Ah, yes- 1 week left until Winter Break. It is the best of times……it is the worst of times. You know what I mean!! Thankfully, I’ve got my Winter Program out of the way and I can fully dedicate my classes to teaching “The Nutcracker”. There are many resources out there for “The Nutcracker”, but in order to simplify, I’m sharing my Nutcracker Story & Music Questions with you, along with a few other fun activities & resources. Also if you are in need of another christmasy lesson plan, check out my last blog post- Ukulele Christmas Carols.
What you’ll need:
- -Youtube Videos- Simple Music Teaching Nutcracker Playlist
- The Nutcracker Story and Music Questions- on my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.
- “The Nutcracker” Little Golden Book
At the beginning of class, I read the students the story of “The Nutcracker” with the little golden book. I would recommend a hard copy, but if you don’t have one, you can either rent from your library or purchase on Amazon. If you have a Kindle account, you can purchase the Kindle version and project on your screen for students to see! I did that last year and it worked out great!
After the story, I’ll set a timer for about 5-7 minutes and have them complete the Story questions for “The Nutcracker”. You can get the worksheet here. When they are done answering the questions, we review them as a class.
Then, I start teaching them about the music. I usually show students a clip from the ballet & start with the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and the Trepak Russian Dance. I explain that Tchaikovsky is the composer of the music in “The Nutcracker”, and that it’s a ballet (a story told through music). If we have time, I will show them this short biographical video of Tchaikovsky.
Activity Time!
After all of that sitting and writing, this “Trepak Russian Dance” activity is super fun. You can also easily teach them about form and dynamics with this song.
I also love using this cup activity for “The Overture”, but with rhythm sticks instead. Whatever you have on hand will work. This activity is great for teaching dynamics, crescendo, and form.
After all of this, I have students answer the Music Questions worksheet independently. If we have extra time, I will start the ballet from the beginning. We usually watch Western Ballet’s version on Youtube.
I hope you enjoy this simple lesson idea for “The Nutcracker”! We are almost to the finish line! Hang in there, friends.
Keepin’ it simple,
Paige
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