During the winter trimester, my second grade music classes studied the composer, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). They performed a variety of activities to learn about the life of Beethoven and to experience his music. When the unit ends, the students and I created podcasts about Beethoven’s life. The students were divided into groups, they wrote facts that they learned about Beethoven, and they chose a picture and music to accompany their facts. Each student read his/her facts as I recorded them using GarageBand and a snowball microphone. Later in the day, I exported the podcast and uploaded it to the school website.
The students thoroughly enjoyed this project. It incorporated listening to and learning about Beethoven’s life and music and reading, writing, and presentation skills. The results were wonderful and something that can be created and shared easily on a music webpage.
To views this year’s Beethoven podcasts, please click here.
