I get it. Testing week can be a real challenge. It certainly is not my favorite week to be teaching music, and I’m guessing it’s not yours, either. After all, what music teacher wants to be silenced in their own classroom?
Still, standardized tests aren’t going anywhere, which means testing season is here to stay. If you’re scrambling for ideas to keep the noise down, I’ve got you covered. Behold! Here, I present quiet and engaging activities for music class, organized by what your teaching situation allows.
Listening Lessons are Winners for Testing Week!
When I need a quiet music lesson, listening lessons are my go-to. If your principal allows you to play recorded music at a reasonable volume (keep the door shut!), then these lessons may be just what you’re looking for:
1. Kandinsky Cross-Curricular Music Lesson: Improvisation No. 27
- Ideal for Grades 3-5
- Requires paper, pencils, and coloring supplies
- Optional: Chrome Music Activity Included (requires 1:1 devices)
When you want to keep your students completely engaged, this lesson is such a treat. The peaceful recording of Denise Haas Norwood’s Garden of Eden is simply magical. It’s also a wonderful cross-curricular lesson that shows students how music and art intertwine.
During the lesson, students will explore the creative process of abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky. They’ll listen to the recording and create artwork based on the sounds, colors, and movement of the music. It’s a great opportunity for students to use their imagination, without making a peep.
Students love sharing and talking about the artwork they create. I love that this lesson was a big success with my principal during an observation a few years ago. If you’d like to learn more about how this lesson works, you can read the full blog post here. If you’re ready to purchase, you can grab the resource below!
2. The Four Seasons – Vivaldi Listening Lesson
- Works for most grade levels
- Ideal for longer testing windows (2-4 weeks)
- Requires printed packet and coloring supplies
- *Optional: Use this website to read each of the sonnets to older students before playing each movement. Works for me!
- Free for Chamber of Freebies Members!
Looking for something simple that can work for almost every music class you teach? If you have a long testing window (2-4 weeks), you’ll love using this Four Seasons Listening Lesson.
You’ll need to print the resource into stapled packets for each student. Make sure they write their names on their packet.
Students will also need access to coloring supplies such as colored pencils and crayons.
Here’s what you’ll do:
- Distribute packets and coloring supplies to students.
- Explain that they will be listening to The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi. Provide some extra context about the composer if you wish.
- Optional Step: Read the sonnets to students before playing each movement
- Before playing the movement, remind students which box they are drawing a picture for and coloring (sometimes they get mixed up!)
- Play the movement in full as students draw pictures based on the imagery they envision in the music.
- Take a moment to discuss and share between movements if you like.
- Optional Step: Have older students in grades 4-6 complete the reflection questions on page 6 of the packet.
Oh, and the best part? This listening lesson is completely free for members of the Chambers of Freebies! If you haven’t joined, you can sign up below for access to my growing library of music education freebies, which includes this resource! ⬇️
3. Mozart’s 12 Variations – Nearpod Composition Project!
- Ideal for grades 4-7
- Requires a Nearpod Gold, Platinum, or District Nearpod account for usage
- Requires 1:1 devices and headphones or earbuds
Testing season is the perfect time to take advantage of your district’s Nearpod license if you have access to one! This Nearpod lesson can be taught live, asynchronously, or virtually, depending on your needs.
Additionally, you can assign this lesson to students to work through at their own pace. I recommend having students use headphones or earbuds for this lesson, since they’ll be listening to music and composing their own variation in Chrome Music Lab!
Here’s how the lesson works:
- Students start by learning a little about Mozart and his twelve variations of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (also known as Ah, vous dirai-je Maman)
- Students learn about theme and variations
- Students listen to the full recording of Ah, vous dirai-je Maman with all twelve variations (*Tip: to keep them engaged longer while listening, try asking students to raise their hand each time they notice a new variation!)
Students will be guided through creating their own variation to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in Chrome Music Lab with hints along the way! 🙂
Boom Learning Games for Testing Week
Boom Cards are often the perfect solution for testing week.
A few years ago, I was in a school where my principal wanted me to push into classrooms during testing week so that the students wouldn’t make noise in the hallways when traveling to their specials. Using Boom Learning worked out perfectly in this scenario because the students already had access to their Chromebooks and earbuds, since it was part of their usual classroom supplies.
It took almost no prep to assign decks to the students and have them strengthen their musical skills at the Chromebook. Here are some of my favorites…
1. Springtime Dynamics
- Ideal for grades 1-4
- Drag & drop game
- Reviews eight different types of dynamics!
- This game does not require sound and can be played on mute.
This is an adorable spring-themed game where students plant flowers in their garden by matching various dynamics with the correct definition by dragging the correct plant to the pot. Students will review the following dynamics: fortissimo, fore, mezzo forte, mezzo piano, piano, pianissimo, crescendo, and decrescendo.
2. Music Money Game
- Ideal for grades 4-6
- Drag & drop game
- Reviews whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes
- Practices music math (addition skills)
- Earbuds are optional
I wanted to create a resource that reinforced note values while incorporating music, math, and counting. The result? An adorable little piggy bank game in which students practice filling their piggy banks with the correct amount of dollars and coins. The bills and coins are represented by three different note values.
In this game:
- Whole Note = Dollar Bill
- Half Note = Half Dollar Coin
- Quarter Note = Quarter Coin
*Quick Note: This game does provide oral directions on Card 1 before the students start playing, but if you don’t have access to earbuds, you can easily have students mute their Chromebooks and provide those directions yourself. Aside from the first card and answer feedback sounds (which can be disabled), it is relatively silent play for testing week.
3. Pizza Note Values
- Ideal for grades 4-6
- Drag & drop game
- Introduces and reviews whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and eighth notes
- Practices music math (addition and fractions)
- Earbuds are strongly recommended for this resource
This was one of my favorite resources to create because it compares note values to fractions, using pizzas. In this game, students will be introduced to whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and eighth notes, while working in a fictional pizzeria! Throughout their shift, the restaurant begins to run low on ingredients. Students are tasked with placing the correct number of pizza slices (which correspond with note values) into the pizza box to fulfill the customer’s order.
This game is narrated throughout play, so earbuds are strongly recommended for 1:1 play during testing week!
4. Crack the Treble Code!
- Not grade specific
- Reviews treble clef note reading on the staff
- Crack the secret code by spelling words on the treble staff!
- Strengthens note-reading skills
- Review and hints provided to students throughout play
- Earbuds are strongly recommended for this resource
Want to strengthen your students’ note-reading skills during testing week? This Boom Learning game will have them scrambling to read each secret code. But to solve each code, they must identify notes on the treble staff.
First, students receive a review of treble clef note reading. Before they start to play, helpful hints are made available and continue to appear throughout play. Due to the audio guidance provided, headphones or earbuds are strongly recommended for 1:1 play.
5. Travel Through Time Signatures
- Ideal for grades 4-6
- Reviews simple meter time signatures
- Students should be familiar with basic note values and quarter rests
- Travel through time during play while identifying the correct time signature!
- This game does not require sound and can be played on mute
This is a cute little game for reviewing time signatures during testing week. It can be played completely on mute if needed! In the game, students will:
- Examine 4-bar excerpts of music written in various simple meters
- Count beats in 4-bar excerpts and choose the correct time signature
- Review note and rest values
Not sure how to use Boom Learning? I’ve got you covered! Check out my blog post: Boom Cards for Music Class for more information on gamified learning in the music room!
Want to complete your music teaching game library? Purchase my Elementary Music Boom Cards GROWING bundle for complete access to my current and future Boom Learning resources!
Ideas for When You Can’t Make Any Noise at All
In certain situations, I’ve had school principals tell me that there can be absolutely no noise during testing week. I’ll be honest—those situations are always the hardest in elementary music. Still, I have some awesome resources I think will carry you through those less-than-ideal circumstances:
1. Printable Tempo Organizer
- Ideal for grades 2-4
- Students should be familiar with basic tempos (examples: presto, largo, andante)
- Requires scissors and glue
- Students will organize animal images, tempos, and descriptions by speed!
If you’re okay with a little crafting during testing season, this is a fun kinesthetic activity that helps students review their tempo terminology while matching the terms and descriptions to animals. For example, a student would cut and paste the image of the cheetah next to Presto and the image of the turtle by Largo.
This activity is pretty easy to prep. All you need to do is print the tempo organizer packets and distribute scissors and glue. Students will most likely need the full class period to complete the organizer. I like to turn on soft background music and monitor their progress throughout the period. It’s a really nice activity that won’t require much activity or noise at all to complete.
2. Ada’s Violin
- Ideal for grades 2-5
- Book-based lesson on Ada’s Violin by Susan Hood
- Advocates for music education accessibility
- Promotes creativity and recycling
- Download this lesson for free in my TPT store!
Because our testing week usually falls sometime around Earth Day, I love reading the book Ada’s Violin. The book is absolutely perfect for celebrating our planet!
Based on a true story, Ada’s Violin tells the tale of Ada Ríos, a girl who grew up in the poor town of Cateura, Paraguay. Cateura is built on a landfill and is quite literally a community of garbage.
When a music teacher named Favio Chávez wants to teach music to the children of Cateura, he runs into a problem. There are not enough musical instruments for all the children who want to participate. Fortunately, Mr. Chávez collaborates with members of the community and arrives at a solution that is creative and groundbreaking.
This is a really engaging story that students love, and I highly recommend this book for your teaching library! You can order it on Amazon. There’s also an excellent documentary that I love to show to older students as a follow-up. There is also an excellent documentary that showcases the real people in the story, called Landfill Harmonic.
The documentary is in Spanish with English subtitles. I typically save it for older grades (4 and up) but it could also work really well for longer testing seasons (2 weeks or more).
The lesson for Ada’s Violin is free to download from my TPT store!
3. The Blues Cruise
- Ideal for grades 4-6
- Virtual Field Trip
- Helps students explore and discover the genre of blues music
- Listen, learn, explore, and create blues music
- 1:1 Devices and Earbuds Recommended
This resource was born during lockdown, and has continued to be loved many years after!
I wanted to create a resource that would broaden my students’ curiosity and understanding of Blues music. I was playing around with words, and I realized “Blues” and “Cruise” rhymed together and could make a cute, tropical-themed resource!
Lots of planning and research went into creating an interactive cruise map where students can hear blues music inspired by food in a restaurant, take a tour with Bessie Smith, or hear BB King’s story in the gift shop!
There are also Chome Music Lab templates included. Here, students can compose their own blues music based on the blues scales, 8-bar or 12- bar chord progressions. You can also easily project this resource on the SmartBOARD and have students take turns picking areas to explore on the map.
I do recommend this resource for 1:1 devices because students tend to enjoy exploring this resource on their own!
4. Virtual Music Museum
- Not Grade Specific
- Virtual Field Trip
- Discover music through exploring, playing games, digital instruments, and creating!
- Listen, learn, explore, and create blues music
- 1:1 Devices and Earbuds Recommended
- Free for Chamber of Freebies Members!
This musical museum was another digital resource born during early lockdown. My district had asked us to move to asynchronous teaching (this was before we started Zoom classes).
I wanted to create a resource where students still felt like they were learning about music, and they were creating and exploring, even without a music teacher guiding them. This resource was a big hit when I shared it in Google Classroom, and my students loved discovering the different features I installed on the Virtual Museum map.
This is a Google Slides resource that works best on 1:1 devices with earbuds, although you could also project it on the SmartBOARD and have the students take turns. It works well for testing season because students are usually tired after a long day of testing, and enjoy this as a low-pressure activity. It allows them to relax, explore, and discover something new in the world of music. This resource is 100% free to members of the Chamber of Freebies! You can sign-up to access it and the rest of my free resource collection by clicking the link below! ⬇️
Thriving in Music Class During Testing Week
I know testing week can feel overwhelming, especially when we lose access to the things we normally rely on, like our classrooms, instruments, or even the ability to make sound. Even so, I hope this post gives you some valuable ideas that you can adapt to whatever situation you’re facing during testing season.
If you try something from this list, I’d love to hear how it goes in the comments!
And don’t forget—you can access several of these music class resources for free by signing up for the Chamber of Freebies. It’s a great way to build your teaching toolkit without spending a dime.
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