One of the things I know I struggled A LOT with was knowing what exactly to do with my students during the 45 minutes I saw them. I knew all of the ways I could teach music and the different means of music making, yet was still a bit stumped in how to let the class time flow. So, I developed this 45 minute class period breakdown for elementary music teachers, and it’s the same one I used with my students. You can also listen to podcast episode 186 of The Elementary Music Teacher podcast, where I break down each of these steps even further.
Of course, there are a lot of factors to consider including if you see your students more or less than 45 minutes, what your teaching situation is like, and also the unique needs of your different classes. Whatever the case may be, this breakdown will help give you a guideline to follow as you’re thinking through your music time with your students.
This class period break down is the same one that can be found in every lesson plan pack in my Harmony membership site, and will need to be adapted based on your teaching situation, what you’re allowed to do or not do with your students, and the different grade levels as well. You may see your students for more or less than 45 minutes, so use this example as a guide and adjust it accordingly based on what you need. Consider the ages of your classes and each individual classes needs, and then meet your students where they’re at.
2 Minutes
For the first 2 minutes of class, you’ll lead a vocal and/or body percussion warm up. You can also do a bell ringer activity with your students during this time as well. Getting students to their seats and ready to learn can be tough at times. After students enter the music room, jump in right away with getting their hands or voices busy doing something. Talk to your students, ask them questions, go over the agenda for the day, or just go right into a warm up.
5-10 Minutes
For the next 5-10 minutes, you’ll review a song or activity that your students learned during the last class period. This might be a song the students have learned that you’re now wanting to add instruments or movement to. Or, maybe you’re wanting to talk about the elements of the song in a bit more detail, so this is the time of the class period you’ll do this. You’re reviewing singing the song, but also the concepts as well that you want your students to remember before moving forward with this lesson or something new. This is also a great part of your class period to read a story to your students, that aligns with the lesson or unit you’re covering.
15-20 Minutes
The next 15-20 minutes is biggest chunk of class time and is when you’ll teach a new song and add in movement and/or instruments. Maybe you want your students to do a small group activity or work with a partner. This is where you’ll be teaching something new and you can break this time down the way you see fit for your students. Keep in mind the grade levels of your students. With Kindergarten, for example, you’ll want them to do a few different things during this 15-20 minute point of the class time.
10 Minutes
For 10 minutes, this is when you’ll have student’s play a music game or participate in some sort of activity, like a folk dance. You can also add in technology here as well, or that can be added into the 15-20 minute part of the class time. If you spend more than 10 minutes on a musical game, you might start losing the interest of your students. This is open to interpretation and should be based around how you like to teach and the way your students best learn.
5 Minutes
At this point, you’re nearing towards the end of class time. This 5 minutes is where you’ll focus on reviewing with your students what the learned that day. One idea is to ask bullet questions. Or, students can discuss what was learned with a partner. Or maybe, you might want to review what was learned by showing them in a Google slide. What will prepare them to come into the music room next time by wrapping up this particular lesson?
5 Minutes
You may have already read a story towards the beginning of class time. Or, maybe you want to read one towards the end of class. This 5 minutes would be the perfect place to add musical literacy into your lesson. Remember, there’s so much you can do with books… movement, patting the steady beat, creating rhythms, etc. Doing calm movement, whether to a book or just creative movement, is the perfect activity to do towards the end of class as well.
2 Minutes
You’ve finally made it to the end of the class time and have about 2 minutes left. Of course, there’s no perfect formula and not all class periods will end up aligning with this breakdown exactly. But, sometime before lining up students to leave, you’re going to wrap up the lesson. This last chunk of class time can be used to have students fill out exit tickets. You’ll also use this time to implement class rewards or to have your “star student” help you with whatever last minute tasks need to be done.
How do you break down the class time in your music room? Tell me about it in the comments below or share your thoughts on social media as you share this post. I’d love for you to share this post or any of the resources on my website with a friend or colleague who you know NEEDS to see it too. Also, if you want to save this break down as a graphic, I shared it to my Instagram in this post.
P.S. Are you feeling frustrated or stuck as an elementary music teacher? Check out these free resources to help you teach elementary music with confidence!
Also…I wrote a book called “Make A Note: What You Really Need To Know About Teaching Elementary Music” to help music teachers move forward in your teaching career. You can get your copy here.
