Making Assessment Easy
by Drue Bullington
TEACHER GUIDE · K–6
Purpose
Build authentic assessment into joyful music-making so you can see what individual students can actually do without stopping the learning to give a test.
AT A GLANCE
Best for — Teachers who need practical ways to gather individual assessment data during normal music instruction.
Students are — Singing · Moving/Dancing · Playing Instruments
You’ll need — Materials vary by activity; examples include classroom percussion, barred instruments, recorder, and a simple way to record observations.
Focus — Authentic assessment · Individual performance · Singing · Steady beat · Instrument skills · Musical literacy
The resource includes concrete opportunities to assess things like individual singing, rhythmic accuracy, steady beat, drone performance, recorder playing, and decoding—not merely general participation.
WHY CHOOSE THIS RESOURCE?
Assessment doesn't have to mean stopping the music to give a test. Making Assessment Easy shows how games and musical activities can create natural opportunities to hear and observe individual students while the rest of the class remains actively engaged.
Use the included examples as they are, or as models for designing assessments around the music your students are already learning.
NEED A PLACE TO START?
Choose one thing you genuinely need to know.
Instead of trying to assess everything at once, identify one observable musical skill: Can each student maintain a steady beat? Sing independently? Perform a rhythm accurately? Play a drone?
Then look at an activity your students already enjoy and ask: Where could I hear or see that skill individually?
Keep the music going, observe a few students at a time, and record what you notice.
I like that starting point because the resource itself demonstrates how one familiar game can become an “assessment cache”—with different roles revealing individual singing, rhythmic accuracy, steady beat, and instrumental skills.
Ready to use this resource?
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Get Students Creating
Trepak Triptych
by Drue Bullington
LESSON SEQUENCE · K–6 ADAPTABLE
Purpose
Trepak Triptych uses Tchaikovsky’s Russian Dance (Trepak) from The Nutcracker as the starting point for a three-part sequence in imitation, exploration, and creation. Students experience pulse and form physically before moving toward collaborative choreographic and compositional choices.
AT A GLANCE
Best for — K–6 classrooms; particularly useful when students are comfortable copying a model but need support moving toward independent creative choices.
Students are — Moving/Dancing · Playing Instruments · Composing/Creating
You’ll need — Google Slides with audio and printable templates; optional unpitched percussion and barred instruments.
Musical focus — Form · Phrase · Pulse · Accelerando · Composition
Start with imitation.
Let students experience the music physically before asking them to create anything of their own. Give them a clear movement model and opportunities to notice what is happening in the music.
As they become familiar with the pulse, phrases, and form, begin opening up the choices: What could change? What could you try? What could your group create?
You don't have to reach the final creation in one lesson. The progression from Imitate → Explore → Create is the heart of the resource.
Ready to use this resource?
Access the complete lesson through the ACEMM Resource Library.
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