Planning for the year!

I am beginning to plan for the upcoming year, and am a little apprehensive about solidifying units for each quarter. I teach kindergarten through third grade, and I would like to do a broad unit for each quarter. I am currently in the draft process, but this is what I have so far. Please comment with your ideas and suggestions!

                      Kindergarten              1st                    2nd                   3rd
Quarter 1   Rhythm                      Rhythm             Rhythm          Rhythm
Quarter 2   Melody                      Melody              Melody          Melody
Quarter 3   Expression/Timbre    Form/Texture     Choral          Recorder
Quarter 4   Intro to Instruments   Percussion        Movement     Composition



Of course, these are preliminary ideas! I will be touching on a little bit of everything in each unit, but the ultimate emphasis will be on the said topic.

Kindergarten's main rhythmic concept is steady beat, with an introduction to ta and ti-ti near the end of quarter one. The melody unit will be comprised of sol-mi songs with seeing the pattern on a two line staff. The expression/timbre unit will be focusing on Loud vs. Soft, High vs. Low, Fast vs. Slow. The Introduction to instruments will be based off the orchestra explorers and Orff instruments, and activities will involve listening and playing.

First grade's main rhythmic concept will be ta, ti-ti, rest, and ta-a. The melody unit will focus on Sol-Mi-La with a slight introduction to the pentatonic scale without labeling.The Form/Texture unit will be comprised of identification of same and different, with an emphasis on labeling of instruments in listening activities. The percussion unit will focus on the "Strike, Scrape, Shake" and identification of instruments with some basic drumming determined by their capabilities!


Second grades rhythm will focus on whole, half, quarter, two eighth notes, and four sixteenth notes. They will be using the Kodaly counting system, but the notes will be labeled as whole, half, quarter, etc. The melody unit will consist of the pentatonic scale with introduction to fa and ti. The choral unit will focus on partner songs, rounds, canons, with basic instrumentation added. The movement section will be mostly folk dance, exploration of music via movement, loco-motor vs. non-locomotor, and form dancing.


The third grade was the toughest for me to plan. We will be doing a MTI Kids show in the spring (Most likely Annie), and it will include all of the third grade classes. These songs and numbers are tentatively going to be taught during class, which will be incorporated into each unit appropriately. I believe it will be better for the students to learn the songs a little at a time, instead of a rush during the later half of the year. Their rhythm unit will consist of complex rhythm combinations and introduction to meter. Their melody unit will include the entire scale. Their recorder unit will be based off of Recorder Karate, with their composition unit being a composition using their recorder, voice and Orff instruments.