A banner featuring a book cover titled "The Big Umbrella" with an illustration of a red umbrella and diverse characters underneath it, alongside text that reads "Creativity Task Cards - First Grade" in white over an orange background with a number "1" on a yellow circle.

Art Form: Music

Supplies Needed

The Big Umbrella book

Vocabulary

Dynamics - Loudness or softness of sounds

Steady beat - Consistent pulse; “heartbeat” of music

Tempo - Speed of the beat

Pitch - The highness or lowness of sound

Character - A person in a story or play, or an animal or object that has human qualities

Instructions

1. Begin by reading the book, The Big Umbrella. Count how many people and animals are under the umbrella on each page.

2. Using a steady beat, make a sound, such as “beep”, for each person and animal under the umbrella on each page. For example, if there are four people and animals under the umbrella, say “beep beep beep beep”. Don’t forget the duck! Be ready--you have lots of steady beat sounds near the end!

3. On the last two pages of the book, experiment with making different steady beat sounds for each person and animal.

  • For example, will the pitch for the ducklings be high or low?
  • Will the tempo be fast or slow? With the dynamics be loud or soft?
  • Will the sounds for the children on the see-saw be high or low?

4. Read the story again and add your steady beat sounds after each page.

Extensions

Use the last two pages to practice reading left to right. Choose a small section of pictures. Decide on sounds for each person and animal. Moving from left to right,
point to each person and animal and make their sound using a steady beat.

Compare and contrast two sounds on the last two pages. How are they alike? How are they different?

Download the complete Creativity Task Card Here

About

The REimagining and Accelerating Literacy through Arts Integration (REALAI) grant supports the literacy achievement of 3,200 students and 170 teachers, media specialists, and literacy coaches across six schools in Georgia and South Carolina.

In addition to professional learning for educators, this project contributes significantly to school library collections through the purchase of developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant books.

This grant also includes parent events to provide families with access to books and other content about how to support their child’s reading development.