Thursday, April 12, 2007

Unit Overview

Music and the Subjects

Unit Overview

It is important for students to learn about music and how it can be used in everyday life. The unit has been created for classroom teachers who have any level of music background, so that music can become an important part of their classroom.

This unit is to have students explore music in a variety of ways and connect music to each subject of study. Students will be learning about a variety of composers and their music from many different time periods. It is also a unit that will emphasize the appreciation of music.

The unit will be approximately one and a half months and cover four themes.

It has been created for grades one and two.

One theme will be on the composer Vivaldi and the Four Seasons.

The following is a sample of the cross curricular lessons for the theme of Vivaldi.

Introduction to Vivaldi (Music Lesson)


Introduction to Vivaldi

Subject: Music Education

Grade Level: 1-2

Time Needed: one (40 minute) lesson

General Outcomes and Curriculum Connections:

New Brunswick Music Curriculum

  • GCO 1: Students will explore, challenge, develop, and express ideas, using the skills, language, techniques and process of the arts. (Explore rhythm)
  • GCO 2: Students will be expected to create and/or present collaboratively and independently, expressive products in the arts for a range of audiences and purposes
  • GCO 5: Students will be expected to examine the relationship among the arts, societies, and environments
  • GCO 6: Students will be expected to apply critical thinking and problem-solving strategies to reflect on and respond to their own and others’ expressive works
  • GCO 7: Students will be expected to understand the role of technologies on creating and responding to expressive works
  • GCO 8: Students will be expected to analyse the relationship between artistic intent and the expressive work

Specific Outcomes:

  • To learn about Vivaldi
  • To compose a rhythmic piece using percussion instruments and body percussion

Rationale:

This lesson is to make students familiar with Vivaldi and his work The Four Seasons

Materials and Resources:

  • Copy of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons
  • Percussion Instruments

Introduction/Procedures:

  • Students will be introduced to Vivaldi and The Four Seasons.
  • They will listen to a some segments of each season and each segment sounds like each season

Body

  • Students will brainstorm different ideas of what things can be seen or heard in different seasons
  • Students will be divided into groups of three or four
  • Using their bodies and/or instruments students will compose their own short version of a season (students may also add gestures to their composition or some vocal sound effects)
  • Each group will keep their season a secret until performance at the end of the class
  • When group is ready they will quietly sit in their spots
  • When all groups are ready, each group will individually perform their composition. Then the rest of the class will have to guess which of the four seasons the piece represented.
  • The performing group then must share the answer and what they were thinking of when they created it
  • This will continue until each group as participated

Evaluation and Assessment:

  • Observation (checklist)
    • Did students follow-directions
    • Can the students explain why they picked different variations on the instrument or body to represent the sounds of a season

Reflection:





For resources on Vivaldi go to www.artsalive.ca

A Seasonal Poem (Language Arts)


A Seasonal Poem (using Vivaldi as inspiration)

Subject: Language Arts/Music Education

Grade Level: 1-2

Time Needed: one (90 minute) lesson from Four Season Unit

Unit in Music will be focus on Vivaldi

Previous Knowledge: Students will have had at least an

introductory class on poetry

General Outcomes and Curriculum Connections:

New Brunswick Language Arts Curriculum

  • Students will speak and listen to explore, extend, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences
  • Students will be able to communicate information and ideas, effectively and clearly, and to respond personally and critically
  • Students will be expected to interpret, select, and combine information using a variety of strategies, resources, and technologies
  • Students will be expected to use a range of strategies to develop effective writing and media products to enhance their clarity, precision, and effectiveness

New Brunswick Music Curriculum

  • GCO 8: Students will be expected to analyse the relationship between artistic intent and the expressive work

Specific Outcomes:

  • To listen and interpret Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
  • To have an understanding what program music is.
  • To create a poem that expresses how the music makes the students feel about the particular season

Rationale:

This lesson is a way to bring music into the classroom. It is a way to introduce program music, and Vivaldi. Hopefully, from this experience students will see a connection between music and language arts.

Materials and Resources:

Writing Journals

Copy of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

Pencil

Introduction/Procedures:

  • Ask students if they have ever heard of the composer Vivaldi. (They may have already started learning about him in Music class)
  • Have students brainstorm what they know about him
  • Tell students some interesting facts about composer
  • Talk about program music and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons
  • Make four columns on the board (one for each season) have students brain storm words that can be associated with each season
  • Talk about poetry and how it can rhyme or not rhyme
  • Read some poems about different seasons as examples

Body

  • Explain to students that they will listen to a season of Vivaldi’s work and from listening come to a conclusion about what they think is happening in the music with the season
  • Students will then create a poem about the piece
  • Note: Students who finish the activity early can make a drawing that represents their poem

Conclusion

  • Students will sit in a literature circle and share their poem and what they were thinking about when the music was playing

Evaluation and Assessment:

  • Observation (checklist)
    • Did they follow-directions
    • Do students have an understanding of what program music is
    • Can the students explain how they interpreted the music by what they wrote in their poem
    • Did the student respond to others poems

Reflection:

Exmaples of Seasonal Poems

Examples of Seasonal Poems

Spring

Spring, Almost

The sunshine gleams so bright and warm,
The sky is blue and clear.
I run outdoors without a coat,
And spring is almost here.

Then before I know it,
Small clouds have blown together,
Till the sun just can't get through them,
And again, it's mitten weather.


Hello Spring
(to the tune of "Goodnight Ladies")

Hello spring,
Hello spring,
Hello spring,
We hope you're here to stay.

Summer

I love summer! Summer is hot.
It's sun and shade.
It's water to wade.
It's frogs and bugs.
It's grass for rugs.
It's eating outside.
It's a tree-swing ride.
It's tomatoes and corn.
It's dew in the morn.
It's dogs and boys
And lots of noise.
It's a hot sunny sky.
It's summer. That's why.....
I love summer.


In the summer when the days are hot,
I like to find a shady spot,
And hardly move a single bit
And sit, and sit, and sit, and sit.

Winter

Icicles

We are little icicles
Melting in the sun.
Can you see our tiny teardrops
Falling one by one?


The Snowman

One day we built a snowman,
We built him out of snow;
You should have seen how fine he was,
All white from top to toe.

We poured some water over him,
To freeze his legs and ears;
And when we went indoors to bed,
We thought he'd last for years.

But, in the night a warmer kind
Of wind began to blow;
And Jack Frost cried and ran away,
And with him went the snow.

When we went out next morning
To bid our friend "Good Day",
There wasn't any snowman there...
He'd melted right away!

Fall

Down! Down!

Down, down!
Yellow and brown
The leaves are falling
Over the town.


September is a time
Of beginning for all,
Beginning of school
Beginning of fall.


The sunflower children
Nod to the sun.
Summer is over,
Fall has begun!

Artful Musical Chairs

Notes:

Artful Musical Chairs

Subject: Art Education

Grade Level: 1-2

Time Needed: one (60 minute) lesson

Inter-curricular Connections: Music Education

Previous Knowledge: Students will have taken a music class on rhythm and tempo

General Outcomes and Curriculum Connections:

Art Curriculum

Materials and Techniques:

  • Demonstrate proper painting behaviour (eg. Cooperating with others, correct holding of brush, cleaning brush, and applying paint to surface)
  • Apply different brush strokes to suggest lines of varying thickness and density

Elements of Art and Principles of Design

  • Create various line patterns, e.g. stripes, spirals, zig zags and jagged lines

Development of Imagery

  • Create images from experiences, ideas and imaginations
  • Discuss visual ideas they and others create
  • Create images that reflect their interpretation of feelings about a piece of music, story or poem

Responding to Art

  • Describe works of art by identifying lines, colours, shapes, content, details, and exploring possible meanings

Music Curriculum

Students will be listening and identifying fast and slow tempos, they will also be focusing on the rhythm of the piece played

Specific Outcomes:

  • To experiment with watercolours (pastels, or any other material)
  • To learn that mistakes are okay
  • Learn to cooperate
  • Explore music as movement and colour
  • Painting to a rhythm (visually see their interpretation of the rhythm on a page)


Rationale:

An introductory to watercolour where students can experiment with the medium, and to make a connection between art and music.

Materials and Resources:

Paintbrushes

Watercolour Paint

Cups for water

Paper (11”x15”)

Masking Tape

CD Player

Music CD (classical or modern) (Vivaldi’s Four Seasons; for the purpose of this unit)

Chairs

Introduction/Procedures:

Prep:

  • Have tables set up in a circle or square (so that is easy for students to move to the next chair)
  • Have paper taped to each students area so that paper will not move
  • Have cup of water, paints, and brushes for every two chairs
  • Have students put on their art aprons

Introduction:

  • Talk about artists who use music as an inspiration for their artwork (Phillip Iverson, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Pollock)
  • Talk about the music and the composer

  • Explain rules of artful musical chairs
    • While the music is playing you will be painting. Try to paint what the music makes you feel at the time (For example, colours, and lines that flow with music) The first session will be slightly longer than the rest.
    • As soon as the music stops you will get up and move carefully to the your right until the music starts
    • The music will start and you will sit in the seat closest to you (as long as it isn’t your own)
    • continue painting on the page in front of you
    • This process will continue until paintings are complete

Body

  • Do musical chairs activity


Conclusion

  • Have them return to their original art piece and look at how it changed

Clean-up

  • Clean-up
    • Students must wash their brushes, put their original paintings on a rack, and cleanup their original area

Follow-up

  • Have students sit in a circle with their work, and discuss what they like and don’t like about their changed art work and why
  • Talk about what they liked and disliked about the experience and why.
  • What did they notice about watercoulours? (what happens when you use too much water or not enough, what happens if colours mix) And What they liked and disliked about watercolours and why.
  • Talk about how the paintings represent the music (lines that follow rhythm, and colours)


Evaluation and Assessment:

  • Observation (checklist)
    • Did they follow-directions
    • Did they cooperate
    • From discussion what did they learn from the activity watercoulours
    • Does the artwork reflect the music (For example, connection between brushstroke and rhythm)
    • Did all students participate
    • Did students make the connection between art and music (designs and colours in paintings)

o Did the successfully explore the medium

Reflection:

Next Class Summary

Students will take their paintings from this class and paint over top with acrylics to create an image that reflects the music.

Resources

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/Stephanie-watercolor.htm

Vivaldi's Seasons and Weather (Science)

Notes:

Vivaldi’s Seasons and Weather

Subject: Science/Music Education

Grade Level: 1-2

Time Needed: one (40 minute) lesson

Previous Knowledge: Students will have already had exposure to

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons

General Outcomes and Curriculum Connections:

New Brunswick You and Your World Curriculum

  • Grade 1, Unit 2: Our Environment
  • Grade 2, Unit 5: Change and the physical Environment

New Brunswick Music Curriculum

  • GCO 5: Students will be expected to examine the relationship among the arts, societies, and environments
  • GCO 8: Students will be expected to analyse the relationship between artistic intent and the expressive work

Specific Outcomes:

  • To learn about different weather that happens in different seasons
  • To connect spring and weather to music by Vivaldi

Rationale:

This lesson is to make students familiar with Vivaldi’s Spring and the various sections and what they represent (thunder storms, dog barking, etc).

It is also an activity to get students moving to music

Materials and Resources:

  • Copy of Vivaldi’s Spring from the Four Seasons
  • Science Journal

Introduction/Procedures:

  • Students will be learning about the weather of the seasons one season at a time
  • The first season will be Spring
  • Students will brainstorm the type of weather they think happens in spring
  • Teacher will then elaborate on the ideas given and maybe add a few more
  • Students will talk about rain and why we need rain (trees, flowers), thunder storms, sometimes snow…

Body

  • Students will be divided into groups of two or three and will listen to Vivaldi’s Spring from his Four Seasons.
  • Explain to students that we are going to do something special. Tell them that Vivaldi made music about seasons and made sounds to go along with the weather of the seasons, plants, animals, and feelings.
  • Students will try to write down what they think the music is portraying in sounds about spring (weather, plants, animals, etc)

Conclusion

Students will sit in a circle and talk about the experience. What did they like or not like about the activity. Why do they think certain parts of the music represented certain parts of a season (eg. loud music was like a storm). Tell students what each part represented and ask them why or how the music might represent that.

Evaluation and Assessment:

  • Observation (checklist)
    • Did students follow-directions
    • Do students have an understanding of spring weather
    • Can the students explain why they picked different interpretations of spring for the music

Reflection:

Interpreting Vivaldi's Spring through Movement

Notes:

Using Movement to Interpret Vivaldi’s Spring

Subject: Physical Education/Music Education

Grade Level: 1-2

Time Needed: one (60 minute) lesson

Previous Knowledge: Students will have already had exposure to

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, and will have

already studied Spring.

General Outcomes and Curriculum Connections:

New Brunswick Physical Education Curriculum

  • Demonstrate space and body awareness
  • Move through a general space in a safe and controlled manner
  • Plan and perform simple movement tasks and sequences
  • Describe movement by using simple terminology
  • Respond to a variety of stimuli, creating a movement sequence
  • Interpret and respond to a variety of stimuli in creating a movement sequence
  • Cooperatively link movement and rhythmical patterns for the purpose of performing a dance

New Brunswick Music Curriculum

  • GCO 2: Students will be expected to create and/or present, collaboratively and independently, expressive products in the arts for a range of audiences and purposes
  • GCO 5: Students will be expected to examine the relationship among the arts, societies, and environments
  • GCO 8: Students will be expected to analyse the relationship between artistic intent and the expressive work

Specific Outcomes:

  • To listen to and be able to discriminate different sections of interpret Vivaldi’s Spring form his Four Seasons.
  • To move to music (using interpretive dance and gymnast like streamers)
  • Students should use movements that represent each section
  • To cooperate as a team

Rationale:

This lesson is to make students familiar with Vivaldi’s Spring and the various sections and what they represent (thunder storms, dog barking, etc).

It is also an activity to get students moving to music

Materials and Resources:

  • Copy of Vivaldi’s Spring form the Four Seasons
  • Coloured scarves, ribbons, or streamers (enough for each group of students, preferably each a different colour)

Introduction/Procedures:

  • Have students brainstorm what the different sections in the musical piece are by labeling them as the signs of Spring. (first section is the trees, when music changes, it is the birds, then the trees again, then the river, then the trees, then the thunder storm, then the trees, then the sun, then the trees, then the sun, and the song ends with the trees)
  • Writ e these in a large piece of paper (or the chalk board) in the front of the classroom so that all the students can see it.

Body

  • Students will be divided into five groups of four or five.
  • Each group will choose what section they want to be
  • Explain the activity to students
    • Each group will be given a coloured streamer
    • Students will then discuss a series of movements that represent the section of music which they will perform while their section of music is playing (for example trees are tall so they should use their high spaces)
    • When the music starts each group will perform when their section is playing
    • If a group performs at the wrong time then they must move to the other side of the classroom and face the other groups, but continue to move when their section is played
    • Do this two times. The first time is a practice run. The second time students will be more familiar with the sections and when they start. This one will be slightly more competitive. The last group on the original side of the classroom is the winner
  • Give the groups their streamers
  • Give the groups time to discuss their movement
  • Start the music

Conclusion

Students will sit in a circle and talk about the experience. What did they like or not like about the activity. Why did they use certain movements. Can they think of any other music that is divided into different sections (doesn’t have to be only classical, can be modern music and how there is the main theme of the song and a chorus). Try to have students apply the lesson to modern music.

Evaluation and Assessment:

  • Observation (checklist)
    • Did students follow-directions
    • Do students have an understanding of how musical pieces are divided into sections
    • Can the students explain why they did the movements they did to interpret the sections of music

Reflection: