Classical music lesson plans for elementary teachers: 10 ready to use

These ten lesson plans each take 20 to 30 minutes. Each one uses one piece of music, teaches one idea, and needs a speaker and a free printable from this site. A classroom teacher with no music training can run them. Music teachers can use them as a starting point.

How each plan works

1. Hook. One minute. Ask a question before any music plays.
2. Listen. Play the piece, or part of it, with one thing to listen for.
3. Do. Move, draw, sort, or play a game.
4. Listen again. The second hearing is where the learning shows.

The ten plans

1. Instruments as characters

• Grades: K to 2
• Piece: Peter and the Wolf, by Prokofiev
• Idea: each instrument has its own sound
• Steps: Show the Peter and the Wolf character cards. Play each character’s tune. Students hold up the right card. Then play part of the story.
• More: Peter and the Wolf activities and a lesson plan

2. Guess the animal

• Grades: K to 2
• Piece: The Carnival of the Animals, by Saint-Saëns
• Idea: music can be high or low, fast or slow
• Steps: Play “The Elephant” with no title. Students guess the animal and say why. Do the same for “Aviary” and “Aquarium.” Then everyone moves like each animal.
• More: Carnival of the Animals activities

3. Loud and soft

• Grades: K to 3
• Piece: “Surprise” Symphony, second movement, by Haydn
• Idea: dynamics, the loud and soft of music
• Steps: Students tiptoe in place to the soft tune. Do not warn them about the chord. After the surprise, teach the words piano and forte with the tempo and dynamics word cards. Play it again, and have them hold up the right card.
• More: the Surprise Symphony guide

4. Faster and faster

• Grades: K to 3
• Piece: “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” by Grieg
• Idea: tempo, the speed of music
• Steps: Students tap the beat on their knees from the start. Ask what changed. Teach the word accelerando, which means getting faster. Play it again, and have them walk the beat around the room.
• More: the story for kids

5. Music that paints a picture

• Grades: 1 to 4
• Piece: “Spring” from The Four Seasons, first movement, by Vivaldi
• Idea: composers use sound to show birds, water, and storms
• Steps: List what happens in spring. Play the piece. Students raise a hand for birds, a brook, or thunder. Fill in the Four Seasons listening page.
• More: the Four Seasons listening guide

6. The four families

• Grades: 2 to 5
• Piece: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, by Britten
• Idea: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion
• Steps: Play the first two minutes, where each family plays the theme in turn. Students point to the family on the instrument families listening chart. Sort picture cards into four piles.
• More: the Young Person’s Guide listening guide

7. Keep the beat

• Grades: K to 2
• Piece: the finale of the William Tell Overture, by Rossini
• Idea: steady beat
• Steps: Students pat the beat on their knees. Add a gallop in place. Clap four patterns from the rhythm cards over the music.
• More: the William Tell Overture guide

8. Follow the river

• Grades: 3 to 5
• Piece: The Moldau, by Smetana
• Idea: a piece can tell a journey in order
• Steps: Write the eight scenes on the board. Play the piece in sections. Students draw a river map and add each scene as they hear it.
• More: The Moldau listening guide

9. Same tune, new clothes

• Grades: 2 to 5
• Piece: Mozart’s variations on the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”
• Idea: theme and variations
• Steps: Sing “Twinkle.” Play the theme and the first three variations. After each one, ask what changed: faster notes, a new rhythm, or a darker mood. Students then clap their own variation on the rhythm.
• More: musical form for kids

10. Four notes

• Grades: 3 to 5
• Piece: Symphony No. 5, first movement, by Beethoven
• Idea: a motif, a short idea that a composer builds on
• Steps: Clap short-short-short-long. Play the first minute. Students make a tally mark each time they hear the pattern. Talk about how four notes can fill a whole movement.
• More: the Beethoven Symphony No. 5 guide

A ten-week plan

Teach one plan a week. Play that week’s piece again on the other days, during arrival or clean-up. By week ten, the class has heard ten pieces many times.

Check what they learned

• Exit question. One sentence: “Today I heard ___.”
• Listening journal. Students draw or write on a listening journal page after each lesson.
• Bingo. At the end of the ten weeks, play ten short clips, and use cards from the listening bingo maker.

What you need

• A speaker that fills the room
• A recording of each piece
• The printables linked above, which are free

For background music during work time, read classical music for the classroom. For a month-long focus, read composer of the month ideas. For games with no equipment, read music games for kids.