YOUR VIEW MATTERS–POINT OF VIEW K-1

YOUR VIEW MATTERS–POINT OF VIEW

YOUR VIEW MATTERS–POINT OF VIEW

Learning Description

This interactive, energetic lesson helps students explore points of view through the lens of games, dialogue, and a story. Students will activate their bodies and minds as they express emotions on their feet while using props and dialogue to immerse themselves in someone else's shoes. They will improvise dialogue from well-known fairytale scenarios from all three points of view. Finally, they will apply their point of view knowledge to the enchanting book, The Tale of Two Beasts.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: K-1
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can use my body to tell stories from several perspectives.
  • I can step inside someone else's shoes to learn more about them.
  • I can retell stories using freeze frames in a tableau.
  • I can create dialogue from several characters’ points of view.

Essential Questions

  • How does my point of view help others know my story?
  • What can I learn about others when thinking from their point of view?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

K.P.ST.2.b Draw from knowledge of author, audience, and context to discern and establish a clear point of view or unique perspective when interpreting and constructing texts.

 

Grade 1:

1.P.ST.2.b Draw from knowledge of author, audience, and context to discern and establish a clear point of view or unique perspective when interpreting and constructing texts. (I/C)

Arts Standards

TA.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.

TA.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

ELA.AOR.3: Evaluate how an author's choice of point of view or perspective shapes style and meaning within and across literary texts.

Kindergarten:

ELA.K.AOR.3.1 Identify and explain the roles of the author and the illustrator of a story.

 

Grade 1:

ELA.1.AOR.3.1 Identify and explain who is telling the story at various points in the story.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can create scenes and write scripts using story elements and structure.

Benchmark T.CR NL.1 - I can identify basic story elements in simple stories, plays and scripts (e.g. plot, character, setting, theme, etc.).

Indicator T.CR.NL.1.2 - I can identify basic character qualities from a prompt.

Anchor Standard 3: I can act in improvised scenes and written scripts.

Benchmark T.P NL.3: I can use my body and voice to communicate character traits and emotions in a guided drama experience.

Benchmark T.P IM.3: I can use acting techniques to develop characters and create meaning in a simple theatrical work.

Benchmark T.P NM.3: I can make choices to change body and voice to portray differences between myself and characters in a guided drama experience.

Indicator T.P NM.3.1: I can make choices about using my body, and/or voice to imitate a variety of characters, conditions, and emotions.

Benchmark T.P NL. 3.1: I can experiment with a number of character choices in relation to other characters and conditions.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Character – A person, animal, or creature in a story
  • Story – A tale with a beginning, middle, and end that tells what happens to the characters
  • Problem – Something that goes wrong in a story that the characters need to fix
  • Solution – How the problem in a story gets fixed or solved
  • Point of View – The way a story is told and who is telling it
  • Perspective – How a character feels about what is happening in the story; different characters may see things in different ways

Arts Vocabulary

  • Emotions – The feelings you have inside (happy, sad, scared, angry, calm, peaceful, joyful, embarrassed, etc.)
  • Facial expression – Using your face to show emotion
  • Body – Actors use their bodies to become a character through body posture and movement
  • Gestures – An expressive movement of the body or limbs
  • Posture – The position of one part of the body in relation to other parts
  • Gait – The way a person or animal walks or runs
  • Prop – Items that actors use in a performance to depict real-life objects
  • Dialogue – A conversation between two or more persons
  • Tableau - A frozen picture representing a scene or moment in a story that occurs during a theatrical performance
  • Freeze frame – A series of tableaux that tell a story

 

Materials

  • Feeling Wheels/Charts/Faces
  • Various props (for Step In My Shoes Relay–examples listed in Instructional Design)
  • POV sunglasses or headbands (for Whose Story Is it?)--two pairs of sunglasses or headbands needed–each one will have a character’s name taped to it
  • The book A Tale of Two Beasts by Fiona Roberton (A Tale of Two Beasts read aloud)
  • Four pieces of board or large paper (for Step In My Shoes Relay)

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

EMOTION FACES & WALKS

  • Show a Feeling Wheel or a visual of emotions (see Additional Resources).
  • Point to an emotion and ask students to make the facial expression associated with that emotion.
    • Point to an emotion.
    • Say "1, 2, 3….FREEZE".
    • Students show a facial expression.
    • Then, call out the emotion/feeling.
  • Tell students that actors use their facial expressions to help tell the story of how they feel.
  • Ask students how you can use your body to show emotions.
    • Some ways are using gestures, posture, and gait.
  • Have students stand up and fill in spaces around the room.
    • Tell students to:
      • Walk around the room without touching anyone.
      • You will call out an emotion.
      • Students need to walk like that emotion until you call out the next emotion.

 

STEP IN MY SHOES RELAY

  • Set up the following four stations around the classroom with props and prompt questions.
  • Travel to each station as a class.
    • 1) The teacher station:
      • Prop Suggestions: Oversized glasses, chalkboard pointer, hat, sweater, clipboard, stack of papers
      • Prompt questions written on a board or large paper
        • How do you feel about grading papers?
        • What is your favorite part of the school day?
        • How do you feel when students don't listen in class?
        • What do you wish students would do more of in class?
        • What do you do when a lesson doesn't go as planned?
      • 2) The student station:
        • Prop suggestions (backpack, school supplies, fidget toy or earbuds, textbooks or notebook)
        • Prompt questions written on a board or large paper
          • How do you feel about homework?
          • What's your favorite subject and why?
          • How do you feel when there's a pop quiz?
          • What's the hardest thing about school?
          • How do you feel when you finally finish a big project?
        • 3) The pet station:
          • Prop suggestions (leash or collar, toy bone or ball, stuffed animal (dog or cat), pet bed or blanket
          • Prompt questions written on a board or large paper
            • What do you think when you hear the sound of food being prepared?
            • How do you feel when you're left alone at home?
            • What do you do when your owner comes home?
            • How do you react when someone new enters the house?
            • What's your favorite activity to do with your owner?
          • 4) The parent/caregiver station:
            • Prop suggestions (apron or parental hat, child's drawing, family photo, grocery bag, car keys, phone)
            • Prompt questions written on a board or large paper
              • How do you feel when your kids don't listen to you?
              • What do you think about the way school is run?
              • How do you feel when your child gets a good grade?
              • What do you wish your children would do more at home?
              • What do you find most challenging about being a parent/caregiver?
            • Let each student take turns putting on the "perspective shoes" (props) so that each student gets to put on at least one perspective.
              • Have them pick up the props at each station.
              • Then they will answer the prompt questions from that character's perspective.
            • After completing all stations, come together to discuss the following questions:
              • How did it feel to be in that character's shoes?
              • How did the perspective change the way you viewed the situation?
              • What did you learn about how people in different roles might feel or think?
            • Relay extensions:
              • Change the setting: Instead of a classroom, set the stations in different environments (e.g., home, park, school bus).
              • Add a time limit: Challenge students to answer the prompts in under a minute, encouraging quick thinking.
              • Make it competitive: Turn the relay into a friendly competition, awarding points for the most creative or thoughtful answers.
            • Relay reflection questions:
              • How did the props help you feel more connected to the perspective?
              • What were the most surprising things you learned while "walking in someone else's shoes"?
              • How can understanding different perspectives help us in real life?

Work Session

  • Imagine you and a friend see the same thing; you might describe it differently because each one of you is looking at the story from your own perspective or "point of view".
    • Point of view is like whose eyes are telling the story.
    • Point of view is like whose thoughts we are reading about.

 

WHOSE STORY IS IT?

  • Choose a simple, well-known fable or fairytale. See suggestions below.
    • The Three Little Pigs (characters – Wolf, Pigs, Narrator)
    • Goldilocks and the Three Bears (characters – Goldilocks, Baby Bear, Narrator)
    • Little Red Riding Hood (characters – Little Red, Wolf, Narrator)
  • Ask students to act out the story in different ways or from different sets of eyes.
    • First, give each person a pair of sunglasses or headband with different characters taped to it, such as Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.
      • Each student pretends to be a character and tells the story as "I”.
        • Pronouns - I, me
        • Examples -
          • Little Red Riding Hood:
            • LITTLE RED: “I'm going to Grandmother's house.”
          • After, facilitate a discussion around the following questions:
            • How does the story change depending on who is telling it?

 

POINT OF VIEW BOOK

  • Tell students that you can explore Point of View when reading a book.
  • Read the book, The Tale of Two Beasts, by Fiona Roberton.
  • After reading, discuss the following:
    • Did the Girl and Beast see things the same way or differently? (Differently)
    • When the Girl thought she was rescuing the little Beast, what was the Beast thinking? (That he was being captured)
  • Ask students to make a statue of the two characters: the Girl and the Beast.
    • Tell students to add posture, facial expression, and emotion.
  • Discuss Part 1 - Who is speaking in Part 1 of the book?
    • Whose point of view or eyes are we seeing the story through? (The Girl)
  • Tell students that they will Freeze Frame her side of the story.
    • Define the parts of her story.
    • Ask students to come up and freeze-frame each part.
    • Tap each student playing the Girl.
      • Ask the student to say what the Girl is thinking, speaking in the first person using "I".
    • Discuss Part 2 - Who is speaking in Part 2 of the book?
      • Whose point of view or eyes are we seeing the story through? (The Beast)
    • Tell students that they will Freeze Frame the Beast's side of the story.
      • Define the parts of his story.
      • Ask students to come up and freeze-frame each part.
      • Tap each student playing the Beast.
      • Ask the student to say what the Beast is thinking, speaking in the first person using "I".

 

Closing Reflection

  • Facilitate a discussion around the following questions:
    • How did we bring point of view to life today?
      • We used our bodies to become the characters and the points of view.
      • We also retold the stories using our bodies and faces in tableaux or freeze frames.
    • Is this a way for us to help people understand us?
      • By sharing and showing our emotions
    • Do you think the girl and the creature understood each other better at the end of their stories?
    • Can you “turn and talk" showing your partner what emotion you feel right now?
    • What did the Girl and the Beast feel at the end of their stories?

 

Assessments

Formative

  • The teacher will observe:
    • Are students engaged and on task?
    • Can students speak in the first person from the character’s point of view?
    • Are students engaging their voices and bodies?

Summative

  • Use the following checklist to assess students (can be projected on the board):
    • Did you use your face?
    • Did you use your voice?
    • Did you use your body?
    • Did you speak from the character’s point of view?

 

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Advanced students can write a sentence and draw a picture to show the Beast or the Girl’s point of view.

 

Remedial:

  • Divide the lesson up into multiple days.
  • Model how to speak from a character’s point of view before asking students to.

 

Additional Resources

 

Credits

Ideas contributed by: Susie Spear Purcell.  Updated by: Katy Betts

*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:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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SING ME A STORY 4-5

SING ME A STORY

SING ME A STORY

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will explore how music contributes to the meaning of a story through the use of storybooks that were inspired by songs.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 4-5
CONTENT FOCUS: MUSIC & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can use musical vocabulary to explain what I hear in a song.
  • I can use good posture, breath support, and accurate pitch while singing.
  • Grade 4: I can explain how images and music add meaning to a story.
  • Grade 5: I can compare and contrast a print text and a multimedia version of the same text.

Essential Questions

  • How does analyzing and evaluating music help me understand its meaning?
  • How can I use my voice to express emotions and communicate a message?
  • Grade 4: What do images and music add to a story?
  • Grade 5: How does reading a text compare to listening to and singing a song?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

4.P.AC.1.d Describe, analyze, and evaluate the design and organization of the text, explaining how specific formats, structures, patterns, and features influence the audience, contribute to the text’s accessibility, and support the text’s purpose.

 

Grade 5:

5.P.AC.1.d Describe, analyze, and evaluate the design and organization of the text, explaining how specific formats, structures, patterns, and features influence the audience, contribute to the text’s accessibility, and support the text’s purpose.

Arts Standards

ESGM.PR.1 Sing a varied repertoire of music, alone and with others.

ESGM.RE.1 Listen to, analyze, and describe music.

ESGM.RE.2 Evaluate music and music performances.

ESGM.CN.2.c Describe and demonstrate performance etiquette and appropriate audience behavior.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

ELA.4.AOR.10.1 Determine and explain how visuals (e.g., illustrations, photographs, maps) and/or multimedia elements (e.g., video, audio) contribute to the meaning of a print or non-print text.

 

Grade 5:

ELA.5.AOR.10.1 Compare and contrast a print format of a text (e.g., literary, informational) to a non-print format (e.g., film, image, performance), explaining each media’s portrayal of the subject.

Arts Standards

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

Anchor Standard 6: I can analyze music.

Anchor Standard 7: I can evaluate music.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Determine and explain - Find out and make clear by describing
  • Compare and contrast - Identify what is similar; what is different
  • Texts - Can include, but is not limited to, materials such as books, magazines, newspapers, movies, paintings, television shows, songs, political cartoons, online materials, advertisements, maps, digital media, infographics, podcasts, charts, graphs, diagrams, notes, captions, lab reports, scenarios, and works of art

Arts Vocabulary

  • Lyrics - Words to a song
  • Instrumental - Music with instruments and no lyrics or singing
  • Pitch - The highness or lowness of sound
  • Rhythm - Long and short sounds and silences
  • Dynamics - Loud and soft sounds; volume
  • Tempo - The speed of the beat
  • Timbre -The distinctive quality of sounds; the tone color or special sound that makes one instrument or voice sound different from another
  • Form - The organization of a piece (how the music is put together)
  • Articulation - How a performer moves from one note to the next; how notes are connected or not

 

Materials

  • Projection board with internet access
  • Implements for completing writing assignments
  • Graphic organizer for comparison
  • Printed song lyrics
  • Song recording
  • Story book
  • Harvard Project Zero Thinking Routines

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Hear, Think, Wonder (modification of See, Think, Wonder Harvard Project Zero Thinking Routine)

  • Prepare students for a “Hear, Think, Wonder” listening activity by telling students they are going to listen to a song excerpt (do not reveal title yet!) (**Song and book suggestions are in the Additional Resources section of the lesson plan) and answer three prompts. Students will need implements for documenting their responses. **Make sure only the music is played without showing the accompanying video! This practice allows deeper analysis of the musical sounds!
    • “I hear”: What sounds are heard, not what they think they hear. Musical sounds can include pitch (high/low sounds), rhythm (long/short), dynamics (loud/soft), tempo (fast/slow), timbre (instruments), form (same [repetition], different [contrasting]), articulation (smooth/detached).
    • “I think”: What does the music make you think about? Draw an appropriate image that the music makes you think about.
    • “I wonder”: What “wonderings” do you have? Wonderings are generally questions.
  • Students listen without talking the first time and answer the first prompt (I hear) using words or images.
    • Tell students to “Turn and Talk” about their response with a neighbor.
    • Call on students to share responses with the class.
      • Restate students’ responses. All responses are acceptable.
    • Students listen without talking a second time and answer the second prompt (“I think” and draw) using words and images.
      • Tell students to “Turn and Talk” about their responses with a neighbor.
      • Call on students to share responses with the class.
        • Restate students’ responses. All responses are acceptable.
        • Ask students, “What did you hear in the music to make you think about …?” or “What did you hear in the music to make you draw…?” to encourage deeper connections to the music.
      • Discuss how students’ drawings help them understand the song’s meaning.
      • Students listen without talking a third time and answer the third prompt (I wonder) using words or images. **The “I think” and I wonder” prompts can be combined into one listening event instead of two separate events.
        • Tell students “Turn and Talk” about their responses with a neighbor.
        • Call on students to share responses with the class.
          • Restate students’ responses. All responses are acceptable.
          • Tell students that they are going to be learning how images, words, and music contribute to the meaning of text.

Work Session

  • Provide students with the printed lyrics of the song they just listened to. Read the lyrics together. Help students annotate key words, phrases and imagery.
    • For younger students, read a selection, such as a verse or a chorus, out loud.
  • Discuss:
    • What message do the lyrics tell?
    • What words or phrases stand out?
    • Discuss how the images help tell the message.
  • Play the full audio version of the song with lyrics. Students listen without talking and answer “How does hearing the music with lyrics add to your understanding of the message?”.
    • Tell students to “Turn and Talk” about their responses with a neighbor.
    • Call on students to share their responses with the class.
      • Restate students’ responses. All responses are acceptable.
    • Play the song with lyrics again while students sing along. Teacher reminds students to demonstrate good posture, breath support, and accurate pitch while singing.
    • Display the storybook that accompanies the song. Tell students that the book was inspired by the song.
      • Play the song version of the book the first time while students listen and watch.
      • Play the song version of the book a second time and encourage students to sing along. Teacher reminds students to demonstrate good posture, breath support, and accurate pitch while singing.
    • Discuss how the visuals in the book help students understand the song’s meaning.
      • Document responses on the board.
    • Ask students which format (printed lyrics only, song with lyrics, illustrations in the book accompanied with music) did they prefer? Why?
      • Students document their responses then share their responses with the class.
    • 4th Grade: Ask students to explain how each media format adds meaning; have them identify what each medium added.
    • 5th Grade: Have students complete a graphic organizer, such as a Venn diagram, comparing the media formats to encourage deeper comparisons of the media’s portrayal and effectiveness.

 

Closing Reflection

  • 4th Grade: Have students explain how each media format adds meaning; have them identify what each medium added.
  • 5th Grade: Have students share their comparisons of the different media’s portrayals.

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Teacher observation of students’ engagement and participation in “Turn and Talk”, class discussions, and singing
  • Responses to Hear, Think, Wonder

Summative

  • Written responses to reflective and discussion questions
  • 5th grade: Completion of comparison graphic organizer

 

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Students can create their own short song story with illustrations.

 

Remedial:

  • Provide sentence stems and graphic organizers.
  • Allow multiple listenings to the music.
  • Provide individual copies of the text.
  • Allow students to draw images for responses instead of words.
  • Allow students to work with a partner.

 

Additional Resources

 

Credits

Ideas contributed by: Dr. Rue S. Lee-Holmes

*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:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Lessons

SING ME A STORY 2-3

SING ME A STORY

SING ME A STORY

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will explore how music contributes to the meaning of a story through the use of storybooks that were inspired by songs.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 2-3
CONTENT FOCUS: MUSIC & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can use musical vocabulary to explain what I hear in a song.
  • I can use good posture, breath support, and accurate pitch while singing.
  • II can use visuals to help me understand a text.

Essential Questions

  • How does analyzing and evaluating music help me understand its meaning?
  • How can I use my voice to express emotions and communicate a message?
  • How does information gained from visuals help me understand a text and contribute meaning?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

2.P.AC.1.d Describe, analyze, and evaluate the design and organization of the text, explaining how specific formats, structures, patterns, and features influence the audience, contribute to the text’s accessibility, and support the text’s purpose.

 

Grade 3:

3.P.AC.1.d Describe, analyze, and evaluate the design and organization of the text, explaining how specific formats, structures, patterns, and features influence the audience, contribute to the text’s accessibility, and support the text’s purpose.

Arts Standards

ESGM.PR.1 Sing a varied repertoire of music, alone and with others.

ESGM.RE.1 Listen to, analyze, and describe music.

ESGM.RE.2 Evaluate music and music performances.

ESGM.CN.2.c Describe and demonstrate performance etiquette and appropriate audience behavior.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

ELA.2.AOR.10.1 Identify and explain how information gained from visuals (e.g., illustrations, photographs, maps) contributes to an understanding of a print or non-print text.

 

Grade 3:

ELA.3.AOR.10.1 Identify and explain how information gained from visuals (e.g., illustrations, photographs, graphs, maps) contributes to the meaning of a print or non-print text.

Arts Standards

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

Anchor Standard 6: I can analyze music.

Anchor Standard 7: I can evaluate music.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Determine and explain - Find out and make clear by describing
  • Compare and contrast - Identify what is similar; what is different
  • Texts - Can include, but is not limited to, materials such as books, magazines, newspapers, movies, paintings, television shows, songs, political cartoons, online materials, advertisements, maps, digital media, infographics, podcasts, charts, graphs, diagrams, notes, captions, lab reports, scenarios, and works of art

Arts Vocabulary

  • Lyrics - Words to a song
  • Instrumental - Music with instruments and no lyrics or singing
  • Pitch - The highness or lowness of sound
  • Rhythm - Long and short sounds and silences
  • Dynamics - Loud and soft sounds; volume
  • Tempo - The speed of the beat
  • Timbre -The distinctive quality of sounds; the tone color or special sound that makes one instrument or voice sound different from another
  • Form - The organization of a piece (how the music is put together)
  • Articulation - How a performer moves from one note to the next; how notes are connected or not

 

Materials

  • Projection board with internet access
  • Implements for completing writing assignments
  • Graphic organizer for comparison
  • Printed song lyrics
  • Song recording
  • Story book
  • Harvard Project Zero Thinking Routines

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Hear, Think, Wonder (modification of See, Think, Wonder Harvard Project Zero Thinking Routine)

  • Prepare students for a “Hear, Think, Wonder” listening activity by telling students they are going to listen to a song excerpt (do not reveal title yet!) (**Song and book suggestions are in the Additional Resources section of the lesson plan) and answer three prompts. Students will need implements for documenting their responses. **Make sure only the music is played without showing the accompanying video! This practice allows deeper analysis of the musical sounds!
    • “I hear”: What sounds are heard, not what they think they hear. Musical sounds can include pitch (high/low sounds), rhythm (long/short), dynamics (loud/soft), tempo (fast/slow), timbre (instruments), form (same [repetition], different [contrasting]), articulation (smooth/detached).
    • “I think”: What does the music make you think about? Draw an appropriate image that the music makes you think about.
    • “I wonder”: What “wonderings” do you have? Wonderings are generally questions.
  • Students listen without talking the first time and answer the first prompt (I hear) using words or images.
    • Tell students to “Turn and Talk” about their response with a neighbor.
    • Call on students to share responses with the class.
      • Restate students’ responses. All responses are acceptable.
    • Students listen without talking a second time and answer the second prompt (“I think” and draw) using words and images.
      • Tell students to “Turn and Talk” about their responses with a neighbor.
      • Call on students to share responses with the class.
        • Restate students’ responses. All responses are acceptable.
        • Ask students, “What did you hear in the music to make you think about …?” or “What did you hear in the music to make you draw…?” to encourage deeper connections to the music.
      • Discuss how students’ drawings help them understand the song’s meaning.
      • Students listen without talking a third time and answer the third prompt (I wonder) using words or images. **The “I think” and I wonder” prompts can be combined into one listening event instead of two separate events.
        • Tell students “Turn and Talk” about their responses with a neighbor.
        • Call on students to share responses with the class.
          • Restate students’ responses. All responses are acceptable.
          • Tell students that they are going to be learning how images, words, and music contribute to the meaning of text.

Work Session

  • Provide students with the printed lyrics of the song they just listened to. Read the lyrics together. Help students annotate key words, phrases and imagery.
    • For younger students, read a selection, such as a verse or a chorus, out loud.
  • Discuss:
    • What message do the lyrics tell?
    • What words or phrases stand out?
    • Discuss how the images help tell the message.
  • Play the full audio version of the song with lyrics. Students listen without talking and answer “How does hearing the music with lyrics add to your understanding of the message?”.
    • Tell students to “Turn and Talk” about their responses with a neighbor.
    • Call on students to share their responses with the class.
      • Restate students’ responses. All responses are acceptable.
    • Play the song with lyrics again while students sing along. Teacher reminds students to demonstrate good posture, breath support, and accurate pitch while singing.
    • Display the storybook that accompanies the song. Tell students that the book was inspired by the song.
      • Play the song version of the book the first time while students listen and watch.
      • Play the song version of the book a second time and encourage students to sing along. Teacher reminds students to demonstrate good posture, breath support, and accurate pitch while singing.
    • Discuss how the visuals in the book help students understand the song’s meaning.
      • Document responses on the board.
    • Ask students which format (printed lyrics only, song with lyrics, illustrations in the book accompanied with music) did they prefer? Why?
    • Students document their responses then share their responses with the class.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Have students complete the following exit ticket: How did the different media help you understand the song?

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Teacher observation of students’ engagement and participation in “Turn and Talk”, class discussions, and singing
  • Responses to Hear, Think, Wonder

Summative

  • Written responses to reflective and discussion questions
  • Completion of comparison graphic organizer

 

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Students can create their own short song story with illustrations.

 

Remedial:

  • Provide sentence stems and graphic organizers.
  • Allow multiple listenings to the music.
  • Provide individual copies of the text.
  • Allow students to draw images for responses instead of words.
  • Allow students to work with a partner.

 

Additional Resources

 

Credits

Ideas contributed by: Dr. Rue S. Lee-Holmes

*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:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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SING ME A STORY K-1

SING ME A STORY

SING ME A STORY

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will explore how music contributes to the meaning of a story through the use of storybooks that were inspired by songs.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: K-1
CONTENT FOCUS: MUSIC & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can use musical vocabulary to explain what I hear in a song.
  • I can use good posture, breath support, and accurate pitch while singing.

Essential Questions

  • How does analyzing and evaluating music help me understand its meaning?
  • How can I use my voice to express emotions and communicate a message?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

K.P.AC.1.d Describe, analyze, and evaluate the design and organization of the text, explaining how specific formats, structures, patterns, and features influence the audience, contribute to the text’s accessibility, and support the text’s purpose.

 

Grade 1:

1.P.AC.1.d Describe, analyze, and evaluate the design and organization of the text, explaining how specific formats, structures, patterns, and features influence the audience, contribute to the text’s accessibility, and support the text’s purpose.

Arts Standards

ESGM.PR.1 Sing a varied repertoire of music, alone and with others.

ESGM.RE.1 Listen to, analyze, and describe music.

ESGM.RE.2 Evaluate music and music performances.

ESGM.CN.2.c Describe and demonstrate performance etiquette and appropriate audience behavior.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

ELA.K.AOR.10.1 Describe the relationship between visuals (e.g., illustrations, photographs) and the text.

 

Grade 1:

ELA.1.AOR.10.1 Use visuals (e.g., illustrations, photographs) to describe the key or supporting details in a text.

Arts Standards

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

Anchor Standard 6: I can analyze music.

Anchor Standard 7: I can evaluate music.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Determine and explain - Find out and make clear by describing
  • Compare and contrast - Identify what is similar; what is different
  • Texts - Can include, but is not limited to, materials such as books, magazines, newspapers, movies, paintings, television shows, songs, political cartoons, online materials, advertisements, maps, digital media, infographics, podcasts, charts, graphs, diagrams, notes, captions, lab reports, scenarios, and works of art

Arts Vocabulary

  • Lyrics - Words to a song
  • Instrumental - Music with instruments and no lyrics or singing
  • Pitch - The highness or lowness of sound
  • Rhythm - Long and short sounds and silences
  • Dynamics - Loud and soft sounds; volume
  • Tempo - The speed of the beat
  • Timbre -The distinctive quality of sounds; the tone color or special sound that makes one instrument or voice sound different from another
  • Form - The organization of a piece (how the music is put together)
  • Articulation - How a performer moves from one note to the next; how notes are connected or not

 

Materials

  • Projection board with internet access
  • Implements for completing writing assignments
  • Graphic organizer for comparison
  • Printed song lyrics
  • Song recording
  • Story book
  • Harvard Project Zero Thinking Routines

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Hear, Think, Wonder (modification of See, Think, Wonder Harvard Project Zero Thinking Routine)

  • Prepare students for a “Hear, Think, Wonder” listening activity by telling students they are going to listen to a song excerpt (do not reveal title yet!) (**Song and book suggestions are in the Additional Resources section of the lesson plan) and answer three prompts. Students will need implements for documenting their responses. **Make sure only the music is played without showing the accompanying video! This practice allows deeper analysis of the musical sounds!
    • “I hear”: What sounds are heard, not what they think they hear. Musical sounds can include pitch (high/low sounds), rhythm (long/short), dynamics (loud/soft), tempo (fast/slow), timbre (instruments), form (same [repetition], different [contrasting]), articulation (smooth/detached).
    • “I think”: What does the music make you think about? Draw an appropriate image that the music makes you think about.
    • “I wonder”: What “wonderings” do you have? Wonderings are generally questions.
  • Students listen without talking the first time and answer the first prompt (I hear) using words or images.
    • Tell students to “Turn and Talk” about their response with a neighbor.
    • Call on students to share responses with the class.
      • Restate students’ responses. All responses are acceptable.
    • Students listen without talking a second time and answer the second prompt (“I think” and draw) using words and images.
      • Tell students to “Turn and Talk” about their responses with a neighbor.
      • Call on students to share responses with the class.
        • Restate students’ responses. All responses are acceptable.
        • Ask students, “What did you hear in the music to make you think about …?” or “What did you hear in the music to make you draw…?” to encourage deeper connections to the music.
      • Discuss how students’ drawings help them understand the song’s meaning.
      • Students listen without talking a third time and answer the third prompt (I wonder) using words or images. **The “I think” and I wonder” prompts can be combined into one listening event instead of two separate events.
        • Tell students “Turn and Talk” about their responses with a neighbor.
        • Call on students to share responses with the class.
          • Restate students’ responses. All responses are acceptable.
        • Tell students that they are going to be learning how images, words, and music contribute to the meaning of text.

Work Session

  • Project the lyrics of the song they just listened to. Read a selection, such as a verse or a chorus, out loud.
  • Discuss:
    • What message do the lyrics tell?
    • What words or phrases stand out?
    • Discuss how the images help tell the message.
  • Play the full audio version of the song with lyrics. Students listen without talking and answer “How does hearing the music with lyrics add to your understanding of the message?”.
    • Tell students to “Turn and Talk” about their responses with a neighbor.
    • Call on students to share their responses with the class.
      • Restate students’ responses. All responses are acceptable.
    • Play the song with lyrics again while students sing along. Teacher reminds students to demonstrate good posture, breath support, and accurate pitch while singing.
    • Display the storybook that accompanies the song. Tell students that the book was inspired by the song.
      • Play the song version of the book the first time while students listen and watch.
      • Play the song version of the book a second time and encourage students to sing along. Teacher reminds students to demonstrate good posture, breath support, and accurate pitch while singing.
    • Ask students how the visuals in the book help students understand the song’s meaning.
      • Document responses on the board.
    • Ask students which format (printed lyrics only, song with lyrics, illustrations in the book accompanied with music) did they prefer? Why?
    • Students document their responses then share their responses with the class.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Have students respond to the following questions: What does the song mean? How did the different formats help you understand the song?

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Teacher observation of students’ engagement and participation in “Turn and Talk”, class discussions, and singing
  • Responses to Hear, Think, Wonder

Summative

  • Responses to reflective and discussion questions

 

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Students can create their own short song story with illustrations.
  • Have students respond in written form to prompts.

 

Remedial:

  • Provide sentence stems.
  • Allow multiple listenings to the music.
  • Allow students to draw images for responses instead of words.
  • Allow students to work with a partner.

 

Additional Resources

 

Credits

Ideas contributed by: Dr. Rue S. Lee-Holmes

*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:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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MOVING WORDS: INTEGRATING DANCE AND WRITING FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION 4-5

INTEGRATING DANCE AND WRITING FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION

MOVING WORDS: INTEGRATING DANCE AND WRITING FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION

Learning Description

Integrating dance and choreography into writing can enhance the narrative by adding dynamic expression, rhythm, and movement to the storytelling process. The purpose of integration is for students to watch dance and use context clues to identify the main idea and supporting details. Students will also use brainstorming, identifying a main idea and supporting details, as a device to create choreography.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 4-5
CONTENT FOCUS: DANCE & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can identify the main idea and supporting details in a text, conversation, or performance to better understand and explain its overall message.
  • I can use the main idea and supporting details to create choreography.

Essential Questions

  • How can identifying the main idea and supporting details in choreography enhance our understanding and interpretation of a dance performance?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

4.T.T.1.c Identify and describe common themes in texts (e.g., good vs. evil) that are revealed through details about characters.

4.T.T.1.e Apply narrative techniques (e.g., character, setting, problem, resolution, and dialogue) to develop a real or imagined experience using descriptive details, clear event sequences, and a conclusion.

 

Grade 5:

5.T.T.1.b Analyze how setting, events, conflict, and characterization contribute to the plot.

5.T.T.1.e Apply narrative techniques (e.g., character, setting, conflict, climax, resolution, and dialogue) to develop a real or imagined experience using descriptive details, clear event sequences, and a conclusion.

Arts Standards

ESD.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

ESD.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

ESD.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance

ESD.CN.1 Identify connections between dance and other areas of knowledge.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

ELA.4.OE.3 Make inferences to support comprehension.

ELA.4.AOR.6.1 Summarize a text to enhance comprehension:

a. include plot, theme, and relevant key details for a literary text; and b. include a central idea and relevant supporting details for an informational text.

 

Grade 5:

ELA.5.OE.3 Make inferences to support comprehension.

ELA.5.AOR.1 Evaluate and critique key literary elements that enhance and deepen meaning within and across texts.

ELA.5.AOR.6.1 Summarize a text to enhance comprehension:

a. include plot, theme, and relevant key details for a literary text; and b. include a central idea and relevant supporting details for an informational text.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use movement exploration to discover and create artistic ideas and works.

Anchor Standard 2: I can choreograph a dance.

Anchor Standard 3: I can perform movements using the dance elements.

Anchor Standard 5: I can describe, analyze, and evaluate a dance.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Author – A writer of a book, article, or report
  • Main idea – The main idea is the central point or message of a text
  • Supporting detail – The statements that support (go along with) the main idea
  • Setting – The place or type of surroundings where something is positioned or where an event takes place
  • Character – A person in a novel, play, or movie

Arts Vocabulary

  • Choreography: The art of designing and arranging sequences of movements, steps, and gestures to create a dance piece
  • Choreographer – The person who designs or creates a dance piece
  • Body – The dancer’s body and how it is used
  • Types of energy:
    • Percussive – Refers to the quality of movement characterized by sharp starts and stops;staccato jabs of energy
    • Suspended – Occurs in a moment of resistance to gravity, such as the instant in which a dancer hangs in space at the top of a leap
    • Sustained – Smooth and unaccented; there is not apparent start or stop, only a continuity of energy
    • Swinging – Established by a fall of gravity, a gain in momentum, a loss of momentum,and the repeated cycle of fall and recovery, like that of a pendulum
    • Vibratory – A quality of movement characterized by rapidly repeated bursts of percussive movements like “a jitter”
  • Space:
    • Level – One of the aspects of movement (there are three basic levels in dance: high,middle, and low)
    • Pathway – Designs traced on the floor as a dancer travels across space; the designs traced in the air as a dancer moves various body parts
    • Shape – Refers to an interesting and interrelated arrangement of body parts of one dancer; the visual makeup or molding of the body parts of a singular dancer; the overall visible appearance of a group of dancers
  • Time:
    • Tempo – Refers to the pace or speed of movement
  • Action:
    • Locomotor – A movement that travels through space
    • Non-locomotor – A movement that does not travel through space

 

Materials

  • A selected piece of choreography to watch
  • Brainstorm planning bubbles or concept map
  • Music
  • Paper and pencils

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Discuss the similarities between a choreographer and an author, such as how both are creators and storytellers.
  • Watch a selected piece of choreography.
  • Have students identify the story elements in the choreography–who are the characters? What is the setting? What was the beginning, middle, and end?
  • Have students identify the main idea and supporting details in the choreography.
    • Have students infer what the choreography was about using supporting details from the choreography.

Work Session

  • As a whole group, discuss how choreographers plan choreography just how writers brainstorm for their writing/essay.
  • Practice a brainstorm for choreography together exploring different types of movements, levels, and energy qualities (see Arts Vocabulary).
  • Break students into small groups.
  • Assign or have groups select a main idea/topic for their choreography.
  • Have students brainstorm for their choreography using a concept map, web, brainstorming bubbles, or other type of strategy.
  • Remind students to keep in mind the elements of dance: body, action, space, time, and energy, and how they can be used to help express their thoughts/ideas (see Arts Vocabulary).
    • For younger students, focus on a limited number of elements.
  • Have students create and share their choreography.
  • Have students write and/or illustrate the story of their choreography including the main idea and supporting details displayed in the dance.
    • Stories should have characters, setting, and a beginning, middle, and end.

 

Closing Reflection

  • After watching each group's choreography, the audience (class) will identify the movements they saw in the choreography that were the supporting details of the main idea of the choreography.
  • Students will answer: How did these movements help you understand the main idea/story?

 

Assessments

Formative

  • While groups are working on choreography, ask the students questions about their choreography and choreographic choices.
    • What is the main idea?
    • What supporting details are in your choreography?
    • Have them demonstrate them to you.

Summative

  • Ask the choreographers to tell you or write about their choreographic process and how they selected the movements.
  • Have students write or illustrate the story of their choreography including the main idea and supporting details displayed in the dance.
    • Stories should have characters, setting, and a beginning, middle, and end.

 

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Require students to include locomotor and non-locomotor movements.

 

Remedial:

  • Create a dance collaboratively as a class.
  • Teacher will assign the main idea or it can be determined from a text.
  • Have each group create choreography for one of the supporting details
  • As a whole class, arrange the supporting details in a sequence to best support the main idea.

 

Credits

Ideas contributed by: Melissa Dittmar-Joy.

*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:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Lessons