Educators are invited to view Teaching the Story for the Minnesota Orchestra's Kinder Konzert for 2017-2018. This presentation is created by Katie Condon for the Friends of the Minnesota Orchestra.

1. TEACHING THE STORY
CHARACTERS, COMPREHENSION, & SEQUENCE

2. READ THE STORY TO CHILDREN BEFORE THE CONCERT
Children who come to Kinder Konzerts with prior knowledge and a basic
understanding of the story and ideas in Max Found Two Sticks will have a
deeper, richer Sound Factory and concert experience.
In addition, use some of the following activities to support age-appropriate
literacy and learning goals. Enjoy exploring literacy connections with your
students. Please feel free to modify and customize these lessons to meet
your own classroom learning goals.

3. READ THE BOOK
Read the book to students. Go slowly,
noticing details.
Ask questions, such as:
• Why do you think Max didn’t feel like
talking to anyone?
• What did Max do with the sticks he
found?
• What were some of the sounds Max
heard in his neighborhood?
• What things did he use to make his
own sounds?
Read it again. Ask students to narrate just
using the illustrations as prompts.

4. REMIND CHILDREN THAT MAX DID TWO THINGS
MAX HEARD SOUNDS IN AND AROUND HIS
NEIGHBORHOOD
MAX IMITATED OR COPIED THE SOUNDS
HE HEARD USING FOUND OBJECTS

5. NAME THE OBJECTS/SOUND SOURCES USING VISUAL
PROMPTS
The following slides are pictures, in the order they occur in the book, of the things Max
heard and the things he used to imitate the sounds he heard.
Print out the picture slides (or create your own) and if possible, laminate them. Use them
like flash cards with children and help them recognize and identify each object. Here is the
list:
▪ Two Sticks
▪ Birds
▪ Bucket
▪ Raindrops
▪ Hatboxes
▪ Imaginary Marching Band
▪ Bottles
▪ Church Bells
▪ Garbage Cans
▪ Train
▪ Real Marching Band

6. TWO STICKS

7. BIRDS

8. BUCKET

9. RAINDROPS

10. HATBOXES

11. IMAGINARY MARCHING BAND

12. BOTTLES

13. CHURCH BELLS

14. GARBAGE CANS

15. TRAIN

16. REAL-LIFE MARCHING BAND

17. LEARN THE SEQUENCE
Once the list is complete, ask students to help you arrange the objects in order of
appearance in the book. Place them in a horizontal timeline.

18. SING A SEQUENCE SONG TO REINFORCE THE ORDER

19. MAX FOUND TWO STICKS BY K.CONDON

20. ADD TO THE SEQUENCE
After singing, lead children through the sequence of objects/sound sources,
using the pictures as prompts. Adjust the lyrics to reflect the next object. For
example:
Teacher: What sound did Max hear and imitate next?
Children: Birds!
Then sing to the tune on the previous slide:
MAX MADE BIRD SOUNDS, BIRD SOUNDS, BIRD SOUNDS,
WITH THE TWO STICKS THAT HE FOUND.

21. ADD AN ELEMENT OF VOCAL/SOUND EXPLORATION
▪ After adding to the sequence with using the song, take another step
and integrate other sounds into the activity. For example:
▪ Teacher: What sound did Max hear and imitate next?
▪ Children: Birds!
▪ Teacher: Can you make quiet birds sounds with your voice for five
counts? (Models bird sounds while counting five with fingers, give
“stop” or cut-off cue. Then go on to sing the bird verse of the song.)

22. PUT IT ALL TOGETHER
▪ Repeat the process with all objects/sound sources. Integrate sound exploration,
action, and movement. See the next slide for the entire sequence.
▪ Experiment with ways to perform this song. Some ideas:
▪ Every student acts out Max’s actions while singing.
▪ Put the picture cards in a stack and ask one student to arrange in order while the
rest of the class sings.
▪ Assign one student to each card. All sing, while the selected students act out the
action on their respective cards.
▪ Split the group in half. One half sings the sequence song, while the other responds
to each verse with actions/sounds that create a sound illustration of each picture
card.

23. Max found two sticks two sticks, two sticks; Max found two sticks on the ground.
Max made bird sounds, bird sounds, bird sounds; with the two sticks that he found.
Max played a bucket, bucket, bucket; with the two sticks that he found.
Max copied raindrops, raindrops, raindrops; with the two sticks that he found.
Max played hatboxes, hatboxes, hatboxes; with the two sticks that he found.
Max imagined marching bands, marching bands, marching bands; with the two sticks that he found.
Max played bottles, bottles, bottles; with the two sticks that he found.
Max copied church bells, church bells, church bells; with the two sticks that he found.
Max played garbage cans, garbage cans, garbage cans; with the two sticks that he found.
Max copied train sounds, train sounds, train sounds; with the two sticks that he found.
Max played with a marching band, marching band, marching band; with the two sticks that he found.

24. CREATE YOUR OWN IDEAS AND
SHARE WITH US
KATIE CONDON, 612.767.5404, CONDON.KATIE@MACPHAIL.ORG