Movement

Music Lesson Plan

Title: “Hot Potato”__ Grade Level: 2nd Grade

Source: Kendall McCarty and Addie Taylor

Materials needed:

YouTube videos, instrument chart and any household item (for hot potato)

Procedure:

A.S. What kind of food are potato’s in? Have you ever felt a hot potato? If
so, can you explain how it feels? What cultures use potato’s in their food?

1. So, today we are going to be focusing on the Italian culture. People of

Italian culture use potato’s in many of their pastas, such as gnocchi
which is completely made out of potato’s.
2. Italian culture also has a variety of musical instruments that they
incorporate into their music. For this next part, we want you to listen
carefully for the type of musical instruments you hear.
3. Play the song-Tarantella Napoletana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW0W7j04iRQ for 1 minute to
allow time for students to hear the different instruments
4. After playing some of the song, create a discussion. Ask the students
if they can identify some of the musical instruments they see from the
chart. Answers: mandolin, a guitar, accordion, tambourines, flute,
fiddle, trumpet and clarinet)
5. Now, we want you to go back to thinking of how a hot potato feels.
You want to move it around super-fast because you don’t want it to
burn you.
6. For this next part in the activity, we want you to listen to the song
over again. But this time we are going to listen for a beat. Remember,
our hot potato just got out of the oven, so it is going to be super-hot.
So, we can assume that our beat is going to be fast.
7. Ask the students if anyone can describe what a beat in a song is? Beat
is: the underlying pulse felt in most music.
8. Play the song. Guide the children to finding the beat.
9. Now that we have found the beat, we want you to add in your “hot
potato”. Your hot potato can be anything that you would like it to be,
as long as you feel comfortable to move it around. Make sure it is
nothing smaller than a pencil (it will get tricky to catch).
10. Once everyone has their hot potato, explain how the activity will go:
please stand for this part of the activity. For the first 30 seconds of the
song, we will help guide you through the beat. Using your hot potato,
we want you to follow the beat and move your hot potato from hand
to hand. For the second half of the song, we want you to try it on your
own now. Once the music plays, begin moving your hot potato from
hand to hand. Make sure you are moving your potato fast because it
just came out of the oven.
11. Now our hot potato has had some time to cool down a little bit. We
are going to do the same procedure again but this time how to you
think the beat of the song will go? Remember, your potato has had
some time to cool down. Answer: the beat will be slower.
12. First, we are going to listen to the second song and find the beat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE-TADy-oN0
13. Now that we have the beat, we are going to play the song again, for
the first 30 seconds, we want you to demonstrate the beat with your
hot potato. Remember, we are doing the same thing as the first song.
14. Now that you have completed this task on your own, we now are
going to add in some foot stomping to the beat of the music too.
15. Once the music begins to play, try to move your hot potato and stomp
your feet to the beat. Try doing both at the same time. Remember, our
potato has cooled down, so your beat will be slower.
16. Tell the students they can sit and congratulate them on completing the
activity successfully.

Closure: What did your hot potato represent in this activity?

Which song had the faster hot potato? What were some of the
instruments we heard in the songs?
Educational Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will have learned . . .
how a hot potato resembles a beat and how to create movement when given different
beats
 Social/ Cognitive Physical Musical Non-Musical
Subjects
Emotional
Laughing Thinking Tossing a National Standards “Core” Music Content
Standards Standards
about a hot hot potato
potato quickly or 1. Singing Creating
Imagine
slowly to 2.2-
Thinking represent a Plan and Make
Students
how you beat 2. Play Instruments Evaluate & Refine demonstrate
move Present
map skills by
around a Stomping describing
the absolute
3. Improvising Performing
potato that their feet Select
is hot either and relative
Analyze
quickly or locations of
4. Composing
slowly to a Interpret people,
beat Rehearse,
Evaluate, & places, and
5. Reading & Refine
Notating environment
Present s.
Responding
Select
6. Listening
Analyze

Interpret
7. Evaluating
Evaluate

Connecting
Connect #10
8. Integration
(outside arts) Connect #11

9. History/Culture