Daniel Soloway 

MUS-149 

Talbot 

Movement Lesson Plan 

Context: The first-grade class will learn to identify fast vs slow temp through movement and listening

activities.

Materials:

- Paper and Pencil/Pen

- Metronome

Learning Goals:

- Students will identify fast vs slow tempo.

- Students will perform movements at fast and slow tempo.

- Students will improvise movements to fast and slow tempo.

- Students will define fast and slow tempo.

National Standards:

- MU: Cr2.1. Ka: With guidance, organize personal musical ideas using iconic notation and/or

recording technology

- MU: Cr3.2.1a: With limited guidance, convey expressive intent for a specific purpose by

presenting a final version of personal musical ideas to peers or informal audience.

- MU: Pr4.2.1a: With limited guidance, demonstrate knowledge of music concepts (such as beat

and melodic contour) in music from a variety of cultures selected for performance
 - MU: Re7.2.1a: With limited guidance, demonstrate and identify how specific music concepts

(such as beat or pitch) are used in various styles of music for a purpose.

Procedure:

A. The teacher will invite the class to sit down in a circle, and then will begin class with the

metronome at 60 bpm.

i. The teacher will provide a beat with body percussion and will encourage the

class to follow along.

ii. The teacher will then stop the metronome and point to their head (in order to

show the students to think about what they had just heard).

B. The teacher will then use the metronome again, but this time the metronome will be set to 120

bpm.

i. The teacher will provide a beat with body percussion and will encourage the

class to follow along.

ii. The teacher will once again stop the metronome and point to their head.

C. The teacher will then ask the class which beat was faster than the other, then proceed to the next

activity.

D. To further enforce the difference between what is fast and what is slow, the teacher will once

again use the metronome.

i. The teacher will play the metronome at 60 bpm and hold up a piece of paper

saying “Slow”.

ii. The teacher will then play the metronome at 120 bpm and hold up a piece of

paper that says “Fast”.

E. The teacher will place 2 pieces of paper in different parts of the room. But before doing so, make

sure the students clearly see what the papers say.

i. The piece of paper on the right side will say “Fast”

 ii. The other piece on the left side will say “Slow”

F. The teacher will show the students what to do before inviting them to participate within the

activity.

i. The teacher will play a slow beat, and march to the beat over to the area where

the piece of paper saying “Slow” is located.

ii. The teacher will then play a fast beat, and march to the beat over to the piece of

paper saying “Fast”.

G. The teacher will then invite the students to now join along within the activity.

i. The teacher will first play a slow beat and wait for all students to march over to

the “Slow” piece of paper.

ii. The teacher will then play a fast beat and wait for all students to march over to

the “Fast” piece of paper.

iii. The teacher will then repeat this activity once more, making the metronome

faster.

H. The teacher will then invite the students to stand in a circle around them once more and begin the

next activity.

i. The teacher will begin the metronome and proceed to do an improvised

percussion movement to the beat.

ii. The teacher will then do this same improvised motion again and have the class to

mimic their moves.

iii. Once the teacher is finished, they will motion for one other student to take their

place in the middle and come up with their own improvised movement for the

rest of the class to mimic.

iv. The teacher will call upon 2 or 3 other students as well to create their own

movement within the circle.\

Extension:

- The teacher will play the folksong “London Bridge is Falling Down” and have the students

follow the teacher in a follow the leader type of activity.

- The activity would first have marching throughout the classroom space, then improvised

movements.

Assessments:

- Teacher will assess student identification of fast and slow tempo through watching their response

to metronome activity.

- Teacher will assess student performance of movements to fast and slow tempo using a Y/N scale.

1. Yes - Student was able to perform both fast and slow tempo movements.

2. No – Students had trouble performing either fast or slow tempo movements and need

improvement.

- Teacher will assess student improvisation of movements to fast and slow tempo using a Y/N

scale.

1. Yes – Student was able to change their movement with tempo.

2. No – Student had trouble creating their own movement while following the tempo.

- Teacher will assess student response to define what is fast tempo and what is slow tempo.

Glossary:
- Tempo: the speed of the underlying beat in music and is measured in BPM.

- BPM: beats per minute.

- Allegro: a tempo marking indicating to play fast, quickly and bright.

- Largo: a very slow, wide, or broad tempo.