Walk around the school or school yard silently. Instruct students to pay attention to the sounds that they hear.
Discuss the sounds that students heard once you return to the classroom. Talk about the importance of the sense of hearing. Discuss the difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is the ability to pick up sounds through the mechanisms in the ear. Listening is the ability to pay attention and analyze these sounds.
Play several selections of music and ask students to listen to them. Give them prompts to help them focus their listening experience. For instance, you might say, "Listen for the mood of this piece of music," or "Listen for the types of instruments used in this song."
Invite students to give specific types of responses to the music. You could ask them to pat the steady beat as they listen. You also could ask them to hum the melody of the piece if it is a familiar song. Participation also helps to focus students' listening.
Instruct students to create music based on their listening activities. This gives an additional purpose for listening and a chance to synthesize what they have observed. For instance, if the class has been listening to simple xylophone songs, allow them time to play their own songs (improvised or sheet music) on xylophones.