Lesson Overview
Four Seasons of Sound
GRADES K-1 ELA AND MUSIC
Have students listen to various instruments and ask them to describe what kind of weather that instrument might sound like (for example, a rainstick sounds like the rain or a drum could sound like thunder).
Review the four seasons of the year (spring, summer, fall, and winter).
Lesson Process:
Step 1: Read aloud the book Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson Fletcher. Ask students to predict what will happen to the tree each new season as you read.
Step 2: Using chart paper to document their answers, ask students to describe how each season looks and feels. What are some different ways we can share these ideas (drawing a picture, playing instruments, creating a dance)?
Step 3: Explain that composers (people who write music) can use music to show the change in seasons. Then, play a 20-30 second excerpt from each of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons movements.
Step 4: On the original chart paper, ask students how the music “looks” in their minds or “feels” in their bodies as they listen. Document their answers.
Step 5: Experiment with ways you can make those same sounds from each musical movement using the body or instruments in the room.
Step 6: Create a group soundscape that documents the cycle of the seasons using their bodies or instruments in the room.
Time Required:
30-45 minutes
Materials List:
- Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson Fletcher
- The Four Seasons by Vivaldi
- Various classroom instruments (if available)
- Chart paper & marker
- CD/MP3 player & speakers
Assessment:
In small groups, students can select a season from the book and create a musical composition with their bodies or classroom instruments to share what the tree looked or sounded like at that time.
For example, the falling leaves in autumn can be shown with falling handclaps from top to bottom or falling notes on an instrument.
