Welcome spring and all of the babies that are born in eggs. Use the book Crack-Crack! Who is That? by Tristan Mory as a jumping-off point to create a sound story composition using un-pitched percussion instruments.
by Polina Mann
The Very Musical Caterpillar
Students will love decoding, reading, and composing using iconic notation with the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
#1 — Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. #2 — Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. #10 — Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experience to make art.
Objectives
Practice keeping a steady beat.
Play instruments as modeled by the teacher.
Create and perform unpitched percussion compositions.
Materials
Book: Crack-Crack! Who is That? by Tristan Mory
Various unpitched percussion instruments
Context
Welcome spring and all of the babies that are born in eggs. PreK as well as grades 1 and 2 are capable of participating in this lesson. PreK learners perform the crack-crack section only. Kindergarten students will be successful in completing Lesson 1. Grades 1 and 2 are capable of completing the whole lesson.
Suggested Teaching Process
Lesson 1: Crack-Crack! Who is That?
Read Crack-Crack! Who is That? by Tristan Mory.
Discuss the phenomenon that most baby animals in nature are born in the spring.
Students guess the animal that is in each egg.
Reread the book and play the sound “Crack-Crack” on egg shakers.
Lesson 2:
Determine an instrument to represent each of the animals in the eggs.
Crack-Crack = Eggs / Egg Shakers
Scratch-Scratch = Turtle / Guiros
Bloop, Bloop, Bloop = Fish / Triangles
Tap, Tap, Tap = Alligator / Hand Drums
Brr, Brr, Brr = Penguin / Rhythm Sticks
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch = Chocolate Bunny / Cabasa
Read the book adding the instrument sounds when the animals crack out of their eggs.
Switch, allowing students to play each of the instruments.
Lesson 3: Sound Story Composition
Post the six sound composition cards.
Ask students to re-order the cards to create a class composition.
Read the composition.
Divide the class into six groups.
Pass out the instruments used in the previous lesson.
Hi! My name is Polina, and I teach general music in two Catholic schools in New Haven County in Connecticut. I have been teaching general and vocal music for eight years in private schools. I have three teaching certifications in music, dramatic…