Grizzly Bear Lesson Plan

Concept: Dynamics loud (forte) and soft (piano)

Skills: Singing with forte and piano dynamics
Moving, in a circle and individually about the room
Moving ones hands to show loud and soft
Standard: S1C1PO1: singing on pitch loud/soft
Objective: I can sing Grizzly Bear using forte and piano voices.
Materials: Grizzly Bear
Bear stuffed animal
Whiteboard and marker
Process:
1. Sit in circle on the floor. Teacher sings while students listen.
2. Students stand up and tiptoe around the room while teacher sings. Freeze during last part
of song and hold up bear claws. Practice again with movements.
3. Rejoin in a circle. One student in center is the grizzly bear. Other students walk around
the circle and sing.
4. Sit down in circle. How were we changing our voices while we were singing? What
kinds of voices were we using? Students recognize that they were singing with both soft
and loud voices.
5. Demonstrate what loud and soft would look like with hands. Choose one student to be the
leader. (Student) is going to be the leader. S/he is going to use their hands to show us
how loud or soft to sing, and we have to follow him/her. Sing through song. Ask leader
to choose a new leader and repeat process.
6. In music we have other words for loud and soft. The word for loud is forte. The word for
soft is piano. Go to board and write p and f. We will see the letters p and f in music
for piano and forte.
7. Ask previous leader to choose a new leader to come to whiteboard. (Student) is going to
lead us in singing the song, but this time, instead of using their hands, they are going to
move between p and f to show us how loud or soft to sing. Sing through song. If class
needs to practice again, have leader choose a leader and repeat once more.
8. Return to circle. Were going to finish by playing a game. Well sing through the song.
When were singing piano, we will pass the bear around the circle. As we get louder and
move to forte, you hold onto the bear if you have it. Ask students to repeat back the
directions for understanding. Play game several times.
9. So today you learned the musical words for loud and soft. The word for loud is? And
soft is?
Assessment: When asking students how they were changing their voices, listen for answers like
loud and soft or loud and quiet. Listen for appropriate loud and soft singing as students are
following the leader. Individually assess students during passing game. Watch for students

passing bear during quiet singing and holding onto bear during loud singing. Check students
understanding of terms by asking them to recall names for loud and soft.