Bring Winter to Life with Music: Bear Snores On Lesson
Children are naturally drawn to stories—they spark curiosity, build engagement, and create a sense of wonder. In the music classroom, storytelling becomes even more powerful when combined with singing, movement, and instrumental play.
“Bear Snores On” is the perfect winter-themed book to transform into a musical experience. Through this one lesson, your students will:
✔️ Sing along with repeating phrases
✔️ Practice solfege in an interactive way
✔️ Explore high and low pitch through storytelling
✔️ Develop steady beat skills with movement and instruments
This lesson brings winter magic into your music classroom while reinforcing core musical concepts in a fun and engaging way! Let’s dive in.
Lesson Plan Video Walk Through
Step 1: Teach the Song with Solfege
Start by introducing the song using solfege to help students connect pitch to movement and visuals. I like to use Pitch Hill (learn more here), but you can also tie in Boomwhacker colors or a simple rainbow to create a visual representation of pitch relationships.
✔️ Sing through the song together, reinforcing solfege syllables with hand signs.
✔️ Have students identify and match the correct colors for each solfege note.
✔️ Keep it simple! This song is short, making it easy to learn, repeat, and internalize.
By this point, your students may need a quick movement break before diving into the next step. A quick stretch, a scarf dance, or a simple movement pattern can help them reset and refocus!
Step 2: Connecting Pitch to Movement & Storytelling
To help students physically experience pitch, have them move their bodies as they sing:
✔️ Sol – Stand on tiptoes, reaching high.
✔️ Mi – Bend at the waist, halfway down.
✔️ Do – Squat low, feeling grounded.
This simple movement activity reinforces pitch relationships in a tangible way—turning an abstract concept into something students can see and feel.
Step 3: Bringing the Story to Life
Now it’s time to read the book! As you go through “Bear Snores On”, have students participate in two key ways:
🎵 The Repeating Phrase: Each time you read “But the bear snores on,” students stand up and perform the pitch movements—a built-in movement break that keeps engagement high!
🎵 Character Pitch Practice: Assign high and low vocal sounds to match different characters.
- Mouse → High-pitched voice
- Bear → Low-pitched voice
Encourage students to echo back each line in the appropriate pitch to reinforce high/low concepts in a fun and natural way.
Step 4: Exploring Sound Words & Rhythms
To keep students actively listening, have them identify sound words as you read: popping, sipping, squeaking, etc. This keeps their focus on the story while connecting literacy and music.
Once the story is finished, it’s time to work on rhythms! These winter-themed rhythms are easy, fun, and a great way to incorporate movement:
✔️ Stomp, tiptoe, jump, or march to the rhythm for an active brain break.
✔️ Use popsicle sticks to build and read rhythmic patterns.
✔️ Play rhythms on classroom instruments, reinforcing steady beat.
By combining singing, movement, pitch exploration, and rhythm play, this lesson turns “Bear Snores On” into an interactive, full-body musical experience students will love and remember!
Step 5: Bringing in Rhythm & Dynamics
After finishing the story, it’s time to bring movement and rhythm to life! These winter-themed rhythms are simple, fun, and a great way to reinforce steady beat while keeping students engaged.
✔️ Stomp, tiptoe, jump, or march to match different rhythms for an interactive brain break.
✔️ Use popsicle sticks to build and read rhythmic patterns.
✔️ Play rhythms on classroom instruments, incorporating different articulations.
Step 6: One Last Song – “Grizzly Bear”
Wrap up the lesson with one more song—“Grizzly Bear”! Sing through the song while:
🎵 Keeping a steady beat with body percussion or instruments.
🎵 Exploring dynamics—starting soft (piano) and building to loud (forte).
🎵 Changing articulation—using smooth (legato) or sharp (staccato) phrasing.
This final activity ties together everything students have learned—pitch, rhythm, steady beat, and expressive elements—all in a fun and engaging way!