Emoji Lesson

Learning Target OR Standards & Connections
  • Related SEL Skills: Self-Awareness, Self Management
  • NAFME Standard MU:Cr2.1.C.IIIa Assemble and organize multiple sounds or extended musical ideas to create initial expressive statements of selected extended sonic experiences or abstract ideas
Essential Outcomes(s) Level(s)
Students will…

  • Be able to increase their emotion vocabulary and to interpret emotions
  • Create a musical composition to match the mood/feeling of a selected emotion
 K-8
Activity/Project
  1. Ask students to look through this feelings wheel or this emoji chart and share how they are feeling.
  2. Give students a piece of paper and paper Have them fold it to make 4 boxes (or use a document with four boxes like this) 
  3. Have students listen to the following four songs (or other songs of your choice). While they listen, they may draw what they hear and at the end, write the mood of the piece.
    1. Youtube playlist
    2. Spotify playlist
  4. As a large group, discuss what elements make the song sound like a specific emotion. You may use this video to introduce musical elements.
  5. Teacher will share a blank Soundtrap assignment for students. Tutorial here
  6. Students will then pick an emoji/emotion to base a song around. Students will then open the assignment and create a musical piece based on their emoji/emotion
  7. When students are done, the class will share out and the rest of the class will guess which emoji the song is based on.
Extended Learning
  1. Students can pick an emotion of a character in a book they are reading for their composition.
  2. Have students watch parts of this video and pick more advanced emotions to write music for.

 

This lesson was inspired by Ashley Stopczynski, music specialist at Cicero #99 School District. This lesson was written by Serena Robinett, Soundtrap education specialist.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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