THAT'S A RAP: CONSTRUCTIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE FORCES

THAT'S A RAP: CONSTRUCTIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE FORCES

Learning Description

Students will demonstrate their understanding of rhyme schemes to create a rap on constructive and destructive forces using stanzas, verses, and a chorus. Students will perform their raps for other students to identify rhyming words/vocabulary words.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 5,6
CONTENT FOCUS: MUSIC & SCIENCE
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"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can explain how constructive and destructive forces change or shape Earth’s surface.
  • I can understand and create lyrics using a simple rhyme scheme (AABB).
  • I can understand music has different sections and that some repeat (chorus) and some change (verse).
  • I can create a rap incorporating constructive/destructive vocabulary.

Essential Questions

  • How do constructive forces change or shape Earth’s surface?
  • How can music be used to represent constructive/destructive forces?
  • How can levels in dance be used to represent place value?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 5:

S5E1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to identify surface features on the Earth caused by constructive and/or destructive processes.

a. Construct an argument supported by scientific evidence to identify surface features (examples could include deltas, sand dunes, mountains, volcanoes) as being caused by constructive and/or destructive processes (examples could include deposition, weathering, erosion, and impact of organisms).

b. Develop simple interactive models to collect data that illustrate how changes in surface features are/were caused by constructive and/or destructive processes.

Arts Standards

Grade 5:

M5GM.1 Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

M5GM.5 Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.

M5GM.8 Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 6:

6-ESS2-2. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial scales.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can arrange and compose music.

Anchor Standard 3: I can sing alone and with others.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Constructive force - A natural process that builds up the Earth's surface, creating new landforms and adding to existing ones
  • Destructive force - A natural process that breaks down or wears away the Earth's surface, destroying or altering landforms
  • Weathering - The breakdown of rocks into smaller fragments without changing their chemical composition; it can be caused by wind, rain, hail, snow, water
  • Erosion - The natural process by which soil, rock, or other surface materials are worn away and transported from one location to another by agents such as water, wind, ice, or gravity
  • Deposition - The geological process by which sediments, soil, and rocks that are transported by wind, water, ice, or gravity are dropped or settled in a new location

Arts Vocabulary

  • Form/Composition - The organization of a piece (how the music is put together)
  • Rondo - A musical form in which one section (A) repeats between two or more contrasting sections
  • Tempo - The speed of the beat
  • Beat - The pulse underlying music
  • Rhythm - Long and short sounds and silences
  • Dynamics - Loud and soft sounds; volume

 

Materials

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

In order to be successful in this unit students should be able to define constructive and destructive forces.  Students should understand that landforms can change quickly or slowly over time. Students should be able to identify surface features caused by constructive and destructive forces.

  • Review science vocabulary with students.
  • Discuss the following musical terms:
    • Beat - The pulse underlying music
    • Tempo - The speed of the beat
    • Rhythm - Long and short sounds and silences
    • Dynamics - Loud and soft sounds; volume
  • Have students join in with you creating a steady beat with claps. Continue with an eight count of snaps, taps, and stomps. Vary the tempo and the dynamics. Ask students what you are doing as you make these changes.
    • Tell students that body percussion is using your body to make sounds, such as clapping, snapping, stomping, etc.
  • Model for students how to use a simple sentence to form an eight count beat (My name is Chloe, and I like to play disc golf). It may help to write 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 on the board and point to each beat as you say the sentence rhythmically.
  • Have students work with a partner to create their own sentence spoken to an eight count.

 

Work Session

  • Show students a section of a Flocabulary on forces.
  • Discuss with students how the rap is delivered to the audience.
    • Ask students to make observations about the rhythm, beat, tempo, and dynamics.
  • Play the Flocabulary again and have students write down examples of rhyming words found throughout.
  • Review with students how a stanza rhyme scheme is formated (AABB).
    • Remind students of soft rhyming words (taste and place).
  • Work collaboratively as a class to write a chorus for the class song about constructive and destructive forces.
    • The chorus must:
      • Have four lines of eight beats each.
      • Follow the rhyme scheme AABB.
    • Next, tell students that they will work in small groups to create a verse about either a constructive or destructive force.
      • The verse must:
        • Have four lines of eight beats each.
        • Follow the rhyme scheme AABB.
        • Include relevant vocabulary words correctly.
      • Circulate to work with students as they compose their verses.
    • Explain to students that rondo form in music is a form in which one section (A) repeats between two or more contrasting sections.
      • For example, the chorus is Section A, verse one is Section B, verse two is Section C, and so on. The chorus, or section A, repeats between each verse, so the form looks like this: Section A, Section B, Section A, Section C, Section A, Section D…
    • Tell students that they will perform their class song in rondo form.
      • Together as a whole class, the class should perform the chorus (Section A) then take turns performing the verses.
      • Have the class keep a steady beat using body percussion throughout the performance.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Ask students to complete a 3-2-1 ticket out the door:
    • Three things they learned about constructive and destructive forces
    • Two musical terms they used and how they used them
    • One question they still have (about the musical or scientific terms)

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Teacher observation of students’ discussion and ability to identify musical elements in the Flocabulary rap
  • Teacher observation and “check-ins” throughout students’ composition time
  • 3-2-1 ticket out the door

 

Summative

  • Students will be assessed by the teacher using a rubric to identify the elements of their rap

DIFFERENTIATION 

Accelerated: 

  • Students will use Incredibox to compose a beat to accompany their rap.
  • Two groups will create a new choreographic sequence that compares their numbers to each other, digit by digit.

Remedial:

  • Allow students access to sentence stems if needed.

 

CREDITS 

U.S. Department of Education- STEM + the Art of Integrated Learning

Ideas contributed by: SAIL grant teacher leaders

*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.

Revised and copyright:  June 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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