Unit Plan 8 (Grade 1 Music): Sound Exploration

Focus: Experiment with classroom instruments and vocal sounds to create and organize simple musical ideas.

Grade Level: 1

Subject Area: Music (Creating • Performing • Responding)

Total Unit Duration: 2–4 sessions (2+ weeks), 20–30 minutes per session

I. Introduction

In this unit, first graders become sound explorers. They learn how different classroom instruments and vocal sounds can make long/short, high/low, smooth/bumpy, and loud/soft sounds. Students practice using instruments safely and musically, then try out short improvised patterns with their voices and instruments. They begin to record their ideas using simple pictures or symbols, so they can remember and share their sound patterns with others.

Essential Questions

• What kinds of sounds can I make with my voice and with instruments?
• How can I improvise (make up) short sound patterns using different sound sources?
• How can I remember and organize my musical ideas using simple pictures or symbols?
• How do different sounds help tell a story, show a place, or match a feeling?

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:

1. Identify and play common classroom instruments using safe, appropriate techniques.
2. With limited guidance, improvise short rhythmic or melodic ideas using voice, body percussion, and instruments.
3. Describe how different instruments and vocal sounds have different timbres (sound qualities).
4. Create a simple sound pattern or sound story to match a picture, place, or action.
5. With limited guidance, use simple icons or drawings to document and organize personal musical ideas.

Standards Alignment — Grade 1 Music (NAfME-Aligned)

• MU:Cr1.1.1a — With limited guidance, improvise rhythmic and melodic patterns and ideas.
  • Example: Students improvise short rhythm patterns using claps or drums.
• MU:Cr2.1.1b — With limited guidance, use iconic or standard notation and/or recording technology to document and organize personal musical ideas.
  • Example: Drawing symbols or recording a rhythm pattern to remember it.

Success Criteria — Student Language

• I can play classroom instruments safely and make different kinds of sounds.
• I can make up (improvise) a short pattern using my voice or an instrument.
• I can tell how one instrument sounds different from another (bright, soft, ringing, etc.).
• I can draw simple pictures or symbols to help me remember my sound ideas.
• I can explain what my sound pattern or sound story is trying to show.