Concept: Preparing Sound Carpets with Unpitched Percussion

“Abiyoyo” by Pete Seeger – 1st Grade

Standards:
• Music: CREATE: Imagine. MU: Cr2.1.1a With limited guidance, demonstrate and
discuss personal reasons for selecting musical ideas that represent expressive
intent.
• Music: PERFORM: Interpret. MU: Pr4.3.1a Demonstrate and describe music’s
expressive qualities (such as dynamics and tempo)
• ELA: Reading/Literature: Key Ideas and Details: Recount stories, including fables
and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson,
or moral.

Materials:
• Abiyoyo by Pete Seeger
• Egg shakers, drums, ukulele, vibraslap (or other instruments)

Background:
Abiyoyo is a story written by Pete Seeger based on a South African lullaby he sang for
his children. He wanted to incorporate the song into the story.

Lesson Sequence:
Objective #1: After reading the story Abiyoyo and identifying the characters/moods,
students in 1st grade will improvise sounds using unpitched percussion instruments that
reflect the characters’ actions and moods during a second reading of the story.
• ENGAGE: Give background of Abiyoyo. Read Abiyoyo to students.
1. Students discuss the characters in Abiyoyo, identifying aloud their moods
and actions.
• Boy
• Father
• Villagers
• Abiyoyo
2. Students choose an instrument that could represent each character or
character group.
• Boy – ukulele
• Father – “weird” instrument
• Villagers – egg shakers
• Abiyoyo – drums
3. Read the book with instrument accompaniment, using teacher cues.
• ASSESSMENT: Is each student using the instrument to reflect the character’s
action? (Observe each student as they perform their sounds during the retelling
of Abiyoyo.)
Post-Lesson Self-Reflections

Teacher Name Abby Helt Date of Lesson 4/26/19

Focus of lesson Abiyoyo Sound Carpets – 1st grade Date of Reflection 5/9/19

1. As I reflect on the lesson, to what extent were the students actively engaged? How
do I know?

The students were actively engaged most of the lesson. When I was reading the story
initially, students sat quietly and listened and started to sing along with the singing parts.
When I asked questions about characters and instruments, they were very engaged
with answering questions and listening to their peers. When it came time to play the
instruments, they were ready and excited to do so and played when they were
supposed to.

2. Did the students learn what I had intended? Were my instructional goals and
objectives met? What is my evidence?

Yes. My objective was met because the students created accompaniment sounds that
were appropriate and reflected the moods of the characters involved in the story.

3. Did I alter my goals, strategies, activities, student grouping and/or assessment as I

taught the lesson for individual needs? If so, what changes did I make and why did I
make these changes?

I did not need to alter anything because the students were ready for my questions
presented and the goals were accomplished.

4. Were my strategies and activities effective? What is my evidence?

Yes. Actively involving students in choosing the instruments for each character by
asking questions showed they would be able to reflect the actions and moods of the
characters in the book when it came time to create the sound carpet during the second
reading of the story.

5. To what extent did the classroom environment (Respect and Rapport, Culture for
Learning, Classroom Procedures, Appropriate Student Behavior, the Physical
Environment) contribute to student learning? What is my evidence?

The classroom environment was very beneficial to the learning in this lesson. This class
does a very good job of staying safe and respectful in the music class, so that was a big
help to classroom management. I also chose the “soloists” on the fun instruments by
saying initially that I would be looking for students that were participating and staying
safe, so that caused the students to be respectful while still having fun with the lesson.

6. Was my assessment effective and useful to my students and me? Describe an

instance in which my feedback positively affected a student’s learning.

Yes, the informal observance of the students during the sound carpet helped both them
and me. There was a specific instance where the shakers came in too early, so I reread
the page and asked, “Are there villagers in this part of the story?” and the students
realized they were playing at the wrong time and stopped. The next time the villagers
came back, the students with the shakers were able to come in at the right time.

7. If I had the opportunity to teach this lesson again, what might I do differently? Why?

I would maybe read the story a few more times to give students opportunities on
different instruments and to highlight more students with the “special” parts.

8. Describe future teaching strategies, presentational changes, etc

I would allow more students to have the special part and maybe spend more time on
solidifying each “mood” or action of each of the parts.