Topic 1: What is an Orchestra?
What exactly is an orchestra? You will be introduced to a variety of instruments and what families they belong to. Apply your knowledge during a playful game of Eye Spy Orchestral Instruments.
Topic 2: What is a Conductor?
Who is that person at the front of an orchestra waving their hands, and why are they important? Learn about the role of the conductor and how their leadership enables the orchestra to play as an ensemble. Try out conducting to a piece of music in 4/4 time using the conducting pattern from the video resource.
Topic 3: String Instruments
Discover the characteristics of string instruments. Explore sound production when you create your own DIY String Instrument out of recycled materials.
Topic 4: Woodwind Instruments
What characteristics do all woodwind instruments share? Learn all about the woodwind family, then create your own woodwind instrument and create different pitches in the Exploring Pitch activity.
Topic 5: Brass Instruments
Discover the shared characteristics of the brass family. Create your own brass instrument in the Make a Trumpet activity.
Topic 6: Percussion Instruments
Percussion instruments are hit, shaken, or scraped to produce sound. Put your design thinking skills to the test with the DIY Percussion Instrument building challenge.
Topic 7: Timbre
What makes a flute sound different than a trumpet? Timbre is the element of music that describes tone color. In this hands-on activity, you will learn to differentiate between the sounds of various instruments while playing Instrument BINGO!
Topic 8: Tempo
Tempo is the speed of the music. Learn the Italian terms for the most common tempos, then move and groove to a fun game of Tempo Freeze Dance!
Topic 9: Grieg and In the Hall of the Mountain King
Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” is one of the most recognizable pieces of classical music. Listen to an orchestral performance of this composition, then create your own movements to represent the tempo and tempo changes in the Grieg-inspired movement hands-on activity.
Topic 10: Vivaldi and The Four Seasons Spring
Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons is comprised of four movements, one for each of the seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Listen to part of the spring movement and use your creativity to draw spring scenery inspired by Vivaldi’s composition.
We start each topic by igniting curiosity...
Interesting Fact to Spark Curiosity
- A great deal of learning will happen all on its own when children are interested in what they are learning about.
Discussion Question to Start a Dialogue
- Allow yourself to go wherever the conversation goes! Children can learn so much from having discussions and conversations.
Curated YouTube Video with Experts in the Field
- Carefully curated YouTube videos allow your child to visually immerse themselves in the unit's topic.
Book Suggestion for a Literacy-Rich Environment
- Read together or encourage independent exploration with these library book suggestions that naturally ignite learning.
...then engage and expand with hands-on learning.
Hands-On Activity for Deep Learning
- Engaging activities target specific skills, such as science, art, social studies, geography, cooperation, critical thinking, early engineering, and creativity.
What's Happening to Extend Learning
- Learn more about the science behind the hands-on activity with this helpful information.
Math or Literacy Enrichment for an Extra Challenge
- Each topic includes a word-based math problem or a literacy activity modified to three levels so they are fitting for the whole family.
Tips & Printables for Easy, Beautiful Learning
- Each Family Unit Study includes an introduction with tips, as well as printables to beautify and extend learning.
