Music - Animal Concert
With this lesson students will be able to recognize different animal sounds and be able to compose a simple melody using digital tools.
Review this lesson plan and choose what you need from the Teacher Support box.
If necessary, pre-teach these related vocabulary words: animal sounds, compose, concert, melody, safari.
Consider the abilities and backgrounds of all your students and decide when and how to introduce and differentiate lesson content, activities, or concepts.
This lesson is designed to be used with the Coding Express app. Download the app for student devices at legoeducation.com/downloads.
To use this lesson without the Coding Express app, see the unplugged version.
Ask the students if they know what sounds different animals make.
Have them try to imitate some of these sounds.
Pick a song about animals that is well-known to your class and sing and/or dance to it.
Tell the students that the safari bus is full of kindergartners today.
They’re going to a concert performed by forest animals!
Would you like to join them and meet all of the animal singers?
Build the safari bus and a train track (an O-shaped track is recommended).
Now experiment with the app.
Put the safari bus on the track and allow the students to explore the different functions of each button.
Place one action brick of each color on the track.
Have the students take turns using the app to “drive” the bus.
What happens after the bus passes each action brick?
Talk to the students about the sounds they’ve just heard.
Ask questions like:
- What did you hear when the bus went over the action bricks?
- Did you know those animal sounds?
- What animals did you hear? (Ask the students to build the animals they’ve named.)
Ask the students to place each animal next to its action brick.
Use the app to see if the sound matches the animals they have built.
Now you’re going to make your own animal concert!
Have the students place the action bricks in any order on the track to compose their own music!
Talk to the students about their composition.
Ask them what they’d like to express with their music (e.g., happiness, excitement, nice weather).
Encourage the students to sing and dance to their music.
Stuffed animals or similar toys can be used as props for their performance.
- Ask guiding questions to elicit students’ thinking and their decisions while ideating, building, and programming.
Review the learning objectives and educational standards addressed in this lesson (Teacher Support box).
Share specific student responses and behaviors at different levels of mastery.
Use the following checklist to observe students’ progress:
- Students can describe the repeating pattern of the sounds on the track as a loop.
- Students can design simple sequences to compose a simple melody.
- Students can express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.
Use this lesson’s format to create lessons for the Music Band in the app. Involve different instruments in the Engage phase discussion and explore more interesting sounds with your kindergartners.
For a more challenging music lesson, try Are you sleeping Brother John?
- Investigate the melody of each action brick.
- Sequence the action bricks to match the song.
- Compose a new song by remixing the action bricks.
- Understand that the action bricks’ behavior can be changed using the app
- Be able to recognize different animal sounds
- Be able to compose a simple melody using digital tools
For up to four students
Coding Express (45025)
Coding Express App
- 1A-AP-10 Develop programs with sequences and simple loops, to express ideas or address a problem.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.K.6 Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.