READING WITH CUPS…AND MORE!

 

Georgia Standards

 

South Carolina Standards

 

Key Vocabulary

 

Materials

• Plastic cups in various colors and sizes
• Sound source (e.g., computer and speakers) 
• Musical recordings 
• Paper and writing utensils (pencils)
•  

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips: Depending on your students, you may find it important to discuss proper use of, and care for, instruments prior to use. Discuss “resting” position, meaning no sound at all from instruments. 

 

• Play a musical selection for students, such as, “Carnival of the Animals: Aquarium” or “Carnival of the Animals: Fossils”. 
• As students listen, review/discuss elements of music: Pitch, harmony, timbre, dynamics, texture, and tempo. 
• Ask students to make observations about the sounds that they hear and the images that they evoke. Ask students to justify their answers with evidence from the music. For example, “I see two people arguing because the instruments were loud and clashed”.

 

 

Work Session

Responding to Music

• Have students discuss elements of a story: Setting, plot, character(s), conflict, and theme.
• Listen again the the piece of music from the warm-up, such as “Carnival of the Animals: Aquarium” or “Carnival of the Animals: Fossils” by Camille Saint-Saёns.  
• Students will draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper to create two columns on their page.
  • In the first column, students write descriptive words about the musical selection specific to the elements of a story answering questions such as:
    • Where do you think this piece of music takes place? 
    • What characters do you hear/see in the music?
  • After a couple of times listening and free writing, have the students use the second column to articulate WHAT in the music makes them hear and/or see these things, such as the loud dynamics or the disjointed sounds.  
• Students will continue this activity by writing a narrative inspired by the music.
  • Students should include a situation and introduce the characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally, include dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations, use a variety of transitional words and phrases, use concrete words and phrases and sensory details, and provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

 

Composing with Cups  

• Without saying anything, play a pattern on cups for students. 
• Teacher should lead this activity in silence, changing cups (number of sounds) and even length of phrase prior to any discussion.  
• Have students use creative and critical thinking to figure out the values (number of sounds for each cup) independently first. For example, blue – quarter note, yellow – eighth notes, clear – quarter rest). 
• Pause and discuss what students observed about the values of each cup.  
• Perform a rhythmic pattern using cups.
• Next, demonstrate how to read a short poem to the rhythm of the pattern created with cups. Have students practice reading the poem with you.
• Divide students into small groups. Have each group write their own short poem, such as an acrostic or haiku, and create rhythmic patterns using cups to accompany their poem. 
• Students should be sure to write their poems in appropriate form based on the type of poem.

 

 

Closing Reflection

• Students will perform their compositions for the class. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
• Discuss how students spoke the poems to the rhythm of their compositions and how different compositions created a different performances.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, ability to discuss music using musical vocabulary, conferencing with students during the writing process, and collaboration with groups to create a rhythmic pattern to accompany their short poem.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

• Students can respond to music by writing a narrative that has a beginning, middle, end, setting, and characters and meets grade level criteria.
• Students can compose a rhythmic pattern using cups.
• Students can create and perform an original poem to accompany their rhythmic pattern.

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration:  Divide students into two groups and have them read a selection such as “Fireflies” from Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman. Discuss the separate “voices” and the overlap of the “voices”. Students can then do a choral reading of the poem. Play musical selection representing different “voices” such as “Canceling Stamps in Ghana”. Compare it to musical “voices” or parts, discussing melody, harmony, and texture.  Remediation:  Develop the plot, setting, and characters for the narrative as a class or in small groups. Then allow students to work independently to write their own stories.  Compose a rhythmic pattern together as a class. Once students have learned it, break students into small groups and have them practice performing it to their individual poems.

 

 

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Ideas contributed by: Maribeth Yoder-White. Updated by: Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: September 2024 @ ArtsNOW