5th Grade DAW Project 

 
Context Statement:​ F​ ifth grade has spent much of this year preparing for their musical production 
of Frozen (Kids). Because they have spent so much time working together, they are very 
comfortable and friendly with each other. This combined with the limited tech availability in the 
school encouraged me to focus on class-wide collaboration for our technology project. Sampulator 
(sampulator.com) is an extremely simplified digital audio workstation that provides a great 
introduction to music composition and creation through technology.  

Proposed Revision - Strikethrough  I can…  

VDOE Music Standards:   ● Use a computer keyboard to create a rhythmic pattern 
  with one instrument voice 
5.1b  ● Recognize, describe, and accurately select the timbral 
Compose a short original  voices used in the Sampulator and explain how they 
composition within specified  are color-coded 
guidelines  ● Define and use music terminology including “bars”, 
  “BPM”, “time signature”, “tempo”, “DAW”, “loop” 
5.3a  ● Participate respectfully and quietly while my peers add 
Group a variety of instruments into  their individual contributions 
categories based on how their  ● Add rhythmic ideas as part of a whole in a manner that 
sounds are produced  makes musical sense 
  ● Create music using a simplified digital audio workspace 
5.3c 
Analyze elements of music through 
listening and using music 
terminology 
 
5.5a 
Exhibit acceptable performance 
etiquette as a participant and/or 
listener in relation to the context 
and style of music performed.  
 
5.5b 
Collaborate with others to create a 
musical presentation and 
acknowledge individual 
contributions as an integral part of 
the whole 
 
5.10  
The student will investigate and 
explore innovative ways to make 
music.  

Process 

Materials:   1. Students enter the room and sit in chairs arranged in 
- Chairs  an arc facing the projector screen.  
- Sampulator.com  2. Teacher gives brief explanation of project, making sure 
- Computer with keyboard  to emphasize the role of collaboration in this project. 
- Speakers  Also mention: 
- Projector  a. What does “we are more than the sum of our 
- Beach ball  parts” mean?  
b. Why is that quote important to what we are 
doing today? 
3. Teacher brings Sampulator onto projector and explains 
while showing on Sampulator: 
a. This is a DAW - digital audio workspace, used to 
create music 
b. It can create loops - a short phrase of music that 
is repeated FOREVER 
c. We can adjust the tempo/bpm - beats per 
minute - to how fast or slow we want 
d. We can change the time signature - how many 
beats in a measure  
4. PAUSE for beach ball review 
a. Teacher asks a question using vocabulary we 
mentioned 
b. Asks “What is a DAW? Beats? Tempo? BPM? 
Time signature? Loop?” Then tosses or rolls 
beach ball towards a student to answer the 
question, keeping the review fast-paced and 
repetitive.  
c. Ask each student at least one question 
5. Resume using Sampulator  
a. Explain purpose of metronome 
b. SHOW how keyboard translates to sounds 
c. Play each instrument in each color 
i. How are they grouped? 
6. Ask “How can we support our peers while they are 
recording their tracks?” Giving students the 
opportunity to create classroom expectations 
7. Set to 4/4 time, 80 bpm, 8 bars 
a. Giving no parameters, invite students one at a 
time to record a track 
b. Once every student has added their track, play 
 in entirety. 
c. Ask students to reflect on how they could work 
as a team to make it even better 
8. PAUSE for beach ball review again. 
9. Repeat activity, adding parameters as selected by 
students. Ideas: 
a. Use one instrument at a time 
b. Only add x number of notes 
c. Make decisions in color-coded teams matching 
Sampulator 
d. Change tempo, time signature 
10. PAUSE for last round of beach ball review before class 
end.  

Rubric 

Quality  No Evidence  Minimal  Meet  Exceeds 

Evidence  Expectations  Expectations 

Vocabulary  Does not  Answers 1  Answers 2  Answers at 

correctly  question  questions  least 3 
answer  correctly  correctly  questions 
beach ball  correctly 
review 
 

Etiquette  Talks or  Talks or  No  Offers kind 

moves  moves to  interruptions  and valuable 
excessively  interrupt  during track  feedback to 
to interrupt  occasionally  recording and  peers 
during track  during track  playback 
recording  recording 
and  and playback 
playback 
 

Collaboration  Does not  Accepts  Communicat Uplifts peers, 

work with  some  es ideas with  explores 
others, does  suggestions  peers and  ideas, 
not  and  accepts  provides 
communicat communicati others’ ideas  suggestions 
e with class  on with peers  and 
members,  suggestions 
ignores 
suggestions, 
 dismisses 
ideas 
 

Use of Rhythms  Rhythms do  Rhythms are  Rhythms are  Rhythms are 
not show  somewhat in  in time and  in time, make 
evidence of  time, make  make sense  sense in duple 
time  some musical  in duple  meter, and 
signature or  sense  meter  use complex 
groupings  rhythms 
that make  (dotted notes, 
musical  subdivisions, 
sense  triplets)