Learning about and recognizing the instruments and instruments families of the orchestra is an essential concept in music education. What better way to reinforce and extend the learning of the orchestral instrument families than through the use of CENTERS!!
Why I Love Centers….
- Student-Directed Learning Centers allow student-directed learning, which is where I think effective learning truly takes place. Today’s student learns laterally – this is the term I give for how a kid “clicks around” on a website exploring what they want, in the order that they want. If you provide appropriate parameters, students can gain a lot of knowledge and understanding through just “clicking around”
- Freedom for Teacher to Help and Reinforce The way I structure centers, all students are engaged in their own learning, either working with other students or working independently to complete an activity. This frees you, the teacher, to move around the classroom and assist students as needed. Too often, with the large class sizes music teachers have (I have 28-33 in each class I teach, KK through 4th grade), we can’t do much one-on-one teaching or assistance. Centers allows teachers the freedom to assess students’ comprehension and help where needed.
- Satisifies Multiple Learning Styles and Domains We all know the three learning styles: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Centers, especially in the music classroom, allow 1) visual learners to do things like complete worksheets, look at music notation, or read a website; 2) auditory learners to listen to a recorded piece of music; and 3) kinesthetic learners to play a song on an instrument by “doing.” Also, remember Bloom’s Taxonomy?!? Centers often take a learner into the higher learning domains by forcing students to do such things as analyze, evaluate, and even create!
Recently, my 1st and 2nd Graders have been studying the Orchestral Instrument Families and I wanted desperately to give my students a more active, engaging opportunity to continue and reinforce their learning of these instruments and this concept. Centers, as stated above, was the perfect vehicle for this. Below is a link to my complete “Orchestra Instrument Family Centers Learning Unit”, that can be downloaded from TeachersPayTeachers.com for a small fee. If you don’t want to download this unit for the cost provided, stay tuned and in the coming weeks I will be posting the individual parts of this unit for free here on LearnMeMusic.com.
This unit gives students practice with listening to, identifiying, categorizing, and manipulating the instruments and families of the orchestra through 5 pre-made learning centers. I have designed this unit so all 5 centers are student-centered and student-driven, so the teacher is free to move around the room and assist all students as needed. The five centers include:
* computers (using a music website)
* a worksheet that helps students identify instruments in the four orchestral families
* a listening center with listening map
* a “memory” game using cards with instrument pictures
* instrument-playing center using pitched instruments
All directions, materials, printables, visuals, and websites are included in the unit and can be printed and reproduced as many times as needed. Student learning objectives are included that can be matched to any state’s music standards. Save a little bit of printing, cutting and laminating, this download is an entire unit ready to use today! Enjoy!
What centers do you use in your classroom? How do you get you students to a higher order of learning and cognition? I would love to hear ideas and feedback! Leave a comment in the comment form below!
– The super-talented men’s a cappella reformed from members of Indiana University, 
– George Winston…need I say more? This album is peaceful and calming; plus, my humble words cannot begin to describe the sounds George Winston can produce on a piano. I have heard few players love the keys more than he….
– This album is the sound of Christmas morning in my memories. Christmas morning, before my brother and I were allowed to see our presents, my parents had to turn on the lights on the tree, start the coffee, and turn on the record player with Raffi’s Christmas Album. Yes, I said record player – growing up I listened to many classic albums in the vinyl version and I appreciate my parents providing me with those great recordings to fill my childhood. This album is a true “must-have” for anyone who spends Christmastime with children!
– The most recent release out of my list, Sugarland’s “Gold and Green” is already a classic. A mixture of original tunes and arrangements of classic Christmas tunes, this album encompasses the spirit of Christmas in true “Sugarland-style.”
– If we weren’t listening to Raffi’s Christmas on the stereo, then it was The Carpenters’ “Christmas Portrait” record. I have known each tune by heart since childhood and it is truly not Christmas until I have heard and sung “Christmas Waltz” at least 50 times! Karen Carpenter’s voice and talent (Rest in Peace, Karen) were true gifts to music and I cherish hearing her voice each and every time I enjoy their album.
, a truly classic holiday short musical film for all ages. It was nominated for Best Short Film Oscar award back in 1982. What makes this film so enchanting, I believe, is the music. The score was composed by 
, which won the 1996 Grammy for Best New Age album! 
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