Submitted by Gretchen Taylor, Illinois
Idea posted April 2, 2002
I started my 1st grade Peter & The Wolf unit this past Wednesday, and it went quite well. Just to whet their appetites for more, I simply told them the story. Then I had them recall the various characters (I wrote these on the board). I went on to suggest that we assign various instruments to represent each character...
- Peter = woodblock
- Bird = jingle bells
- Cat = a plastic monster stick that "moans" when you turn it upside down
- Duck = a duck call instrument (homemade)
- Grandpa = drum
- Wolf = maraca
- Hunters = sticks
I passed out the instruments (everyone had something), and I read the story again and let the instruments accompany their character. The kids loved it. Then, I proceeded to tell them about Prokofiev and how he did this same thing only he used instruments of the orchestra. Next class, I'll introduce the bird (from the CD), show a picture of a flute, pass out scarves, and let the kids move like birds to the music. Then I'm going to pull out my recorder and play "Bluebird Bluebird" which will lead into my introducing them to that song and companion game.
Basically, this is how I'll introduce each character. At the end, I'll show a video to pull it all together. I think the kids will enjoy this unit.