K-2 Christmas Lesson Plan Materials: Story Books (Mouse Before Christmas, The Night Before Christmas, The

Gingerbread Man), Billboard Christmas CD, Piano and Sheet Music, Jingle Bells. Objective: How do we learn about holiday celebrations by singing, listening to, moving, and playing instruments to holiday songs? A. Opening Question: What is a carol? -Have the students name some of their favorite Christmas carols. B. Read Story Book: A Mouse Before Christmas 1. Ask questions about the book. 2. Transition: Ask students if they can think of some good holiday carols that would match this story. (Up on the Rooftop) C. Sing Up on the Rooftop 1. Still sitting on the floor, have students echo short phrases and movements. 2. Sing song together, with movements. Go over any parts the students are not confident with. 3. Have students stand up in sing/do motions on their own, while I play piano. D. Teach Jingle Bells 1. Instruct Students to go back to their seats and face me. 2. Pay melody on the piano and have students guess what it is. 3. Without piano, review first half of the song. a. Short phrases b. Together c. With piano, and sing the song to the end. 4. Add Instruments (Jingle Bells) a. Pass out jingle bells, instructing students to leave them on their desks and put their hands in their laps until I say it is time to play. b. Model a steady beat with the jingle bells and piano and prompt students to play along. c. Sing the song, adding a steady jingle bell beat in at the chorus. E. Movement with Instruments 1. Instruct students to spread out and find their own space, keeping their hands to themselves and their jingle bells as quiet as possible. 2. Play Jingle Bell Rock (Billboard Christmas CD Track 1) and have students copy my dance moves. 3. If the students follow instruction well, may also dance to Rockin Around the Christmas Tree or The Chipmunk Song, with movements appropriate for their time signatures.

F. Other Story Book Activities: 1. Read The Night Before Christmas a. Have students sit on the floor. Pass out instruments (4 triangles, 4 pairs of sand blocks, everyone else gets jingle bells) before hand and tell students to wait for further directions as to when they should play, keeping instruments on the floor in front of them until it is time. We will use the instruments to add our own sound effects to the story. Everyone has a job, unless they dont follow directions. b. Prompt students to play instruments when at appropriate times in the story: bells will play any time reindeer or sleigh are mentioned. I have the rest in my headi.e. triangle for his eyes how they twinkled and sand blocks for prancing and pawing of each little hoof. 2. Read The Gingerbread Man a. Have students echo me in chanting the repeating part throughout the book (Ill run and run) in rhythm, with a tapped beat. b. Read story, prompting students as to when they should help me out and chant their part. Assessment: Assess playing and singing visually and aurally. Ask questions throughout the lesson, prompting both group and individual responses and guiding students in self-assessment. National Standards: 1 (Singing), 2 (Performing on Instruments), 3 (Improvising), 6 (Listening to and Describing Music), 9 (Understanding Music and Its Relation to History and Culture). Reflection: This lesson was very successful. The only change I ended up making was that I rearranged activities so that there would be more of a variety. The first time I taught it, I had like-activities grouped together (For example, singing three songs in a row) and I think the students were getting bored/distractible because of that. Other than that, this was a good plan and the students seemed to really enjoy a lot of the activities I invented, especially when they got to dance and play jingle bells to Jingle Bell Rock and add their own sound effects to the Night Before Christmas. Im proud of this one.