4
5. Students echo back.
6. T continues this pattern with the following 3 parts—polishing if students do not sing it
correctly. T will also begin putting the parts together, one after another, until full refrain is
learned.
7. T sings verse and demonstrates the echo chorus, modeling for students what is desired.
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8. T repeats the first verse and Ss sing chorus

9. T repeats this process for the Ss next Chorus response.
10. T connects the chorus responses to the final refrain with students performing.
11. Repeat until students know the timing of their entrances and lengths of their choruses.
Transition: T asks students “Can we have everyone turn to one partner and discuss who may
sing this style of song?”
Activity #2: History of the song
1. Students finish with partners and T takes hands on different groups’ answers.
2. T guides students to the genre and style of Sea Shanty
3. T explains how sea shanties can be traced back to the days in the 18th and 19th
centuries when Africans were taken from Africa and sent to the Western World. T also
talks about how these were work songs for people on the boat to sing to pass the time or
send secret codes to one another (T shows students where Africa is on Map)
4. T asks students if there is anyone who can come point at Rio Grande on a map
5. T guides students to Rio on a map
Transition: T “Now that we have some background on the piece, can I have everyone grab the
instrument that is in front of them”
Activity #3: Small group composition on instruments (small group back to big group)
1. T tells students “I would like to create a song with Rio Grande and these instruments in
front of us. Before we play our instruments though, let’s sing our song one more time”
2. T and Ss practice singing “Rio”
3. T asks students “When do you think it would be a good time for you all to play your
instruments?”
4. T guides Ss to either during the verse, during the chorus, and/or during the refrain.
5. As students give ideas, T will write down “Teacher, Students, and All” into three
columns. Under each one, T will write play or leave it blank as ideas come across.
6. T can experiment with a couple different arrangements and have a general consensus
with students on which sounds better.
7. T and Ss perform “Rio Grande” with new arrangement on board.

Transition: Polish as needed for final performance

Activity #4: Performance all together

1. T can have Ss perform their finished product to finish off the class for themselves or for
their teacher when they come pick them up.

Conclusion: Can use performance as the finish to the class. T can ask final questions such as
“How did making your own instrument arrangement change the song?”
Assessment:

 T uses formative assessment where the corrections and instruction is given during the polishing
of the final performance. We are still in the prepare stages of the lesson so I am wanting to keep
the learning of concepts still all by ear and movement, without many visuals or summative
assessments where they are to write down their knowledge.
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Present Lesson Plan

FULL Lesson Plan for Present (Big Rock Candy Mountain; m. 1-8)

Teacher Name: Michael Fibelkorn

Objectives:
 Students will identify Fa aurally by listening to “Amazing Grace” and identifying with their
words where I changed the note in the music.
 Students will identify Fa through solfege symbols by playing on keyboard percussion
measures 5-8 with the inclusion of the fa.
 Students will identify Fa through standard notation by transferring pitch names into
solfege in small groups with no errors on their worksheets.
 Students will perform song—on solfege—and dance as an ensemble to the “Candy Rock
Mountain” audio track without stopping.

Standards Being Addressed:

 1.5 PS The teacher performs alone and in small and large ensembles (vocal and
instrumental).
 3.3 PS The teacher performs music notation at sight vocally and instrumentally
 4.6 PS The teacher demonstrates effective strategies for developing students’
growth through a variety of active musical experiences
 5.4 PS The teacher facilitates student self-evaluation of music and musical
performances.

Materials of Instruction:
https://youtu.be/oyJ4Pz0eFJM (audio track for the dance)

Solfege Hand signs Poster

Projected music on board

First 8 measures of “Big rock” handout

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Lesson Sequence (lessons may have more or less activities as appropriate):

Entry Activity/Transition/Warmup:
T will have students walk into a recording of a prior song they already know that is pentatonic.
The song will be “Amazing Grace”.

Activity 1: Warmup (Aural discovery) in key of C

1. T sings “Amazing Grace”, as is. Ss can join in. (Sing 2x)
2. T asks students to just listen this time when the T sings the variation (singing a fa on beat
one of measure 8)
3. T asks students, “What was different?” (give wait time)
4. Ss respond and talk about the “fa”, not saying it is a fa
5. T sings while students listen and close their eyes
6. Ss sing the variation
7. T polishes with students

Transition: T “Now that we are warmed up vocally, let’s get our ears warmed up”

Activity #2: Neutral syllable echo for an ear warmup activity

1. T sets the key by singing “Do, Mi, Sol, mi, do, ti, do”
2. (Remainder of solfege in activity 2 will be on a neutral syllable) T sings alone “Do, Re,
mi” while pointing to the correct solfege syllable each time
3. Ss echo
4. T sings “Do, Mi, Sol”
5. Ss echo
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6. T sings “Sol, Fa, Mi”

7. Ss echo
8. T sings “Mi, re, do”
9. Ss echo
10. T sings “Do, Mi, Sol, fa”
11. Ss echo
12. T sings “Do, Mi, Fa”
13. Ss echo
14. T sings “Fa, Mi, Re”
15. Ss echo
16. T sings “Re, ti, Do”
17. Ss echo
*Make sure to repeat and polish when students do not echo the pattern back correctly for each
one.

Transition: T will set the key (Do, mi, sol, mi, do, ti, do)

Activity #3: Symbol Keyboard (pitches) on a foot piano (I ACTUALLY OWN ONE) and keyboard percussion

1. Demonstrate measures 5-8 on foot piano, playing (do, mi, do, mi, re, sol----fa). The foot piano
will have the pitches on each key. This will hook them
2. T has the correct pitch sequence written on whiteboard (c, e, c, e, d, g-----f). Students will be
then grouped into partners and have a xylo (or other keyboard perc. instrument) in front of
them in a circle.
3. T sets the key (Do mi sol mi do ti do)
4. T Plays measure 5
5. Students echo
6. T plays measure 6
7. Students echo
8. T plays measure 7-8
9. Students echo
10. T combines m. 5-6
11. Ss echo
12. T plays m. 5-8 while students pretend to hit their mallets on the correct key
13. T and students play together. Polish as needed.
14. T then can take volunteers to try it on the foot piano while everyone else plays their mallets.
This can go in a cycle if many want to attempt it alone.

Transition: T asks students to leave all musical materials on the inside of the circle where we cannot
reach it.

Activity #4: “Big Rock…” Solfege Symbol to notation transition

1. T ask students to pat their legs to the beat while T sings full 8 measures on neutral syllable and
guess what song I am singing.
2. Students hear song and T leads them to “Big Rock Candy Mountain”
3. Review. T and Ss sing 8 measures on neutral syllable. Polish as needed
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4. Sing it using note names (still on board…(e d, c c c d e g gg a a f a g…gg a a c c a g, gg a g f e d..) T

and Ss altogether
5. Polish as needed
6. T hands out “Big Rock” sheet music of 8 measures with blanks under each note
7. T puts the solfege chart up on the board with a C next to do. T breaks class into small groups and
tells them “put the correct solfege syllable under each note using the chart and your classmates
as help”
8. T walks around to guide students so they can discover it themselves
9. Once all groups have finished, T asks a volunteer to come put their group’s answers on the
board where the music of the 8 measures is.
10. T models singing on the solfege
11. T sets the key
12. T and Ss sing the solfege on the board. T has students help correct answers on board if they are
wrong

Transition: T breaks class into two groups. One in the middle of the circle performing the song
solfege while the other group does the choreographed dance around the circle.

Activity #5: “Big Rock…” Solfege and Dance

1. T and full class (both groups) first get around the circle and all practice/review the dance.
2. T and full class (both groups) then all stand in the middle of the circle and sing the new solfege
for the whole song. T will be sure to set the key (do, mi, sol, mi, do, ti, do) before.
3. T plays the audio recording (https://youtu.be/oyJ4Pz0eFJM) for the final performance of the 2
groups performing separately. Each group will get two tries with their first rotation.
4. T and students perform the opposite group twice as well.
5. T can polish, pause, and adapt as needed if problems/confusion occurs

Conclusion: Ss and T can perform for teacher when they come to pick up their class if time allows.

Assessment:

 For the aural assessment, T will use a formative peer assessment that is informal because the
students are raising their hands and pointing out when they hear the different note in “Amazing
Grace”
 For the symbol assessment, T will use a formative assessment using mallets because the
students are using the pitch names to play that weird note that is discovered in the aural
section.
 For the notation assessment, T will use both formative because the T will have the students sing
the pitch names as a group, get into small groups, and fill out their papers to discover the new
solfege syllables of the piece.
 T will use a summative, performance assessment as the students perform their solfege of “Big
Rock Candy Mountain” while performing their pre-learned choreography.
 21

Practice Lesson Plans

FULL Lesson Plan for Practice Lesson #5
Teacher Name: Michael Fibelkorn

Objectives:
 In partners and with guided instruction, students will identify and write down the
correct solfege in the blanks of “The Interval Song” WS with no mistakes.
 In partners and with guided instruction, students will identify and write down the
correct solfege in the blanks of the “Abiyoyo” WS with no mistakes.
 In an ensemble setting, students will perform “Abiyoyo” on Boom Whackers at the
right time in the music.

Standards Being Addressed:

 1.5 PS The teacher performs alone and in small and large ensembles (vocal and
instrumental).
 3.3 PS The teacher performs music notation at sight vocally and instrumentally.
 6.2 PS The teacher selects, designs, and applies music assessment strategies that
evaluate the program to ensure students’ learning, skill, and artistic development.

Materials of Instruction:
Boom whackers!
Surface to write on
Small handout of “Abiyoyo” (transposed to C major)
Pencil
Solfege Chart
Projector
Whiteboard
Handout of “Interval song”
 22

Lesson Sequence (lessons may have more or less activities as appropriate):

Entry Activity/Transition/Warmup:
T will have students walk into the classroom into their normal, assigned seating and begin
singing the interval song. Students may sing along if they remember or just listen if they are
more comfortable with that.

Activity #1:
Interval song
16. T sets key
17. T sings whole song
18. T asks students “What songs did you recognize in there?”
19. Ss reply
20. T sings “Do Re, Happy Birthday”
21. Ss echo
22. T sings “Do Mi, 3 blind mice”
23. Ss echo
24. T sings “Do Fa, Here comes the bride”
25. Ss echo
26. T sings “Do Sol, Star Wars, oh how I love Star Wars”
 23

27. Ss echo
28. T sings “Do La, My Bonnie lies over the ocean”
29. Ss echo
30. T sings “Do Ti, Maria”
31. Ss echo
32. T sings “Do, high do, somewhere over the rainbow”
33. Ss echo

Transition: T asks the students “Was there anything new that I sang this time that I left out the
last time we sang this piece?” T takes Ss hands and guides them to the correct answer of “Do
fa, here comes the bride”.
Activity #2: Fill in the blank Interval game The interval song will have blanks of where all the
solfege is sung (for example, ____ ____, here comes the bride). Students
1. T will assign partners to fill out their sheets together. Solfege chart will be up by the
board.
2. Ss will fill out with no T help for the first couple minutes. T will point out the solfege next
to the board and will sing song one more time.
3. Ss will finish and T will begin reading correct answers. Asks students to make changes
if they got it wrong.
4. T asks students to give a thumbs up, thumbs sideways, or thumbs down depending on
how they feel that went.
5. T and Ss sing through the WS
6. T polishes as needed
Transition: T asks Ss to turn in WS and to move into a circle.
Activity #3: “Abiyoyo” blanks
1. T sings Abiyoyo
2. Ss sings Abiyoyo along with teacher
3. T marks do and sol on a staff on the bard (with the solfege symbols still up) and asks
students to partner up with someone new today and sit anywhere in the room
4. T passes out “Abiyoyo” music slips to each group and asks for them to fill out the blanks
for the piece with a different partner.
5. T monitors groups as they fill out sheet.
6. T asks volunteers to come fill out blanks on board
7. T sets key
8. T and Ss all sing together and make corrections if necessary
9. Final performance before moving on

Transition: T splits class into groups and has them go to opposite sides of the room

Activity #4: Abiyoyo Game with solfege (boom whackers!) with accompaniment for tonic
1. T has each group go get their respective solfege syllable (La, Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol)
 24

2. With boom Whackers down, T has class sing Abiyoyo and whenever their note is played,
they pat the ground or their legs (T will point to help each group out)
3. T makes sure the students are looking at the music on the board as well
4. T adds in la boom whacker and everyone else is still patting
5. T adds in Mi boom whacker and everyone else is still patting
6. Continue this pattern until all solfege syllables are in on boom whackers
7. Start tempo slow and can gradually get faster if perfected as an ensemble
Closure: Students can perform piece to the story power point. They will sing and player their
respective boom whackers.
Assessment:
1. Teacher will use a formative formal assessment for the fill in the blanks of “The Interval Song”. It is
formative because students are receiving peer and instructor assistance to complete the worksheet but
it is formal because the teacher now has physical data on how well the students comprehended adding
in the solfege.

2. Teacher will use a formative formal assessment for the fill in the blanks of “Abiyoyo”. It is formative
because students are receiving peer and instructor assistance to complete the worksheet but it is formal
because the teacher now has physical data on how well the students comprehended adding in the
solfege.

3. Teacher will use a formative informal performance assessment by having the students perform
“Abiyoyo” on Boom whackers! They will be assessed by the initial sight of the teacher and will receive
comments to improve their performance.

FULL Lesson Plan for Practice Lesson #6

Teacher Name: Michael Fibelkorn

Objectives:
 Independently, students will identify the correct of the sea shanty “Rio Grande” with
pencil and paper, correctly answering 75% of the blanks.
 As an ensemble, students will perform the refrain of “Rio Grande” on solfege, including
the fa, without breaking in tempo.

Standards Being Addressed:

 1.5 PS The teacher performs alone and in small and large ensembles (vocal and
instrumental).
 3.1 CK The teacher understands the aural and notational skills required for creating and
recreating music for instruction.
 6.2 PS The teacher selects, designs, and applies music assessment strategies that
evaluate the program to ensure students’ learning, skill, and artistic development.

Materials of Instruction:
pencils
 25

Writing surface
“Rio” handout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNEixwhFELU (Rio Grande recording)
Whiteboard with projector
Auxiliary perc. instruments
Solfege chart

Lesson Sequence (lessons may have more or less activities as appropriate):

Entry Activity/Transition/Warmup:
Students will walk into their normal, assigned seating chart for class while “Rio Grande” song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNEixwhFELU is playing softly. As students walk in, they
will pick up a small handout with “Rio Grande” music on it and a pencil. Under each note will be
a blank and the first 2 notes of each mini-phrase will already be filled out for the students.
Students will be allowed to work independently or with a shoulder partner as they fill out their
charts. The solfege chart will be hanging next to the white board the whole time.
 26

Transition: After students have completed and turned over their sheets, T will have students pass
them to the end of a row and collect them all. T will then direct their attention towards the board
where the correctly filled out solfege of “Rio Grande” is on the board.

Activity #1: Students review “Rio” then learn/perform it on solfege (refrain will be the only section
solfeged)
1. T sets the key
2. T sings Rio refrain on solfege
3. T breaks refrain into 4 sections
4. echo back and forth with students for each section
5. T sings the refrain in two sections for echo
6. Ss echo
7. T sings whole thing with students
8. T sets key if needed
9. Ss sing whole thing by themselves
10. Polish as needed

Transition: T has Ss move into a circle

Activity #2: Ss review old created composition for “Rio” (with instruments and form)
1. T pulls up old composition earlier in the unit on the board
2. T and students sing song with words and old composition (from present #3)/Review
3. T has Ss sing song with a solfege and old composition

Transition: T splits class into 2 halves

Activity #3: Split class into 2 groups, instrumentalists and solfegers, and peform the refrain
1. T sets key
2. T has the first half do the instruments while the other does the singing solfege
3. Switch groups
4. If time, T can take volunteers to sing the leader part while everyone else performs

Closure: The final performance

Assessment:
1. Teacher will use a summative formal assessment of the “Rio” handout. This early practice lesson
assessment will be a great check point for the teacher to identify how well students are incorporating fa
into their solfege language.

2. Teacher will use a formative informal performance assessment by having the students perform “Rio”
with voices and auxiliary percussion. They will be assessed by the initial sight of the teacher and will
receive comments to improve their performance.
 27

FULL Lesson Plan for Practice Lesson #7

Teacher Name: Michael Fibelkorn

Objectives:
 As an ensemble, students will perform vocally the solfege syllables of “Tortoises”,
including fa, while maintaining their tonal center.
 As an ensemble, students will demonstrate the performance ability of using solfege hand
signs in “Tortoises” at a variety of tempos while staying on beat.

Standards Being Addressed:

 1.5 PS The teacher performs alone and in small and large ensembles (vocal and
instrumental).
 3.3 PS The teacher performs music notation at sight vocally and instrumentally.
 5.5 PS The teacher develops, plans and implements music classroom instruction
and performance at all developmental levels (i.e. inclusive, solo, chamber,
auditioned).

Materials of Instruction:
Solfege hand chart
World map
“Tortoise” recording (Offenbach version: https://youtu.be/4Diu2N8TGKA)
 28

Lesson Sequence (lessons may have more or less activities as appropriate):

Entry Activity/Transition/Warmup:
Interval song review/warmup

Activity #1: Learning hand signs for Interval song

1. T sings solfege scale
2. Ss echo
3. T points to Solfege chart next to board
4. T asks Ss to mirror hand signals
5. “Do is like you’re punching your sibling” Show do hand sign
6. “Re, you push them down a hill” Show Re
7. “Mi, they fall to the ground” Show mi
8. “Fa, you call them a loser”
9. “Sol, you slap them”
10. “La, you pull their hair”
11. “Ti, you poke them in the eye”
12. “Do, punch them again”
13. T Reviews them descending as Ss mirror
14. T sets key and begins a singing and hand sign scale altogether
15. T sings with students, leading them at a slow tempo that all can follow

Transition: T asks students to move into a circle and then T starts “Tortoise”

Activity #2: T has students walk into room in a circle. T asks students to walk to the beat of the
song. T plays the “Tortoise” recording and models walking on beat has the students mimic and
walk around the circle, gradually getting faster with their beat.

Transition: T has students move back into their assigned regular seating.
Activity #3: History of “Tortoise”
1. Write down the name “Saint-Saens” and ask if there are any volunteers who could
guess where this composer is from (country)
2. After figuring out it is France, have a student come show on the map where France is
3. T can talk about how composer was putting off working on his symphony and he wrote
a work called “Carnival of Animals” (talk about animal movements in piece). Then lead
into the name of the music we are working with, Tortoises.
4. Ask Ss “What about the music makes you think of tortoises
5. T plays recording once
6. Ss think-pair-share
7. T takes answers

Transition: T sings all solfege along with recording for a transition, and some fun entertainment.

Activity #4: Putting hand signs to “Tortoise” (first 2 beats of each measure only)
1. T pulls up music on board
 29

2. T asks for volunteers to come put the correct solfege syllable under the notes with the
blanks.
3. T and Ss can revise/correct if needed.
4. T sets key
5. T sings 2 notes of each measure (model with no hand signs)
6. Ss echo with assistance from T
7. T does hand signs echo pattern
8. Ss echo back after T does each measure
9. T sings while students do the hand signs
10. T does hand signs while students sing
11. T and Ss do both together.

Transition: T moves students into regular classroom spots so they can see the music on the
board, if they are not already there.
Activity #5: Speed hand sign game (keeping it simple) with “Tortoise
1. T models just singing solfege syllables (first 2 beats of each measure) to the recording
2. Ss do it to recording as teacher walks around
3. T models adding in hand signs
4. Ss do it as well after
5. T can leave recording going as it gets faster.
Closure: T can make the end a challenge to see which students can keep up with the speed of
the recording, singing, and hand signs.
Assessment:
1. T will use an informal formative assessment when teaching the students the hand signs and solfege
pitches to “Tortoises”.

2. By doing the performance at the end, the teacher is using an informal performance assessment to
judge how the students are understanding the concept.

FULL Lesson Plan for Practice #8

Teacher Name: Michael Fibelkorn

Objectives:
 Individually, students will apply solfege knowledge by using pencil and paper to fill out
the blanks in “Brahms’ Lullaby” with a score of 75% or better and writing down fa
correctly each time.
 Using the modified “Lullaby”, students will perform the measures selected as an
ensemble while singing solfege.
 Using the modified “Lullaby”, students will perform the measures selected as an
ensemble while singing solfege and performing the hand signs.

Standards Being Addressed:

 30

 1.3 CK The teacher utilizes a variety of pedagogies appropriate to teaching

singing, performing, listening, moving, creating, and reading/writing.
 3.1 CK The teacher understands the aural and notational skills required for
creating and recreating music for instruction.
 4.5 PS The teacher describes and models relevant performance practices,
techniques, and compositional devices.

Materials of Instruction:
“Lullaby” recording https://youtu.be/t894eGoymio
Pencils
Writing surface
Lullaby WS with blanks
World Map
Solfege chart by whiteboard
Whiteboard and projector

Lesson Sequence (lessons may have more or less activities as appropriate):

Entry Activity/Transition/Warmup: Ss walk into the class and are told to read the board. There
will be no talking at the beginning of rehearsal. “Lullaby” will be playing on the speaker and
students will be handed a pencil and a piece of paper that has “lullaby” with blanks for solfege.
The first beat of solfege syllables will be provided in each measure.
 31

Activity #1: History

34. T write Brahms’ name on the board and has students guess “What country in Europe is
Johannes Brahms from?”
35. T leads Ss to Germany
36. T asks students “Can someone give me a definition of a lullaby
37. Ss answer
38. T asks students “Do you think students in Germany have the same definition? Think-
pair-share.”
39. Ss partner then share

Transition: T talks about how music can be a universal and can connect two people that speak
completely different languages.

Activity #2: Sing solfege

1. T sets the key (Do mi sol mi do ti do)
2. T sings solfeged whole piece while students follow along on the board
3. T breaks piece into 2 measure increments and does an echo back and forth with the Ss
4. T combines measures with students until they can sing whole piece on solfege (solfege
will be written on board under each note). Make sure T begins patting the beat.

Transition: T sets key and has students sing the whole piece by themselves while patting the
beat. At this time, T will do the hand signs for 2 measures on, 2 measures off throughout the
whole song.
Activity 3: Hand sign 2 measures, Sing 2 measures
1. T asks students what they were doing
2. T guides students to the answer of 2 measures on/2 off of solfege
3. T begins echo sequence of the 4 two-measure sections of hand signs
4. T can stop and polish as needed (slow tempo to begin)
Transition: Ask students to form a circle. T plays lullaby backing track and T stands in middle of
the circle.
Activity 4: Solfege in the middle
1. T demonstrate/models the game. T sets key and begins demonstration
2. Person in middle sings the 2 measure with hand signs measures while rest of class
sings the latter 2 without. This goes back and forth until end of piece.
3. T will take volunteers to begin with, then allow groups of 2 or 3 to go into the middle
together
Closure: T will use the solfege in the middle activity to end class. If done early, T can increase
tempo or have no breaks into repeating the song so students have to be on their toes.
Assessment:
1. Teacher will use a formal, summative assessment by giving the students the “Lullaby” handout at the
beginning of the hour. This will be part of their post assessment.
 32

2. Teacher will use their modeling to use an informal formative assessment when dealing with the
singing of the solfege and the hand signs.

FULL Lesson Plan for Practice #9

Teacher Name: Michael Fibelkorn

Objectives:
 Individually, students will analyze the teacher’s model and non-verbally signal which
interval was sung, with a 75% success rate.
 Individually, students will demonstrate their knowledge of fa and the rest of solfege by
writing the last 8 measures of solfege for “Welcome to NY” with a 75% or better.
 Students will perform as a small ensemble the “mi fa mi do” measures of “Welcome to
NY” while singing the right pitches at the right time.

Standards Being Addressed:

 3.3 PS The teacher performs music notation at sight vocally and instrumentally.
 4.2 CK The teacher understands the organization of sound in musical forms.
 5.5 PS The teacher develops, plans and implements music classroom instruction and
performance at all developmental levels (i.e. inclusive, solo, chamber, auditioned).

Materials of Instruction:
Piano
“Welcome to NY” recording https://youtu.be/-18e-bDdS2I
Soft ball to toss and pass
Solfege chart
“Welcome to NY” 8 measure handout
Pencil
Writing surface
 33

Lesson Sequence (lessons may have more or less activities as appropriate):

Entry Activity/Transition/Warmup:
Review Interval song. T sets key on piano while students form a circle. T will asks Ss to join in
while singing Interval Song from memory. Perform 2x

Activity #1: Interval recognition challenge (T sings intervals and students hold up the number.
Work in groups)

1. T goes into the middle of the circle and asks students to hold up the number of the
interval (T has the intervals with their numbers written on the board)
2. T does a few of them (singing the words; ex: here comes the bride; Star Wars; My
bonnie; etc.) and lets Ss have their eyes open while holding up their numbers.
3. T asks students to close eyes and hold up numbers quietly.
4. T continues to show students the right answer after each one until 75% of class shows
ability to answer correctly a few times in a row

Transition: T starts to play a song and tells students to sing along or raise their hands once they
recognize it.
Activity #2: Introduce T-Swift song and history
 34

1. T plays “Welcome to New York” and stops as the song reaches the second verse
2. T asks students if they can turn to a partner and name the singer and the song.
3. T gives about 10-15 seconds and then guides students to the name of the song and
Taylor Swift.
4. T introduces Taylor Swift as an American pop singer who has sung songs like …(give 3
most popular songs to see if students recognize any)
Transition: T asks students to come pick up a white board to write on and the slip of paper at the
front (last 8 measures of Welcome to NY). They can sit anywhere in the room.
Activity #3: Solfege for last 8 measures (assessment and practice)
1. T allows at most 10 minutes to take assessment.
2. T walks around class and collects papers as they finish up
3. T has Ss volunteers come fill out the blanks under the notes on the board, projecting the
music
4. T and Ss look over to see if there are any mistakes
5. T and Ss revise
6. T sets key
7. T sings whole eight measures at a slow tempo
8. T does an echo pattern for each measure as students pat the beat and echo back
9. T combines measures until Ss can perform without hand signs by themselves.
10. T then sings whole thing alone but does hand signs for the 4 “mi fa mi do” measures
11. T has students partner up and practice those hand signs for 1-2 minutes.
12. T then gathers students and sings all the measures and has students come in with hand
signs on their designated 4 measures.
13. T can stop, model, and polish as needed.
Transition: T has students move into 4 separate groups as T plays the full song recording of
“Welcome to NY”
Activity #4: Passing the melody (T can start and pass a ball to a Ss for the mi fa mi do part)
1. T will have the recording turned down a little so they can talk over. T explains that when
we get to the “mi fa mi re” measures, I will toss a ball to a random group and they will be
in charge of singing and signing the “mi fa mi re”
2. T models to the song with the ball alone.
3. T asks for questions
4. T stops song and says “but first, I want you and your group to create a dance move that
you will do during the song (improvised dance) whenever your group does not have the
ball
5. T gives students 2-3 minutes to group work.
6. T lets each group demonstrate their dance moves with no music.
7. T starts music and begins the ball/passing the melody activity
Closure: T can play Pass the melody until the end. T can play recording and pass the ball to
individuals instead of groups if they are confident enough.
Assessment:
1. Teacher will use an informal formative assessment as a review, and quick check, to see which
 35

students are proficient in recognizing the new solfege syllable of fa, as well as the others in relation to
one another. The assessment is the students closing their eyes and holding up the answer individually
based off of the teacher’s model.

2. Teacher will use a formal summative assessment when they complete the “Welcome to NY” handout.
This is acting as a final post-assessment to see if the solfege syllable fa, as well as the others, are
mastered when writing them down in music.

3. Teacher will use an informal performance assessment as students are required to sing the “mi fa mi
do” pattern as a response to the previous measure. This assessment is the application to the written-
post-assessment.

FULL Lesson Plan for Practice #10

Teacher Name: Michael Fibelkorn

Objectives:
 As an ensemble, students will perform solfege hand signs to “Do, a deer” without falling
behind once and using all 7 correct hand signs. (incorporating fa now with the prior
knowledge)
 In small groups, students will compete and perform in ‘Who Wants to be a Music-aire?”
so that each member answers at least once correctly on the whiteboard.

Standards Being Addressed:

 4.3 CK The teacher understands the common elements of music and their interaction
through aural and visual analysis.
 6.2 PS The teacher selects, designs, and applies music assessment strategies that
evaluate the program to ensure students’ learning, skill, and artistic development.

Materials of Instruction:
https://youtu.be/jp0opnxQ4rY (Do, Re, Mi from Sound of Music)
Solfege chart next to whiteboard
Whiteboard
Markers
Piano

Lesson Sequence (lessons may have more or less activities as appropriate):

Entry Activity/Transition/Warmup: Students will walk into the room and sit in their normal,
assigned seating. T plays Sound of Music recording and tells students they can sing along and
the lyrics will be up on the board. Song will play until after the first Chorus

Activity #1: Sound of Music Solfege hand sign challenge

1. T models to the song as it playing (models using the hand signs when the singers say
the solfege syllables
2. When T turns song off, T asks students “What was I doing while the song was playing?”
 36

3. T has Ss answer and guides them to the solfege hand signs when you hear the solfege
syllables
4. T sets key and sings what the recording does “Do….a deer. A female deer. ……” while
doing hand signs on the solfeged words. T asks for students to join in when
comfortable.
5. T will be sure to tell Ss that they don’t need to do both at the same time right away.
6. T will keep going until they see all students are attempting to do both hand signs and
singing at the same time.

Transition: T moves to the front of the room and sets the key (Do mi sol mi do ti do)
Activity 2: solfege echo ear warmup (3-4 notes at a time…at most. 4 beat phrases)
1. T sings and points to self without instruction “Sol mi mi--”
2. T points to Ss to echo
3. T “Mi do do--”
4. Ss echo
5. T “Do re mi—“
6. Ss echo
7. T “Do re mi fa”
8. Ss echo
9. T “Fa mi re—“
10. Ss echo
11. T continues to add in high la and low ti and students continue to echo.
Transition: T splits class into 4 groups and sets key and begins singing the interval song. T has
Ss join in when they want. Repeat 2x
Activity 3: Who wants to be a Music-aire
1. T introduces who wants to be a music-aire. T asks students what tv show this game is
based off of.
2. T guides them to Who wants to be a millionaire.
3. T explains the rules of 1 person from each group coming up to the board at a time. T will
sing an interval or a solfeged phrase with one syllable missing. T can also sing do and
play another note on the piano. Team members will write their answers on the board and
get a point for their team.
4. T and Ss play Who wants to be a Music-aire. T will be sure that the team sends up every
member before others get a chance to go again.
Closure: T gives small, cheap, plastic, trophies to the winning team as class finishes.
Assessment:
1. Teacher will use an informal, performance assessment by having the students apply their hand signs
to their recently mastered knowledge of fa to the song “Do, a deer” from Sound of Music.

2. Teacher will use an informal, performance assessment by playing ‘Who Wants to be a Music-aire?”.
This gives students more practice opportunities to apply their knowledge of Fa, and other solfege
syllables from prior knowledge, and use it in a game/critical thinking environment.
37