Unit Plan 25 (Grade 2 Music): Call & Response Songs
Grade 2 music unit: sing call-and-response/echo songs accurately, use rehearsal strategies to fix tricky parts, and improvise simple rhythmic/melodic responses for classroom purposes.
Focus: Sing and perform call & response and echo songs with accuracy and confidence, using rehearsal strategies to solve performance challenges and improvising simple rhythmic and melodic responses for a purpose.
Grade Level: 2
Subject Area: Music (Performing • Creating • Rehearsing)
Total Unit Duration: 1–3 sessions (3+ weeks), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
In this unit, students explore call & response and echo songs commonly used in music class, playground games, and many world traditions. They learn how a leader sings or plays a short musical “call” and the group answers with a response or echo. Students practice singing accurate pitches and rhythms, then apply simple rehearsal strategies (clapping first, slowing the tempo, speaking the words) to fix tricky spots. They also begin to improvise their own short call or response patterns to fit a classroom purpose, such as greeting the class or lining up.
Essential Questions
- What is a call & response or echo song, and how do the leader and group work together?
- How can rehearsal strategies help us sing call & response songs more accurately and confidently?
- How can we improvise new calls or responses for a special purpose (greeting, transition, game)?
- How do call & response songs help groups work together, listen, and respond in music?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Define and identify call & response and echo in selected songs.
- Sing leader and group parts of call & response/echo songs with accurate pitch, rhythm, and entrances.
- Use at least two rehearsal strategies (such as clapping the rhythm, speaking the text, or slowing the tempo) to improve tricky phrases.
- Improvise short rhythmic or melodic call or response patterns for a specific classroom purpose (e.g., attention signal, greeting, line-up song).
- Perform a simple call & response piece or game that includes both learned and student-created patterns.
Standards Alignment — Grade 2 Music (NAfME-Aligned)
- MU:Pr5.1.2b — Rehearse, identify, and apply strategies to address interpretive, performance, and technical challenges of music.
- Example: Clapping rhythm first before adding words.
- MU:Cr1.1.2a — Improvise rhythmic and melodic patterns and musical ideas for a specific purpose.
- Example: Students improvise a short rhythm to represent rain or footsteps.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can tell which part of a song is the call and which part is the response or echo.
- I can sing my part accurately, coming in at the right time and matching the rhythm and pitch.
- I can use rehearsal strategies (clap, speak, slow down) to fix tricky spots in a song.
- I can make up a short call or response that matches the beat and fits a classroom purpose.
- I can perform a call & response song or pattern with my classmates, listening and responding carefully.