Beethoven and Obstacles

We start this (third grade) unit on Beethoven with a discussion on obstacles. I begin with a silly demonstration. I start telling them about Beethoven's music and keep bumping into a chair placed in the middle of the room. After a few giggles, I ask them why I kept stopping and restarting my lesson. This leads into the short discussion on obstacles. We tie this into Beethoven's life and then I move on to this presentation from ArtsEdge.

 Beethoven Rocks! Artsedge

After we get to know a little bit about Ludwig Van Beethoven, we learn to sing Ode to Joy from his ninth symphony. I created this Mimio slide:

I like to show the movie or read the story of Beethoven Lives Upstairs. I split it into two parts, using the song Ode to Joy (singing and/or with bells) with the first, and some questions with the second.

After we complete the movie, I have students give me a list of words they associate with Beethoven. I write the (numbered) list on the board. We then discuss his great obstacle and how it affected his life/music. 

I ask students to use the word list and their imagination to write a letter to Beethoven, discussing his music, life and great obstacle.

(Letter template)