Note Ninja

Hook 4 min

1. Play a short, familiar tune on the projector with Play, or hum one. "How could a musician who never heard this play it exactly right?"
2. "Music has its own alphabet, written on five lines. Today you learn to read it."

Teach 10 min

1. In Explore, tap the bottom line: it's E. Tap the spaces going up: F A C E.
2. Press Lines for the saying, then Spaces. Students point to the lines on their hands (five fingers are five lines).
3. Tap a piano key and watch where the note lands. C4 is middle C, on its own little ledger line.
4. Explain the clef: the treble clef curls around the G line.

Practice 14 min

1. Switch to Note Ninja and pick Treble lines. The class calls out each note before it reaches the red line, then a student taps the letter.
2. Pairs play on their own devices: Treble lines, then Treble spaces. They try to beat their best score.
3. Switch to Count the beats and pick 4/4. Model filling one measure. The green boxes show which beats are filled, and the counts appear under each note.
4. Pairs fill two measures, then press Play to hear them counted in on a drum.

Apply 8 min

1. Try a Puzzle in Count the beats: the measures have a gap. "Which note or rest fits?"
2. Switch to 3/4. "What note fills a whole measure by itself?" (A dotted half note.)
3. The class claps and counts the pairs' measures out loud. Rests are a silent open hand.

Exit check 4 min

Draw three notes on the board staff: one on a line, one in a space, and middle C. Students write the letter names on a card. Then: "In 4/4, a measure has a half note and a quarter note. What is missing?" (One beat: a quarter note or a quarter rest.)