Mining

This has been quite a fun social studies unit because we get to rotate to a new 4th grade class every week.  This gives me a great opportunity to teach the same lesson multiple times and really perfect it. After a little trial and error last week, I made some significant tweaks to my lesson plan, that worked like a charm this week.

Mrs. Tenney and I have been collaborating on a lesson about early miners in Utah.  She read a little from the textbook with the class and did some practice reading maps, and looking at pictures of children miners.  Then, I hopped in and taught a mining song that taught about some of the dangers of  working in the mines.

This was a great segway into activity geared toward helping the children internalize the beat, and discuss the differences between beat and rhythm.

This was a very cohesive lesson, and the integration of the arts with social studies was wrapped up nicely.

INTEGRATED LESSON PLAN

SUBJECT

Content Covered: Miners in Utah

Standard: compare the development of industry and business in Utah as it relates to its physical geography. (e.g. mining, oil, agriculture, tourism)

Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to understand the living conditions of early miners.

Art

Content Covered: Beat vs. rhythm

Standard: Use body movements to internalize sound.

Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to demonstrate the difference between beat and rhythm.

LESSON PLAN

Objective: Students will be able to understand the living conditions of early miners while accurately demonstrating the beat.

Assessment: watch movements of rocks, listen to clapping, and ask students identify whether a clapped pattern is a beat or a rhythm by raise of hand.

Sequence:

1.     (words on doc. Cam.) While I sing this song, look for 2 things that the song tells us is really hard for a miners life. (sing)

2.     What did you learn is hard for miners?

3.     Now sing together as best as you can. (sing)

4.     Stand in a circle.  Practice passing the rocks to the beat before you add music.  We are going to pass a rock as we sing.  See if you can keep it going the same speed the whole time. (sing)

5.     We hear sounds all around us.  Can you think of an appliance that makes steady noises?

6.     Can you name an organ in your body that makes a steady noise?

7.     The heart keeps a steady pulse called a heartbeat.  The beat is the steady pulse in music too.  We just passed the rock to the beat.  You can clap along to the beat.  Let’s clap while we sing the first verse.

8.     There is another important word in music called rhythm.  Rhythm is how the words go.  Can we clap how the words go while singing the first verse?

9.     Mrs. Tenney will clap either the beat or the rhythm while we sing. After, we will guess which it is.

Materials:

Rocks, music, words

Virginia Reel, Line Dance

I really enjoyed myself this week.  Mrs. Tenney and I just bounced off of each other for the whole lesson, and it was fantastic! The students were learning about pioneers, so I took them outside and taught the Virginia Reel.  They loved it.  It was great getting Mrs. Tenney involved by having her be my dance partner.  After dancing, the students discussed the reasons such dances were popular among the pioneers.  They came up with answers such as "learning to work together" and "entertainment."  When we finished dancing, we went inside, and read about the Transcontinental Railroad. I taught them "I've been working on the Railroad" with hand actions to help them keep the beat, and blowing horns on the rests.  I asked discovery questions about what time the workers had to get up in the morning, and that launched a great discussion about working conditions in the 1800's.  As I walked out the door, several students came up to me and thanked me for coming, and asked if we could do this again.  I'm glad they not only enjoyed the activities so much, but that they learned so much in the process.

Here is  a short clip of our practice.

 Integrated Lesson Plan

Standard: Describe the historical and current

impact of various culture groups on Utah. 

Explore cultural influences from various groups

Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to

recognize and perform dance influenced by the

Standard: Discover how songs, singing games,

and dances relate to various cultures in the

history of Utah. How music is used by different

cultures, and enjoy traditional folk dances

related to the cultures of Utah’s history. 

Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to

accurately perform the Virginia Reel from

Lesson Plan

Objective: Students will be able to recognize and perform the Virginia Reel from beginning to end.

Assessment: Watch.  Do they stay with the music? Ask, why would the pioneers want songs like this?

Sequence:

1. Number students  1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, etc.

2. Number 1’s get in a line right here (motion with hand)

Number 2’s get in a line right here (motion with hand)

Face the person across from you. They will be your partner.

3. (Use Mrs. Tenney as my partner for the demonstration.)

4. Walk in 2 3 4 walk out 2 3 4  freeze.

5. Now you are going to walk in, link elbows with your partner, swing around and go back to your

spot. Ready go 2 3 swing and back 2 3 4 and freeze. 

6. Let’s try from the beginning without stopping.

In 2 3 4 and out 2 3 4 and in 2 3 swing and back 2 3 4 and freeze. 

7. Next, we’ll do the same thing with the left elbows linked.  Ready go 2 3 swing and back 2 3 4 and

8. Now a do si do.  Pass by your right shoulders and back around them without touching.  (Model

with Mrs. Tenney.)  Go 2 3 4 and back 2 3 4. 

9. From the beginning: in 2 3 4 and out 2 3 4 and right hand swing  3 4 and back 2 3 4 and left hand

swing 3 4 and back 2 3 4 and do si do 2 3 4 and back  2 3 4.

10. Great, we’re almost done! Line leaders hold 2 hands and slide down the middle, and all the way

11. Leaders go, 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and back 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. 

12. Now a banana peel.  Leaders go around your line (model) and everyone follow. 

13. When you get to the end, make a bridge with your partner, and everyone follow underneath.

14. Let’s try it. Line leaders raise your hand!  2 hands together, and go! 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and back 2 3 4 5

6 7 8, and banana.  Everyone follow 5 6 7 8 and bridge. Everyone follow back up, and we have a

Week 4- The Giving Tree

Planning this lesson was such a blast!  I used a lot of resources to really help this come together.  I first got the idea to make a soundtrack for the book "The Giving Tree" off the the NAFME (National Association for Music Education) website.  I then combined it with a rhythm lesson suggested to me by my mentor to serve as the base for our soundtrack.  The rhythm also served another purpose...to teach the students various rhythms we chanted vocabulary words they had learned from their "Environments of Utah" unit.  Thus, this was a great review to wrap up the unit.

I started off the lesson reading "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein without music, then again with music playing in the background.

After responding to a prompt about the experience in their writing journals, we began creating our own soundtrack.

Integrated lesson plan

Subject
Content coveredReview of terms associated with Utah’s environments
Standard: Students will understand the physical characteristics of Utah's wetlands, forests, and deserts and identify common organisms for each environment.
Learning Outcomes: Students will recognize and understand the relationship between terms covered in this unit.
Art
Content coveredRhythmic composition
Standard: Improvise simple rhythm patterns to echo back and forth, and manipulate in a variety of way to organize into different forms.
Improvise a soundtrack for a story.
Learning Outcomes:  Students will be able to create their own rhythmic pattern to use in their own improvised sound track for “The Giving Tree.”
    •   

Lesson Plan
Objective: Students will be able to create their own rhythmic pattern using vocabulary from the environments unit, to use in their own improvised sound track for “The Giving Tree.”
Assessment: Performance for the class.

Sequence:
    •    Read “The giving Tree”
    •    Read “The giving Tree” with Vivaldi’s 4 seasons. 
Writing prompt: How does the story feel different with music?
    •    Venn diagram.  Without. Combine. With. 
    •    List 10 words that have to do with the environments/animals. 
    •    Pick three.  Repeat the words to make a pattern.
    •    Body percussion while speak.
    •    Body percussion while thinking the words.
    •    Now play instruments while thinking the words.
    •    Divide in groups. (give worksheet to each child)
    •    Pick parts. Boy, tree, narrator, background noise, body percussion, instrument.
    •    Pick instrument.
    •    Practice play.
    •    Perform for class.  I will film you!
Materials
    •    Instruments
    •    The Giving Tree
    •    The Giving Tree pieces
    •    C.d. of vivaldi’s 4 seasons

* Note: If any of you are planning to use this lesson plan, I would suggest creating the soundtrack as an entire class instead of breaking up into groups as mentioned above.  I believe it will be a more efficient use of time.

Week 3- Animals

I was particularly excited for this lesson because of all the physical movement and listening.  I believe that embodying the music with the whole body is key in educating the whole child.  We went over several different animals and included a song and movement/dance that went along with each.  The video included below is the activity for the jackrabbit.  Students had to listen for the jumping motif from Carnival of the Animals and jump along.  I am proud of how successful they were.

Integrated Lesson Plan

Subject
Content Covered: Animals of Utah
Standard: Identify common plants and animals that inhabit Utah's forests, wetlands, and deserts.
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to recognize animals, and what environments they come from.
Art Concepts
Content Covered: musical motifs
Standard: Use body movement to internalize sounds.  (Show changes in form through directions, energies, levels, locomotor movements, etc)
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to respond to differing musical motifs through music.


Lesson Plan
Objective: Students will be able to recognize various animals of Utah by responding to their respective musical motifs.
Assessment: How well can the students embody the music, both in style, rhythmic accuracy, and taking the lead in creative movements.
Sequence
    •    Silent game.  Find like animals by acting them out.  In groups, read the paragraph about the animal.
    •    Grasshopper. (Kangaroo)
Finger dance at your desks.
    •    Presentation
    •    Cougar (lion)
Music map. (see roars?)
    •    Presentation
    •    Robin (Aviary)
Move around the room with streamers and high gestures.
    •    Presentation.
    •    Tortoise (elephant)
Move slow like jello.  Feet can’t leave the floor.
    •    Presentation
    •    Bumble bee (flight of the bumble bee)
Bee’s pollinate flowers.  Freeze like a flower.  When I, or another bee touches you, you turn into a bee, and help me touch other flowers.
    •    Presentation
    •    Jackrabbit (long ears)
Only jump when you hear hopping sound.  Otherwise, stand still.
    •    Presentation
    •    Trout (Aquarium)
I need water and fish.  Move around room. When you come upon another fish friend ding cymbals 1 time.
    •    Presentation.
    •    Finale (finale)
All animals have a party. Raise your hand why your animal’s sound appears. 
Follow along map.
    •    Read the giving Tree
    •    Fossils. Rattle bones at bone rattle. (for a Halloween treat.)
Materials
    •    Animal cards
    •    Animals paragraphs
    •    Animal pictures
    •    C.d with music.
    •    Music map (cougar)
    •    Music map (finale)
    •    C.d. player
    •    Cymbals
    •    Streamers

Week 2- Wetlands and Deserts

Students dove deep into the world of forests and wetlands this week.  This was an extension from last weeks lesson, where we recreated the sounds of the forest.  This time however, we used found sounds (sounds made from ordinary objects like paper bags, tapping pencils, etc.).  They had a lot of fun performing their environments for each other as the students guessed which environment it was. 

We then had a discussion about how real composers use nature sounds in their own compositions.  We listened to Vivaldi's Spring and they held up cards with the pictures of birds, a stream, thunder clouds, etc. to represent motifs they could hear in the music.  This was a wonderful 'real-world' application to what they had been learning.

This is my complete sequence:

Lesson Plan

Subject
Content: Wetlands and Deserts
Standards: Understand physical characteristics for each environment.
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to recognize the difference between wetlands and deserts.

Art
Content: soundscape
Standards: Demonstrate various timbres and effects of different simple instruments.exhibit through music an appreciation for the subtle beauties inherent in everyday life.
Learning outcomes: Students will be able to accurately represent and recognize sounds from various environments using found sounds
Lesson Plan
Objectives: Students will be able to accurately represent and recognize sounds from various environments using found sounds.
Assessment: Is volume accurate? Are they sounds specific to that environment? Can others recognize the environment?
Materials: camera, boombox, c.d’s with music, cards, 3 desert pictures(113), 3 wetlands pictures (223), 18 instruments
Sequence:
    •    Listen to forest sounds.  Write down 3 sounds that you hear. 
    •    Get 5 sounds from class. Write on board.
    •    Did we sound like that recording last week? No.  I will give you one more chance. 
    •    One half of class choose a sound on the board.  Make that sound without using your voice.  Give example.
    •     The other half will judge if you actually sound like a forest.  Can they identify the sounds?
    •    Switch. 
    •    I will put you in groups of 5.  When you get in your group you will.
    •    Get a picture.  Don’t tell other groups because they will guess later what environment you have.
    •    write a list of sounds you see. 5.
    •    Bring list to a teacher.  They will check it.
    •    Pick 3 instruments from box.
    •    Practice sounds from your picture using instruments.  You need to be accurate because others will guess.
    •    Pick groups with sticks. 
    •    If you have number one on the back of your picture, come up to the front. Bring your picture.  We will guess who has which environment. (1, 2, 3)
    •    Great composers do this too.  As we listen to this song you will hear a melody (hold up card), birds, a stream, and thunder.  When you think you hear one of these hold up the card, and I will hold up the card after you to see If you are correct.
    •    Listen to song and hold up cards.
    •    Now we will listen to another song.  Draw a picture of what you think is happening.

Week 1- Forest Soundscape

This week we had a lot of fun recreating the forest in our own classroom.

Beginning with an exploration adventure outside, the students recorded sounds from their own environment.  Upon returning to the classroom, we studied a painting of a Utah forest.  We discussed sounds represented in the painting (leaves, wind, birds, etc.) and then the fun began...

Here is a video of our forest-sounds exploration:

The students also had a chance to create their own soundscape:

This is our step by step process, along with the core standards for both science and music.

ARTS BRIDGE INTEGRATED LESSON PLAN

Subject Concepts

Content covered:

Intro to the environment.

Focus on the Forest

Standards:

Understand physical characteristics for each environment.

Learning Outcomes:

Students will be able to know plants and animal sounds unique to the forest.

Art Concepts:

Content covered:

Soundscape

Standards:

Sing. Speak and sing in a creative way to manipulate the sound.)

Create. Original music and add expression

Learning Outcomes:

Students will be able to manipulate their voice, and other found sounds to create an original composition.

Lesson Plan

Objectives: Use voices and foud sounds to create an original composition mimicking the forests of Utah.

Assessment: Are sounds unique to forests? Write down your sound.

Sequence:

1.     What does environment mean?

2.     Sounds in natural vs. human environment?

3.     Outside (7 min.) List as many natural sounds as you can.  (goal: 3)

4.     Inside.  What do you see in the picture. What sound does it make?

5.     Everyone think of a sound to make in this picture

When I point to you start making that sound over and over.

6.     Different Creations. Ex. Loud and soft. Foreground and background.

7.     Write your sound on a paper.

Draw example on the board.

8.     Give it to your neighbor. 

9.     Perform your neighbors sound.

Materials:

Clock, board/marker, papers for class

Forest painting

Document camera