The orchestra instruments – everybody teaches them. One of the benchmarks for fourth grade in Florida is to be able to classify orchestra instruments into the correct instrument family, so this activity would be perfect for them. One thing I’ve noticed – especially with my older grades – is that they love to work in groups. And they are WAY more engaged than if I made the whole class to it as a group or made them do it individually. So I have harnessed that to my advantage this year and made lots of group learning activities.
What Instruments Are There in an Orchestra?
The orchestra is made of four main families – the woodwind family, the brass family, the string family and the percussion family. The keyboard family makes an appearance from time to time.
The four main orchestral woodwinds are the flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon. The primary brass instruments in the orchestra are the trumpet, French horn, trombone and tuba. The main orchestral strings instruments are the violin, viola, cello and string bass. And the percussion instruments of the orchestra are as numerous as the stars in the sky!
How To Teach The Orchestra Instrument Sorting Activity
Teach the Instrument Families of the Orchestra
First, I make sure that I have covered each instrument family individually. I usually dedicate one lesson to each of the instrument families, where we learn about the properties of each instrument and specific instruments within the family, etc. You can check out my blog post Instruments of the Orchestra: 5 New Ways to Teach Instrument Families for more details on some of the ways that I cover each instrument family.
Sort the Orchestra Instruments as a Class
Next it may help to do a sorting activity as a class before you let them loose with partners. I love Artie Almeida’s Football Frenzy Game from Music Madness. It is a quick and fun way to have your students review and sort each family. Check out the details in my blog post review: Music Madness.
Sort the Instruments with Partners
I created my first set of sorting cards by simply taking the Instrument Bingo Game I had a my school, copying it, and cutting out the tiles. Pros – this is a very quick and free way to make sorting cards if you are in a rush. Cons – the writing is TINY, as are the actual cards, so my kids spent a good amount if time squinting at the cards.
Below, you can see my first version of my sorting activity.
Not bad, but since then I have upgraded. Here are the cards I use today. They are bigger, colorful, and easier to read. And you can grab them for super cheap in my store!
How to Play
It’s simple. Divide into groups of 3-4 students. Give them the bag of instrument pictures. Have them sort all the instruments cards into their correct instrument family. Make sure to go around. Ask them to give your a “tour” of their orchestra. Give them feedback if you see any mistakes and see if they can figure it out.
My favorite part about this activity was the connections that students made. They could see what woodwinds had on common, versus brass or percussion. They had to have discussions about where to put each instrument and really think about each families characteristics.
Need to appeal to kids with a competitive nature? Make it a timed sort. How many can you sort in 3 minutes, for example. I don’t recommend doing this for your first time sorting, as students don’t have those in-depth conversations I was talking about before. But it makes for a fun end of class challenge at the end of a unit!
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