Dancing Differences K-1

DANCING DIFFERENCES

DANCING DIFFERENCES

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will compare and contrast choreographed movement sequences as a precursor to comparing texts. Next, students will apply this strategy to compare two texts.

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can identify similarities and differences between texts, whether they are dances or written literary works.

  • I can graphically document my observations about similarities and differences between two subjects.

  • I can express in complete sentences my analysis of similarities and differences between two subjects. 

Essential Questions

  • How can movement and dance help your students compare and contrast literature?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

ELAGSEKRL9 With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories.

ELAGSEKRI1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. 

ELAGSEKRI9 With prompting and support, identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures)

ELAGSEKW7 With guidance and support, participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).

ELAGSEKSL1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

 

Grade 1:

ELAGSE1RL9 Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.

ELAGSE1RI1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text. 

ELAGSE1RI9 Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures). 

ELAGSE1SL1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

 

Arts Standards

Kindergarten:

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

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

ESDK.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance.

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

ESDK.CN.3 Identify connections between dance and other areas of knowledge

Grade 1:

ESD1.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process. 

ESD1.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication

ESD1.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance.

ESD2.CN.3 Identify connections between dance and other areas of knowledge.

 

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

K.RL.7.1 With guidance and support, retell a familiar text; identify beginning, middle, and end in a text heard or read. 

K.RL.7.2 Read or listen closely to compare familiar texts

K.RI.7.1 With guidance and support, compare topics or ideas within a thematic or author study heard, read, or viewed.

K.C.1.4 Participate in conversations with varied partners about focused grade level topics and texts in small and large groups

K.C.3.1 Explore how ideas and topics are depicted in a variety of media and formats.

Grade 1: 

1.RL.7.1 Retell text, including beginning, middle, and end; use key details to determine the theme in a text heard or read. 

1.RL.7.2 Read or listen closely to compare and contrast familiar texts and texts in author and genre studies.

1.RI.7.1 Compare and contrast topics or ideas within a thematic or author study heard, read, or viewed. 

1.C.1.1 Explore and create meaning through conversation, drama, questioning, and story-telling.

1.C.3.1 Explore and compare how ideas and topics are depicted in a variety of media and formats.

 

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.

Anchor Standard 7: I can relate dance to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

 

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

Compare - Search for similarities between two or more subjects

Contrast - Search for differences between two or more subjects

Arts Vocabulary

  • Choreography - The art of composing dances and planning and arranging the movements, steps, and patterns of dancers.
  • Choreographer - A person who creates dances. 
  • Tempo - The speed of the movement or music.
  • Level - The vertical distance from the floor that a dancer occupies during a movement 
  • Pathway - The trail a dancer takes in a locomotor movement.
  • Locomotor - Movement that travels from one location to another in a pathway through space
  • Non-locomotor - Movement that occurs without the body traveling from one point to another point.

 

 

Materials

  • Sound source (CD player, iPod) and speakers
  • Audio recording 
  • Stories or literary excerpts 
  • Venn diagram to project for class-wide viewing
  • Printed copies of Venn diagram to distribute for small group work

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Lead students in a brief warm-up.  As you move, point out what body parts are moving, the tempo (fast/slow), levels (high, medium, low), and pathways (on the ground or in the air). 

 

Work Session

  • Analyzing movement 

    • Students discuss similarities and/or differences in the learned movements while incorporating dance vocabulary in descriptions.
    • Divide class into small groups. 
    • Each group creates a short movement phrase using 3-4 of the movements learned in the warm up. Without other groups knowing, assign each group a quality that they must use when performing their dance, i.e., fast, slow, etc. 
    • Each group performs its dance for peers.
    • As one group performs, peers identify the similarities and differences between the different group dances. These are documented on a Venn diagram. 

    ELA connection

    • Next, present two versions of the same written text to the class and ask them to work in small groups to complete a Venn diagram to document similarities and differences between the texts. 
    • Individually, students write sentences, draw a picture, or prepare an oral presentation to express their findings.
    • Select a few students to present their work and engage classroom discussion by those who support and dissent.

 

Closing Reflection

Ask students to recall creating the Venn diagrams in dance. Ask them what got their attention when they looked for similarities and differences in movement phrases.

 

Ask students to think about creating the Venn diagrams for the written texts. Ask them what got their attention when they looked for similarities and differences in those works.

 

Ask students to compare and contrast the processes of the work they just did, analyzing dances vs. written texts. Is one similar to the other? Is one different from the other?

 

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Students use dance vocabulary while creating dance phrases.
  • Students recorded data using a Venn diagram.
  • Students worked collaboratively.

 

Summative

  • Students created dance sequences according to the aforementioned criteria. 
  • Students identified similarities and differences in the performed choreographic sequences. 
  • Students successfully compared and contrasted the presented written texts.

 

 

Differentiation

Acceleration:

Ask students to partner when creating their dances, taking into consideration the choice to mirror or not to mirror. 

 

Use three texts instead of two.

 

Remediation:

Rather than working in small groups, work as an entire class to create the compare and contrast piece about two dances.

 

Rather than working individually, work in small groups to create the compare and contrast piece about two written texts.

 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Classroom Tips:

  • Clear desks to have an open space. 
  • Be tolerant of noise and excitement but set limits. 
  • Review rules for appropriate audience behavior.   

*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 and updated by: Melissa Dittmar-Joy

 

Revised and copyright:  August 2022 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules

Rhyming Animals

RHYMING ANIMALS

RHYMING ANIMALS

Learning Description

Students will learn about rhyming families by creating “cut-outs” of animals inspired by the artist, Henri Matisse, combined with a rhyming word.

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can create rhymes using Matisse-inspired cut-outs.

Essential Questions

  • How can I create a rhyme using Matisse-inspired cut-outs?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

ELAGSEKRF2 Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

ELAGSEKSL1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

ELAGSEKSL4 Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

Grade1:  

ELAGSE1RF2 Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

ELAGSE1SL1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

ELAGSE1SL4 Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly.

Arts Standards

Kindergarten & Grade 1:

VAK.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.

VAK&1.CR.2 Create works of art based on selected themes.

VAK&1.CR.3 Understand and apply media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional art.

VAK&1.RE.1 Discuss personal works of art and the artwork of others to enhance visual literacy. 

VAK&1.CN.3 Develop life skills through the study and production of art (e.g. collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, communication).

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

K.I.1.1 Engage in daily opportunities for play and exploration to foster a sense of curiosity, develop the disposition of inquisitiveness, and begin to verbally articulate “I wonders” about ideas of interest.

K.RL.2.1 Recognize and produce rhyming words

K.C.MC.1.1 Explore and create meaning through play, conversation, drama, and storytelling.

K.C.MC.3.2 Use appropriate props, images, or illustrations to support verbal communication.

Grade 1:  

1.I.1.1 Translate “wonderings” into questions that lead to group conversations, explorations, and investigations.

1.RL.9.1 Identify the literary devices of rhythm, repetitive language, and simile and sound devices of rhyme, onomatopoeia, and alliteration; explain how the author uses each. 

1.C.MC.1.1 Explore and create meaning through conversation, drama, questioning, and story-telling. 

1.C.MC.3.1 Explore and compare how ideas and topics are depicted in a variety of media and formats.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use the elements and principles of art to create artwork.

Anchor Standard 2: I can use different materials, techniques, and processes to make art.

Anchor Standard 3: I can improve and complete artistic work using elements and principles.

Anchor Standard 4: I can organize work for presentation and documentation to reflect specific content, ideas, skills, and or media.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

Rhyme – Words that have the same middle sound.

Arts Vocabulary

Geometric shape – One of the seven elements of art; a two-dimensional object such as a square, triangle, or circle.

Cut-outs/collage - An image created using a combination of pieces of paper or images.

 

Materials

  • Construction paper
  • Glue sticks
  • A variety of geometric shapes such as circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Show students an image of Henri Matisse’s, The Horse, the Rider, and the Clown. Ask students to find things that they recognize in this image (colors, shapes, etc.).
  • Tell students that they will be learning about how the artist, Henri Matisse, created this artwork using paper and scissors.
  • Explain to students that there are different kinds of shapes in art:  geometric, organic, and free-form. Show students the different types of shapes.
  • Ask students to practice creating geometric shapes using their hands or arms.
  • Ask students to identify the types of shapes in Matisse’s, The Horse, the Rider, and the Clown.

 

Work Session

  • Explain that the artist, Henri Matisse, created images by cutting out pieces of paper and putting them together to make images. 
  • Show students several examples of Matisse’s cut-outs.
  • Show students Matisse’s, The Snail, as an example. Ask students if they can see the snail in the image.
  • Tell students that they will be creating cut-outs like Matisse that combine an animal with a rhyming word.
  • Go over a family of words that rhyme with an animal such as a cat, dog, frog, etc.
  • Show students how to use geometric shapes to create an animal. 
  • Ask students to combine the animal with a word that it rhymes with to create a cut-out like Matisse.

Closing Reflection

  • Ask students to write the two words that they showed in their artwork (i.e. cat and hat) in a complete sentence with correct grammar, such as “The cat wears a hat.” 
  • Students will conduct a gallery walk to see each other’s artwork and see the different words that their animal rhymes with.

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Student discussion of rhyming families
  • Student identification of a word that rhymes with the given animal

 

Summative

  • Student “cut-outs” of animal and word that it rhymes with - student artwork should demonstrate that students understand that some words have the same median sounds.

 

Differentiation

Acceleration: Students should come up with their own animal and a word that it rhymes with instead of the provided animal and words that it rhymes with to create their artwork.

Remediation: Provide students with the animal and the word that it rhymes with; after students have created this artwork, ask them to identify another word that rhymes with the animal and the word it rhymes with. Ask students to add this word to their artwork.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Rhyming Animals presentation 

Types of Shapes handout

Optional supporting text: Henri’s Scissors by Jeanette Winter

*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:  Katy Betts

 Revised and copyright:  September 2023 @ ArtsNOW

Back to Modules

Module 1:
Magnets

MAGNETS

Magnets

Module Description

In this series of STEAM activities, students will use drama to demonstrate an understanding of how magnets attract and repel. Students will dramatize different magnetic poles, as well as common objects that are magnetic and non-magnetic. Another activity in this module will integrate the visual arts. Students will apply prior knowledge of magnetic properties to create a painting, and use movement to illustrate their understanding of magnetic poles. Students will explore magnetism first-hand by painting and experimenting with different mediums, both magnetic and non-magnetic.

MODULE DOWNLOADS

Theatre Rubric

Visual Arts Painting Rubric

Learning Targets

“I Can…”

  • Identify why magnetic poles attract and repel
  • Apply role playing strategies to dramatize the roles of the the magnetic poles
  • Use drama to express how common objects, magnetic and non-magnetic, interact with one another
  • Classify objects that are magnetic and non-magnetic
  • Create a visual arts representation of magnetic forces based on the properties of magnetic and non-magnetic objects
  • Sort objects by their magnetic properties
  • Reflect on my findings and state reasons why certain objects were sorted into each category
  • Compare and contrast magnetic poles
  • Create choreography representing magnetic poles

Essential Questions

  • Why do magnets attract and repel each other?
  • What common objects are attracted to magnets?
  • How can art help deepen our understanding of magnetic poles?

Curriculum Standards

GA Performance Standards:

S1P2. Students will demonstrate effects of magnets on other magnets and other objects.

  1. Demonstrate how magnets attract and repel.
  2. Identify common objects that are attracted to a magnet.
  3. Identify objects and materials (air, water, wood, paper, your hand, etc.) that do not block magnetic force.

ELAGSE1W3: Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.

ELAGSE1SL1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

National Standards:

1.P.1.1. Explain the importance of a push or pull to changing the motion of an object.

1P.1.2. Explain how some forces (pushes and pulls) can be used to make things move without touching them, such as magnets.

1.P.1.3. Predict the effect of a given force on the motion of an object, including balanced forces.

Arts Standards

GA Performance Standards:

TAES1.2 Developing scripts through improvisation and other theatrical methods.

  1. Uses the playwriting process: pre-writing/pre-play; preparation to write/dramatize; write/dramatize; evaluate and edit; re-write/re-dramatize.

TAES1.3 Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining roles within a variety of situations and environments.

  1. Collaborates and cooperates in theatre experiences.
  2. Assumes roles in a variety of dramatic forms such as narrated story, pantomime, puppetry and role play.
  3. Demonstrates skills of the mind: listening, observing, problem solving, imagining, concentrating.

VA1PR.2. Understands and applies media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional works of art (drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed-media) using tools and materials in a safe and appropriate manner to develop skills.

  1. Creates drawings with a variety of media (e.g., pencils, crayons, pastels).
  2. Identifies lines and shapes in order to draw an object.
  3. Creates paintings with a variety of media (e.g., acrylic, tempera, watercolor).

D1F.1. Identifies and demonstrates movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance.

  1. Recognizes and recalls terminology of creative movement elements and sub-elements (e.g., levels, pathways, directions, speed, rhythm, energy, qualities, shapes).
  2. Executes short sequences of basic locomotor movements (e.g., walk, run, hop, jump, gallop) in a variety of pathways, directions and levels.

D1F.2. Understands and models dance etiquette as a classroom participant, performer, and observer.

  1. Demonstrates attentiveness, full participation and cooperation with others in the dance learning environment.
  2. Demonstrates focus and concentration in performance skills.
  3. Applies knowledge of appropriate behaviors and skills as an audience member and dance observer.

National Standards:

Theatre Arts

TH:Pr5.1.1.a. Demonstrate the relationship between and among body, voice, and mind in a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).

Visual Arts VA:Cr1.2.1a. Use observation and investigation in preparation for making a work of art.

Content Vocabulary

  • Poles: One of the two ends of a magnet
  • Attract: To pull something
  • Repel: To push away
  • Magnetize: To give magnetic force to something a magnet attracts
  • Magnetic: Capable of being magnetized or attracted by a magnet
  • Non-magnetic: Not capable of being magnetized or attracted by a magnet
  • Opposite: Arranged as one of a pair on either side of something
  • Magnet: An object that pulls on some metal objects
  • Characteristic: A distinguishing feature or quality
  • Iron: A malleable ductile silvery-white metallic element used for structural and engineering purposes
  • Steel: A modified form of iron, artificially produced, with qualities of hardness, elasticity, and strength
  • Magnetism: The properties of attraction possessed by magnets
  • Bar magnet: A bar-shaped, usually permanent, magnet
  • North pole: The pole of a magnet that seeks the earth's north magnetic pole
  • South pole: The pole of a magnet that seeks the earth's south magnetic pole
  • Position: An object’s location; where something is
  • Motion: A change in position
  • Pull: A force that moves an object closer to another object
  • Push: A force that moves an object away from an another object

Arts Vocabulary

Theatre Arts

  • Character: An actor or actress in a specified role
  • Collaboration: Two or more people working together in a joint intellectual effort
  • Concentrations: The ability of the actor/actress to be “in” character – that is, to be like the character s/he is portraying – in dialog, attitude, carriage, gait, etc.
  • Dialogue: A conversation between two or more persons
  • Diction: Using a “crisp and Clear” actor voice that can be understood by everyone watching and listening
  • Facial Expression: Using your face to show emotion
  • Gesture: An expressive movement of the body or limbs

Visual Arts

  • Aesthetics: The term that refers to that which is beautiful and visually pleasing
  • Color: An element of art with three properties: 1. hue, or the name of the color (e.g. red, yellow, etc.); 2. intensity, or the purity and strength of the color, such as brightness or dullness; and 3. value, or the lightness or darkness of a color
  • Media: Refers to the tools and materials an artist uses

Dance Arts

  • Mirror: To copy the movements of another while facing that individual
  • Pathway: The designs traced on the floor as a dancer travels across space; the designs traced in the air as a dancer moves various body parts
  • Space: An element of movement involving direction, level, size, focus, and pathway
  • Formation: The placement of dancers in a performance space
  • Energy/Force: Force propels or initiates movement, or causes changes in movement of body position

Formative Assessment

  • Accuracy of concept present in dramatization
  • Evidence of writing and brainstorming for dramatization
  • Collaboration with peers
  • Teacher will monitor students through anecdotal notes while they are creating their paintings and sorting their materials

Summative Assessment

  • Written script with beginning, middle, and end (visually composed, if necessary)
  • Theatre Rubric (see Appendix)
  • Completed Video (optional)
  • Visual Arts Painting Rubric (see Appendix)

Materials

Theatre Arts:
North and south magnet labels (These will be affixed to the magnet characters shoulders. North on one shoulder, south on the other shoulder.)
Pictures of other common objects that are magnetic and non-magnetic (paper clip, nail, safety pin, aluminum can, a plastic bottle)
iPad for videoing or other video device

Visual Arts:
Paper bags, containing: a small piece of wood, penny, paper clip, eraser, dime, screw, thumb tack, nail
Small bowls for sorting
Thick cardstock
Tempera paint, primary colors
Various sized paint brushes
Chalk pastels
Class sets of wand magnets
12 cookie sheets, small

Theatre Arts - Activating Strategy

  • Teacher will begin lesson by getting all students involved in the process of using their voice and body.
  • Teacher can begin with the E-clap technique. The teacher will say “E” using different levels of voice and speed, while the students clap at that level and speed. The teacher can then clap, and have the students say “E” to the volume level and speed of the clap.

E-Clap
This game warms up students’ body/mind coordination through ensemble rhythm and engagement. It also sets the tone for being able to mess up and stay in the exercise.

  • When I say "E," you CLAP.
  • When I CLAP, you say "E."
  • When I say “NOW,” you say “WOW” (and do a 360 turn).
  • When I say “UH,” you say (arms to the left and hop to the right) “UH.”
  • When I say "Domo Choco Latte," you go (right arm up) “AH,” (left arm up) “AH,” (both arms into stomach and bend knees) “AH.”

*Any other drama voice warm-up strategies would also be effective.

Theatre Arts - Main Activity

Part 1

  • Teacher will use magnets to demonstrate how opposite poles attract and like poles repel.
  • Teacher will then demonstrate dramatizing how opposite poles would attract and like poles would repel using voice and body movements.
  • Guiding Questions to get students thinking about characterization:
    1. If these opposite poles were people, how do you think they’d feel about each other?
    2. Let’s make up a story about these magnets. What might they say as their poles pull them together?
    3. Now let’s think about if these like poles were people, how would they feel about each other?
    4. Let’s make up a story about these magnets. What might they say as their poles make them repel and run away from each other?
  • Teacher will also demonstrate dramatizing how common objects, either magnetic or non-magnetic, might interact with the magnets in a story.

Part 2

  • Teacher will review the information the students have learned about magnetic and non-magnetic objects.
  • Teacher will review the elements of a storytelling drama using a simple beginning, middle, and end script.

Part 3

  • Students will create and write a small group short dramatization about magnets and how the poles attract. Students will include a beginning, middle, and end for their dramatization. (If needed, students could visually represent their ideas by drawing the beginning, middle, and end for their dramatization.)
  • An example of this would be two north poles walk up to each other and repelling one another.
  • Students will use their voice and body to dramatize this action. They might begin with “Hey, why are you pushing me?” (Beginning); “I’m not pushing you, you are pushing me.” (Middle); I know, we are like poles, and we are repelling each other.” (End).
  • The students will repeat this type of process with common objects in their group.
  • Groups will have at least 3 small scripts with beginning, middle, and end. One of them has to be about the poles repelling and attracting.
  • The others can be about being attracted or not attracted to the other magnetic and non-magnetic objects in the group.

Part 4

  • Students will present their magnetic drama to the class. Other classroom students may provide constructive feedback on theatrical delivery (diction, facial expression, tone, volume, pitch, etc.) using theater vocabulary.

Visual Arts - Activating Strategy

Part 1

  • Begin with teacher-led mirror exercises to get students focused and warmed-up for dance activities.
  • Challenge students to work with a partner and practice mirroring. Begin seated, then explore mirror activities that travel through space.
  • Discuss the properties of magnets, including the response of same and opposite poles.
  • Return to mirror activity, incorporating concepts of same and opposite magnetic poles.

Part 2

  • Discuss and list how magnet concepts would influence choreographic decisions.
  • Divide into groups (having an equal number of students per group, if possible). Within groups, have students create short choreographic phrases (2-4 phrases of eight counts) based on the magnetic pole they have been assigned.

Part 3

  • When student compositions are complete, present to classmates.
  • Discuss the different choreographic creations, comparing and contrasting as possible.

Visual Arts - Main Activity

Part 1

Part 2

  • Teacher will lead a class discussion of what makes an object magnetic. Teacher will make a T-chart (magnetic, non-magnetic) and students will contribute ideas to fill it in. Students will make predictions as to which objects are magnetic and non-magnetic.

Part 3

  • Students will create a t-chart and label one side magnetic and the other non-magnetic. (An alternative option would be for the students to sketch a t-chart using visual cues if the written part is too difficult.)
  • Student partner groups will each be given a paper bag, containing: a small piece of wood, penny, paper clip, eraser, dime, screw, thumb tack, nail.
  • Each group will be given two bowls, one to sort magnetic, one to sort non-magnetic.
  • Each group will be given one cookie sheet, two pieces of cardstock, two magnetic wands, tape to adhere the paper to the cookie sheet, and four colors of paint. (one squeeze of each color on each paper)
  • Students will take turns choosing an item and seeing if they can paint with it. After both students have used the item, they will place it in the appropriate bowl.

Part 4

  • Students will complete their T-chart based on their sorting of magnetic or non-magnetic objects.
  • Students will complete a written reflection evaluating why certain objects are magnetic or non-magnetic.
  • Compare the T-chart created as a class to those created by the students.

Reflection Questions

  • Explain how north and south poles attract and repel each other.
  • How did sharing out our dramatic scene help me understand how north and south poles attract and repel each other?
  • How did sharing out our dramatic scene help me understand how other common objects are attracted or not attracted to magnets?
  • How did creating a painting through the exploration of magnetic and non-magnetic materials help me understand how magnets work?

Additional Resources & Extension Activities

Books

  • Magnetic and Nonmagnetic by Angela Royston
  • Amazing Magnetism (Magic School Bus) by Rebecca Carmi
  • What Makes a Magnet? by Franklyn M. Branley
  • Magnets: Pulling Together, Pushing Apart by N. Rosinsky
  • Magnetic and Non-Magnetic by Angela Royston
  • What Magnets Can Do ( Rookie Read-about Science) by Allen Fowler

Websites

Appendix

  • Theatre Rubric
  • Visual Arts Painting Rubric
Back to Modules

Grade 1:
The Art of Plants and Animals

THE ART OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS

Grade 1: The Art of Plants and Animals

Unit Description

This unit will explore the characteristics and basic needs of plants and animals. Through drama, the students will focus on the different parts of plants and the function of each part. The students will also role play as plant doctors who are charged with the task of caring for a sick plant. They will collaborate, brainstorm and write about ways to help maintain a plant's health. Following writing, students will use visual arts to demonstrate their understanding of plant parts and basic needs of plants. Music and drama will used be to compare and contrast the different basic needs of plants and animals. Through the arts, the students will have a richer understanding of the basic needs of plants and animals.

Unit Essential Question

How can we meet the basic needs of plants and animals?

Real World Context

This unit will focus on the basic needs of plants and animals. Students will conduct a cause and effect analysis to understand why things happen as they do. This project will help your students understand the effects of various events and actions, so they have a better grasp on the way the world operates.

Cross-Cutting Interdisciplinary Concepts

Cause and effect

Projects

Project 1: Starring Parts of a Plant!
In this project, students will have a blast dramatizing the various parts of plants using their bodies and voices. They will engage in research of various plants in various climates around the world. Then students will role play in small groups as different parts of the plant: root, stem, leaves, and flower. Students will create tableaus that illustrate the relationships of the plant parts. By exploring the function of their part, they can understand cause and effect. What would happen if the plant did not have all of its parts intact? Students will engage in writing monologues from the point of view of their plant part character. Suggested children’s literacy is also included in this project to make the science and writing pervasive in ELA instruction.

Project 2: Band Time with Animals & Plants
In this project, students will try their hands at being a part of a band in the first grade science classroom! Students will become musical experts on plants and animals. They will work collaboratively with their peers to compose a song with original lyrics and beats, describing the basic needs of plants and animals.

Project 3: O’Keeffe- Inspired Plant Painting
In this project, students will explore a collection of fine art by Georgia O’Keeffe, specifically her flower and plant paintings. Students will then participate in a role play where they become plant experts and save a dying plant. The students will use their shared background knowledge of Georgia O’Keeffe’s flowers and create a painting in this style of their very own thriving plant. Finally students will write a story about the plant they painted and how it was transformed from dying to thriving.

Project Essential Questions

PROJECT 1:
How can I use my body and voice to communicate the parts of a plant and each part’s function?

PROJECT 2:
How can we use music to compare and contrast the basic needs of plants and animals?
How are food and nutrients different for plants and animals?

PROJECT 3:
How can I connect visual arts to my knowledge of plants’ basic needs?
What components must I include in my painting’s subject matter and environment if the plant is thriving?

Standards

Curriculum Standards

S1L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the basic needs of plants and animals.

  1. Develop models to identify the parts a plant- root, stem, leaf, and flower.
  2. Ask questions to compare and contrast the basic needs of plants (air, water, light, and nutrients) and animals (air, water, food, and shelter)
  3. Design a solution to ensure that a plant or animal has all of its needs met.

ELAGSE1W2: Write informative/ explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.

Arts Standards

VA1PR.2 Understands and applies media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional works of art (drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed- media) using tools and materials in a safe and appropriate manner to develop skills.

  1. Creates paintings with a variety of media (e.g., acrylic, tempera, watercolor).

TAES1.3 Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining roles within a variety of situations and environments.

  1. Assumes roles in a variety of dramatic forms such as narrated story, pantomime, puppetry and role play.

TH: Crr2-K - With prompting and support, participate in group decision making in a guided drama experience.

MU:Pr6.1.1 - With limited guidance, perform music for a specific purpose with expression.

MU:Re7.2.1 - With limited guidance, demonstrate and identify how specific music concepts (such as beat or pitch) are used in various styles of music for a purpose.

Materials to be purchased for Unit

  • Tempra variety pack paint
  • White tempra paint
  • Paint brushes
  • 9X12 canvases
  • Deluxe Rhythm and band set
  • Wonder soil class and garden and kit
  • Magnifying glasses
  • Paint Palettes
  • Drum Set

Character Education

Components
The students will collaborate with an older grade to plant a flower garden. They will check on the garden regularly in order to maintain healthy plants.

Character Attributes Addressed During Unit

  • Responsibility
  • Teamwork

Summative Assessments

  • Pre/ Post Test
  • Project 1 Rubric
  • Project 2 Rubric
  • Project 3 Rubric

Partnering with Fine Arts Teachers

Music Teacher:

  • Project 2: Help the students with beat, tempo, rhythm, and lyrics.

Visual Arts Teacher:

  • Project 3: Conduct a review of the elements of art. Together they will analyze a sketching and painting.

Drama Teacher:

  • Project 1: Review tableaus and monologues with students.

Appendix (See Project Downloads)

  • Pre-Test/ Post-Test

Credits

Karisa Walker, Sarah Munroe, Shannon Green, Rachel McQueen, Edited by Jessica Espinoza, Edited by Dr. Carla Cohen, Edited by Dr. Carla Cohen

Starring Parts of a Plant!

Description

In this project, students will have a blast dramatizing the various parts of plants using their bodies and voices. They will engage in research of various plants in various climates around the world. Then students will role play in small groups as different parts of the plant: root, stem, leaves, and flower. Students will create tableaus that illustrate the relationships of the plant parts. By exploring the function of their part, they can understand cause and effect. What would happen if the plant did not have all of its parts intact? Students will engage in writing monologues from the point of view of their plant part character. Suggested children’s literacy is also included in this project to make the science and writing pervasive in ELA instruction.

PROJECT DOWNLOADS

Download Project

Starring Parts of a Plant Rubric

Plant Parts Visual Aid

Gallery Walk: Plants Around the World

Learning Targets

“I Can…”

  • Examine the parts of a plant and each part’s function
  • Create a tableau that represents all of the parts of a specific plant
  • Communicate the functions of the parts of a plant in the form of a character monologue

Essential Questions

  • How can I use my body and voice to communicate the parts of a plant and each part’s function?

Curriculum Standards

S1L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the basic needs of plants and animals.

  1. Develop models to identify the parts a plant- root, stem, leaf, and flower.

ELAGSE1W2: Write informative/ explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.

Arts Standards

TAES1.3 Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining roles within a variety of situations and environments.

  1. Assumes roles in a variety of dramatic forms such as narrated story, pantomime, puppetry and role play.

Content Vocabulary

  • Root
  • Stem
  • Leaf
  • Flower
  • Plant
  • Function
  • Nutrients
  • Water
  • Light

Arts Vocabulary

  • Tableau: a frozen picture dramatizing a concept or story
  • Body Levels: creating body shapes on different planes including a high level, mid level or a low level
  • Body Shapes: using your body to create a closed or open shape using body parts
  • Body Relationships: establishing a relationship between characters through body shapes, posture, levels and eye contact
  • Monologue: a speech spoken by a character in a story
  • Diction: speaking crisp and clear words
  • Projection: speaking loudly by engaging the diaphragm

Technology Integration

Formative Assessment

  • Teacher will observe the students working in small groups portraying the parts of the plants in their rehearsal.
  • Teacher will check for understanding through questioning and reviewing student written monologues.

Summative Assessment

  • Rubric for informative monologue
  • Post test

Materials

  • Space for movement
  • Smartboard for technology
  • Paper and pencil
  • Books on parts of the plants (Recommended text: Parts of a Plant by Bruce Larkin)
  • Computers or tablets

Activating Strategy (5-10 min)

  • Teacher will conduct a whole group physical warm-up with students. Tell students that students will be physically making body shapes that represent the different parts of a plant. Students can start on a low level by being the root. Then, they can move into creating a high body shape of the stem. Then they will become the leaf and finally, the flower. The teacher should remind students that the plant parts may not all look exactly the same depending on what kind of plant we are creating.

Main Activity

PROCESS: Parts of a Plant

Part 1: Group Work

Present the Gallery Walk: Plants Around the World (SEE DOWNLOADS) to students analyzing various plants. The students will see different types of plants beyond the flower. They should recognize that while all plants look very different, they all have the same basic parts.

  • Place students into small groups of four and direct them to build a tableau of one of the plants we observed during the Gallery Walk. Whether the teacher pre-assigns specific plants to groups or allows the students to choose, is at the teacher’s discretion.
  • Before small groups begin working, review the definition of tableau. A tableau is a frozen picture that uses levels and body shapes to represent something. A tableau does not move or make sound. Each student in the small group should become a different part of their plant. Together, the group should become a tableau of the plant as a whole. Each student embodies a different plant part. The teacher should point out how different the tableaus look from one another other.

Part 2: Research

  • Next, the teacher will review the function of each part of the plant through a flipchart.
  • Within each group, students will be given the opportunity to research one part of the plant. They will be responsible for learning about that function of that part. The students should use resources such as books and computers to find out why their assigned part is important. The teacher can also choose to model the research process using a graphic organizer and conducting research whole group.

Part 3: Student Writing

The students will reflect on the lesson by writing a monologue from their plant part character’s point of view. Within the monologue the students should demonstrate their knowledge of the importance of their part. They need to explore cause and effect by writing about what would happen if the plant didn’t have their specific part.

Reflection Questions

  • Why is it important that all the parts are included in a plant?
  • What would happen if a plant didn’t have roots?
  • What would happen if a plant didn’t have the stem, or leaf?
  • What is something new that you learned from your research?
  • If we did this activity again, what would you do differently?

Differentiation

Below Grade Level: Whole group research, work with partners to complete graphic organizers, include word bank on graphic organizer. Utilize sentence starters for monologue. Include a visual word wall in the room for students to reference.

Above Grade Level: Conduct solo research, and create monologue based on independent research.

EL Students: (ELP=English Language Proficiency)

  • Preview the key vocabulary with pictures shown beside each word on an anchor chart, word wall, and flashcards.
  • Point to the picture, and have the student say each word. This may be done in small group the day before the unit begins. The ESOL teacher may meet with students who are lacking the basic vocabulary for additional practice before starting the unit.
  • During research, graphic organizers may be differentiated based on students’ ELPs.

ELP 1-2

  • Option 1: Provide students with short article/book with picture support to use for research. Give them a cloze version of the graphic organizer where they may fill in one word per sentence to complete their research.
  • Option 2: Pair students with peers possessing higher ELPs who may model completing a graphic organizer with less English scaffolding.
  • Option 3: Instead of writing research, allow students to cut and paste different facts (with picture support) into appropriate portions of the graphic organizer.

ELP 5-6

  • ELP 5-6 Provide simple edits to peers’ writing. Source: (WIDA Can Do Key Uses Gr1, pg. 9)

Part 3: Monologue ELP 1-2

  • Allow students to draw and label three pictures to accompany their monologue instead of writing sentences (first picture=plant part, second picture=importance, third picture=what would happen if it disappeared).

ELP 3-4

  • Use sentence starters to assist students with writing:
    “I am a ____. I am important because I____________. If I disappeared, the plant would not be able to_______.”

Additional Resources

Suggested Books:

  • The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
  • The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
  • From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons

Appendix

  • Rubric for Project 1
  • Gallery Walk: Plants from Around the World
  • Parts of a Plant: Visual Aid

Credits

Karisa Walker, Sarah Munroe, Rachel McQueen, Edited by Jessica Espinoza, Edited by Dr. Carla Cohen

Band Time with Animals & Plants

Description

In this project, students will try their hands at being a part of a band in the first grade science classroom! Students will become musical experts on plants and animals. They will work collaboratively with their peers to compose a song with original lyrics and beats, describing the basic needs of plants and animals.

PROJECT DOWNLOADS

Download Project

Band Time with Animals & Plants Rubric

Song-Making Template Sheet

Learning Targets

“I Can…”

  • Compose a song with my peers
  • Create lyrics for a song with my peers
  • Explain the needs of plants and animals

Essential Questions

  • How can we use music to compare and contrast the basic needs of plants and animals?

Curriculum Standards

  • S1L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the basic needs of plants and animals.
    1. Ask questions to compare and contrast the basic needs of plants (air, water, light, and nutrients) and animals (air, water, food, and shelter)

    • Arts Standards

    With limited guidance, demonstrate and identify how specific music concepts (such as beat or pitch) are used in various styles of music for a purpose.

    With limited guidance, perform music for a specific purpose with expression.

    Content Vocabulary

    • air
    • water
    • light
    • nutrients
    • food
    • shelter

    Arts Vocabulary

    • cymbal
    • maracas
    • tambourine
    • bells
    • drum
    • rhythm
    • tempo
    • pattern
    • beat
    • verses
    • chorus

    Technology Integration

    • GarageBand App
    • Imovie App

    Formative Assessment

    • Teacher will observe the students working in small groups composing and practicing their songs.
    • Teacher will check for understanding through questioning and reviewing student- written songs.

    Summative Assessment

    • Band Time with Animals & Plants Rubric (SEE DOWNLOADS)

    Materials

    • Deluxe Rhythm Band Sets
    • Ipad (Optional)
    • Garageband (Optional)
    • Imovie (Optional)
    • Chart paper

    Activating Strategy (5-10 min)

    • Teacher will lead students in completing a word map on an anchor chart and discussing the basic needs of plants and animals.
    • Teacher will introduce the students to the Deluxe Rhythm Band Set or the GarageBand App. (Classroom teachers, consider connecting with your Music Specialist in your building for support in this part of the project.)

    Main Activity

    PROCESS:

    Part 1:

    • Facilitate a whole group discussion of the importance of each need (air, water, nutrients, light, food, and shelter). Explain to students that they will work in groups to create a song/rap/chant explaining the basic needs of plants and animals. Teacher will explain the parts of a song (verse and chorus). The song should have two verses and a chorus. One verse should explain the needs of a plant and one verse should explain the needs of an animal. The chorus should capture the main idea or which needs are shared by both animals and plants. Use the Song-Making Template Sheet (SEE DOWNLOADS) for this part of the activity.

    Part 2:

    • Each group should compose a beat to use with the lyrics of the song.

    Part 3:

    • Students will perform the song for the class.

    Part 4:

    • Part 4: Optional: Students can create a music video performing the Animal and Plant song.

    Classroom Tips:

    • Students should be grouped according to strength. For example, students with strong content knowledge should be in each group to create the lyrics to the song. Students that are comfortable creating beats and patterns

    Reflection Questions

    • What was your favorite part about this project? Why?
    • If you could do this project again, what would you do differently? Why?
    • How did music help you understand and remember the needs of plants and animals?

    Differentiation

    Below Grade Level/EL Students:

    • Provide copies of word map to students who need a word bank for the needs of plants and animals.
    • Provide sentence stems as writing prompt for writing the lyrics to the song.
    • Allow students to work with partners for positive peer modeling of language, writing, and work expectations.

    Above Grade Level:

    • Students should use synonyms for words such as nutrients, food, shelter, etc. in the lyrics.
    • Challenge Advanced students to include a rhyme scheme within the lyrics of their song.

    EL Students: (ELP=English Language Proficiency)

    • Preview the key vocabulary with pictures listed beside each word on an anchor chart, word wall, or flashcards.
    • When discussing the basic needs of plants and animals:

    ELP 1-2

    • Repeat phrases about plant needs listed by peers (e.g. Plants need water.) while teacher points to a picture of plant needs.

    ELP 3-4

    • When writing the song, group students heterogeneously based on English proficiency. Students with lower levels of English proficiency will benefit from their peers modeling the language.

    Appendix

    • Song-Making Template Sheet
    • Rubric for this project

    Credits

    Karisa Walker, Sarah Munroe, Rachel McQueen, edited by Jessica Espinoza, Dr. Carla Cohen

    O’Keeffe- Inspired Plant Painting

    Description

    In this project, students will explore a collection of fine art by Georgia O’Keeffe, specifically her flower and plant paintings. Students will then participate in a role play where they become plant experts and save a dying plant. The students will use their shared background knowledge of Georgia O’Keeffe’s flowers and create a painting in this style of their very own thriving plant. Finally, students will write a story about the plant they painted and how it was transformed from dying to thriving.

    PROJECT DOWNLOADS

    Download Project

    O'Keefe Inspired Plant Painting Rubric

    Writing Sheet

    Gallery Walk: O’Keeffe Inspired Flower / Plant Paintings

    Learning Targets

    “I Can…”

    • Examine an artist and connect their fine art to plant’s basic needs
    • I can write a solution to a problem using complete sentences
    • I can create a painting of a thriving plant inspired by the style of Georgia O’Keeffe

    Essential Questions

    • How can I connect visual arts to my knowledge of plants’ basic needs?
    • What components must I include in my painting’s subject matter and environment if the plant is thriving?

    Curriculum Standards

    S1L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the basic needs of plants and animals.

    1. Develop models to identify the parts a plant- root, stem, leaf, and flower.
    2. Design a solution to ensure that a plant or animal has all of its needs met.

    Arts Standards

    VA1PR.2 Understands and applies media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional works of art (drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed- media) using tools and materials in a safe and appropriate manner to develop skills.

    1. Creates paintings with a variety of media (e.g., acrylic, tempera, watercolor).

    Content Vocabulary

    • nutrients, air, water, light, and soil
    • problem, solution
    • stem, flower, root, leaves
    • botanist

    Arts Vocabulary

    • sketch, canvas
    • value (lightness or darkness of a color)
    • tint (adding white to make it light)

    Technology Integration

    Formative Assessment

    • Class discussion during Gallery Walk
    • Student painting and describing the features of their plant and its environment
    • Students writing about their painting

    Summative Assessment

    • Student Writing
    • Project 3 Rubric to assess the visual arts project

    Materials

    • Acrylic paint
    • Canvas
    • Paint brushes
    • Writing worksheet
    • Pencils

    Activating Strategy (5-10 min)

    • View picture of healthy and unhealthy plant.
      • Show students a wilting plant. “What happened to this plant?”
      • Show students a healthy plant. “What happened to this plant?”
      • Whole group: Compare the plants using a Venn diagram. “How are they alike?” They both have a stem, flower, leaf, roots, and they are in soil. Contrast the plants, “How are they different?” This plant is healthy and had water, air, nutrients, and light. This plant didn’t.

    Main Activity

    PROCESS: Parts of a Plant

    Part 1:

    • Explain to students, “Today we will be botanist. A botanist is a plant expert! We need to figure out a solution to help meet the needs of this plant so that it can survive. What does a plant need to survive? How can we meet the needs of this plant?” Discuss a solution to help meet all the needs of this plant.
    • Sentence frame: To meet the needs of this plant I will…
    • Talk with your partner about what you may write about…
    • Complete writing activity on Project 3 Writing Sheet (SEE DOWNLOADS)
    • Share student writing with whole group.

    Part 2:

    • Take students thru the Gallery Walk: O’Keeffe Inspired Flower/ Plant Paintings (SEE DOWNLOADS). *To go deeper with your study of O’Keefe you can visit the google cultural institute of her museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.)
    • Students will critique the art pieces in the Gallery Walk, asking questions such as: What plant parts do you see? What colors, lines, shapes do we see in each plant part? Why does this plant look healthy? Did this plant have all of its needs met?
    • Begin to sketch our own O’Keeffee inspired plants on canvas. Direct students to be sure to include the stem, leaves, and flowers. Direct students to include the plant’s environment.
    • After sketches are complete, meet back on the carpet to discuss tints present in the colors they will use for their paintings. Identify colors present in the Gallery images. Look at the color of the flower. Suggested questioning: Are all the petals the same color? No, there are different values. Value is how light or how dark a color is. Adding white to a color makes it lighter and that is called a tint. Demo tints on a piece of paper. Emphasize the addition of a small amount of color to create a tint. Then pass out paint, smocks, canvas, and brushes.
    • Return to seats. Let students select the colors for their flowers. Prior to painting, have them create some tints on their palette. Remind them to add a small amount of paint to the white to create tints.
    • Begin teacher directed painting on canvas. Paint the flower first. Then add some tints to show value.
    • Paint the pot, steam, and leaves. Also, include sunlight in your painting…

    Part 3:

    • After paintings have dried, use sticky notes to label parts of the plant. Label the stem, flower, roots, and leaves. Label the needs. Let students do a gallery walk. Place student artwork, labels, and writing on top of desks and let students walk around and view each other’s work…
    • Students will then write a story about their plant and why it is able to thrive. Direct students to use all of their science vocabulary in their stories: stem, leaves, roots, flower, sun, water, soil, and nutrients.

    Classroom Tips:

    • Teachers may want to consider doing the flower paintings as a center or small group to manage the painting, cleaning, passing of supplies, etc… Also you could partner with the visual arts teacher in your school to make this a partnership where the painting takes place in the art room and the writing takes place in the general classroom.

    Reflection Questions

    • How can we compare and contrast our plants?
    • What plant parts can we see in our paintings?
    • How can we meet the needs of the plant?
    • How did we create the plant’s environment in our painting?
    • What keeps the plant healthy? What makes it unhealthy?

    Differentiation

    Below Grade Level:

    • Partner students to provide positive peer models for sentence stem completion and brainstorming ideas from problem solving.
    • Utilize dictation options and oral questioning for sentence stems completion.
    • Provide word wall or visual vocabulary bank for use with written responses.

    Above Grade Level: Encourage students to design a brochure about the plants part and its basic needs.

    EL Students:

    • Use sentence starters to assist students in discussing the pictures of the healthy and unhealthy plants. (“This plant is wilting/dying because…” and “This plant is healthy because…”)
    • Add pictures to the Venn diagram next to the similarities and differences.
    • Bring in realia (real plants) in addition to the pictures of healthy and unhealthy plants.
    • Pair ELP 1 students with a peer to assist with the writing activity in part 1.

    Additional Resources

    Appendix

    • Project 3 Rubric
    • Project 3 Writing Sheet
    • Gallery Walk: O’Keeffe Inspired Flower/ Plant Paintings

    Credits

    Sarah Munroe, Shannon Green, Jessica Espinoza, Edited by Dr. Carla Cohen

    Grade 1: The Art of Plants and Animals

    Additional Resources

    Books

    • The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
    • The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
    • From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons

    Websites

    Virtual Field Trips

    Additional Videos

    Tableau

    Back to Units

    Grade 1:
    Changes in the Season

    CHANGES IN THE SEASON!

    Grade 1: Changes in the Season

    Unit Description

    This unit integrates and helps to strengthen the arts, science, math, and language arts through innovative first grade projects. Students will engage in the process of examining changes in weather throughout the year. Students will have the opportunity to experience music and theatre as they role play and discover all of the four seasonal changes. They will be actively engaged in an exploration of seasonal poetry through a variety of artistic processes. The students will also learn about the importance of weather forecasting as they use dance/body movements to interpret daily weather events.

    Unit Essential Question

    What are the differences in the four seasons, and how is a weather forecast created?

    Real World Context

    Learning about the seasons helps students understand the passage of time and teaches them about change. We all experience the four seasons, and it is important for children to be able to recognize the different changes that occur during the seasonal changes. In this unit, students will explore how the ending of one season marks the beginning of a new season and this repeats annually, again and again. Learning about the weather and how we are able to forecast the weather is important for understanding what our outdoor activities may be, the types of clothing we should wear, etc.

    Cross-Cutting Interdisciplinary Concepts

    Cycle

    Projects

    Project 1: Season Role Plays
    This project uses music and theatre to investigate the changes in nature during each season. This arts integrated project includes students using their bodies and props to role play activities you may do in the various seasons. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons music arrangements are incorporated into the dramatizations. This project then connects seasonal changes to literature through analyzing how characters and settings change in a story.

    Project 2: Season Poetry in Performance
    This arts integrated project immerses students in exploring Season Poetry through a variety of different artistic processes. Students engage in writing, rehearsing, and performing Season Haikus and then using this poetry to create a Visual Arts piece. 3-dimensional Season Mobiles are created using their student-created haikus. Additional options to collage and create digital art projects with voice recordings of students’ season poetry are also included.

    Project 3: Wonderful Weather Forecasting
    In this project, students will record two weeks’ worth of weather data as a whole group. Students will use the weather data to create a tally table and then create a bar graph. The students will focus on weather forecasting and how it relates and affects the real world. Students will use body movements to represent their daily weather findings as well as perform these movements together. The students will also record their own weather data for one week, outside of the school setting. They will then use their data to create and record their own weather forecast.

    Standards

    Curriculum Standards

    ELACC1RL3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in story, using key details

    ELACC1RL7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events

    RL.1.4 Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses

    SL1.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and large groups

    S1E1. Students will observe, measure and communicate weather data to see patterns in weather and climate

    1. Identify different types of weather and the characteristics of each type
    2. Correlate weather data (temperature, precipitation, sky conditions, and weather events) to seasonal changes

    S1CS5. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly

    1. Use simple pictographs and bar graphs to communicate data

    Arts Standards

    M1GM.6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music

    1. Distinguish between contrasts (pitch, dynamics, tempo, timbre) in various pieces of music
    2. Describe music using appropriate vocabulary (e.g., high, low, loud, quiet, fast, and slow)

    TAES1.3. Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining roles within a variety of situations and environments

    1. Makes movement choices in assuming roles
    2. Uses body and voice to communicate ideas, emotions, and character actions
    3. Collaborates and cooperates in theatre experiences
    4. Assumes roles in a variety of dramatic forms such as narrated story, pantomime, puppetry and role play

    VA1PR.1. Creates artworks based on personal experience and selected themes

    1. Creates artworks emphasizing one or more elements of art (e.g. color, line, shape, space, form, texture)

    D1CR.1 Demonstrates an understanding of creative and choreographic principles, processes, and structures

    VA1MC.1 Engages in the creative processes to generate and visualize ideas

    1. Recognizes and discusses how visual images can have multiple meanings.

    Character Education

    Components

    In this unit there are ample opportunities to address the concept of service learning, where students have the opportunity to teach a concept to other students. Consider pairing up with a Kindergarten class and having first grade students perform their plays for kindergarteners. This may help with 3-part retelling, which is a strong kindergarten standard in ELA. Also consider pairing up with 4th grade since they learn about how the earth’s rotation and revolution relate to time of day and time of year in this particular grade level. Perhaps collaboration could occur that helps first graders understand why we actually have four seasons and why we have a cycle. Fourth graders could present/perform for first graders and visa versa.

    Attributes

    In this unit there are ample opportunities to address the concept of being a tolerant person. As the seasons change, so do people. Every person may have one particular season that they enjoy the most. While others have specific seasons that they dislike. We cannot control which season it may be, just like we cannot control the way others behave. However, we must learn how to tolerate others who may be different than us. There are many pieces of literature available to assist with teaching this concept:

    • Up the Learning Tree by Marcia Vaughan
    • Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton
    • Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell
    • Odd Velvet by Mary E. Whitcomb

    Summative Assessment Tools

    • Students will use the 3-Part Retell Document (see Downloads) to retell their 3-Part Winter Story. This document could be used as a performance-based task.
    • Students will complete the Season Roleplay Rubric (see Downloads) once they have acted out & performed their 3-Part Winter Story.
    • Students will use the Haiku Template (see Downloads) to create 4 haiku poems for each season. They will then create choreography for their haikus.
    • Students will create a four-season 3D mobile in the correct cycle. They will have the opportunity to paint a season setting or rewrite their season haiku for each section.
    • Students will have the opportunity to record their season haiku’s while reading them aloud for a digital storytelling piece.
    • Students can use a recording device to record their 5-day weather forecast. The class will then view each recorded forecast. (See Downloads for My 5-Day Weather Forecast and the Wonderful Weather Forecasting Recording Sheet.)
    • Instead of the students video recording their 5-day weather forecast, they could present it to the class in person.
    • Students will use the Weather Forecast Rubric (see Downloads) to critique their 5-day weather forecast.

    Partnering with Fine Arts Teachers

    Music Specialist:

    • Additional support in Project 1: Season Role Plays
    • Assist with providing additional information about the music history and style of Vivaldi’sFour Seasons

    Theatre Teacher:

    • Additional support in Project 1: Season Role Plays
    • Assist with teaching proper actor techniques, like strong voice and body movements, to boost students’ confidence for performance
    • Assist with providing “seasonal props” from props storage

    Visual Arts Teacher:

    • Additional support in Project 2: Season Poetry in Performance
    • Assist with painting or collage techniques
    • Assist with finding examples of how visual artists have chosen to represent poetry through paintings or collages.

    Dance Teacher:

    • Additional support in Project 3: Wonderful Weather Forecasting
    • Assist with suggestions of body movements that could represent the weather

    Appendix (See Project Downloads)

    • Pre-Test
    • Suggested Seasonal Props List
    • 3-Part Retell Document
    • Season Roleplay Rubric
    • Haiku Template
    • My 5-Day Weather Forecast
    • Wonderful Weather Forecasting Recording Sheet
    • Weather Forecast Rubric

    Credits

    U.S. Department of Education
    Arts in Education--Model Development and Dissemination Grants Program
    Cherokee County (GA) School District and ArtsNow, Inc.
    Ideas contributed and edited by:
    Robin Hatcher, Jody Staab, Ta-Tanisha Harris, Jessica Espinoza, Richard Benjamin Ph.D., Michele McClelland, Mary Ellen Johnson, Jane Gill

    Season Role Plays

    Science, English Language Arts, Music, and Theater

    Description

    This project uses music and theatre to investigate the changes in nature during each season. This arts integrated project includes students using their bodies and props to role play activities you may do in the various seasons. Vivaldi’sFour Seasons music arrangements are incorporated into the dramatizations. This project then connects seasonal changes to literature through analyzing how characters and settings change in a story.

    PROJECT DOWNLOADS

    Download Project

    Three-Part Retell Document

    Suggested Seasonal Props

    Season Role Play Rubric

    Learning Targets

    “I Can…”

    • Use my body and props to role play each season
    • Explain the changes in the seasons
    • Connect the changes in season to changes in a story’s setting

    Essential Questions

    • What changes in nature occur during each season?
    • What sort of activities do we associate with each season?
    • How do settings change throughout the course of the four seasons cycle?
    • How can we use key details to describe how the setting changes in a story?

    Curriculum Standards

    ELACC1RL3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in story, using key details

    ELACC1RL7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events

    S1E1. Students will observe, measure and communicate weather data to see patterns in weather and climate

    1. Identify different types of weather and the characteristics of each type
    2. Correlate weather data (temperature, precipitation, sky conditions, and weather events) to seasonal changes

    Arts Standards

    M1GM.6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music

    1. Distinguish between contrasts (pitch, dynamics, tempo, timbre) in various pieces of music
    2. Describe music using appropriate vocabulary (e.g., high, low, loud, quiet, fast, and slow)

    TAES1.3. Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining roles within a variety of situations and environments

    1. Makes movement choices in assuming roles
    2. Uses body and voice to communicate ideas, emotions, and character actions
    3. Collaborates and cooperates in theatre experiences
    4. Assumes roles in a variety of dramatic forms such as narrated story, pantomime, puppetry and role play

    Content Vocabulary

    • Seasons (Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall/Autumn)
    • Change
    • Cycle
    • Setting
    • Illustrations
    • Key details
    • Order/sequence

    Arts Vocabulary

    • Tempo (fast, medium, slow)
    • Volume (loud, medium, soft)
    • Instruments (families, such as percussion, brass, woodwinds)
    • Orchestra
    • Scene
    • Role play
    • Vivaldi
    • Characters
    • Props

    Technology Integration

    Formative Assessment

    • Anecdotal Notes during Class Discussion
    • Small-Group Dramatizations
    • Season’s Visual Arts Project

    Summative Assessment

    • 3-Part Retell Document (see Downloads) Season Roleplay Rubric (see Downloads)

    Materials

    Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter); Music player; The Tiny Seed by Eric Carl; 4 baskets of seasonal props (See Downloads for a list of Suggested Seasonal Props.)

    Activating Strategy (5-10 min)

    • Play classical music representing each season in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
    • Four Seasons ~ Vivaldi
    • Ask students to describe what they hear and why that song goes with a particular season.
    • Play a clip of the music for 30 seconds-1 minute. Then pause the music and have a class discussion about what they noticed when listening to the music. Do this four times, once for each season. While students are telling you what they hear or notice, teacher takes notes on chart paper or the board.

    Questions to ask between each song:

    • Discuss tempo (fast/slow), volume (loud/soft).
    • What did you hear in this particular season? Did the tempo get faster or slower? Did the music get louder or softer?
    • What instruments do you hear in this particular season, why?
    • What changed between the Spring song and the Summer song?
    • Why do you think the composer made this artistic choice?

    Main Activity

    Part 1: Read-Aloud Focused on Setting:

    • Keep the class list of words for each season nearby for this next part.
    • Read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carl.
    • As you read, add season words to your existing class list.
    • Ask students to notice closely how the setting changes in each season.
    • Ask students to notice closely how the character changes as the seasons change.

    Part 2: Devising Role Plays with Props: *Before this lesson, organize 4 baskets of “seasonal props.” (See Downloads for a list of Suggested Seasonal Props.)

    • Divide the class into 4 small groups.
    • Assign a season for each group.
    • Give each group a basket of props that correspond with their season.
    • Direct students to use their props and bodies to create a 3-part role play for their assigned season.

    Ex: The winter play may consist of students first making snow angels, then throwing snowballs, and finally sitting by the fireplace drinking cocoa. Students would act out their 3-part Winter Story.

    • Scaffold your directions to first direct students to work only on determining as a group their first season activity they will roleplay, then focus on determining their second part and finally their third part.
    • Refer to the 3-Part Retell Document (see Downloads) for an assessment of this performance-based task.
    • Direct students to do all of their acting using only props, body movements, and no speaking.

    Part 3 Performance:

    • When the groups are ready to share-out their Season plays, ask students to help you come up with a performance order based on the order of the seasons we saw happen in the book we read,The Tiny Seed.
    • During the performance, play the Vivaldi music that corresponds with their season.
    • After the entire 4-season cycle has been performed, announce that you are now going to do something very tricky.
    • Call out a different starting season and see if the students can still perform their plays in the correct order of the cycle.

    Reflection Questions

    Specific reflection questions for class discussion:

    • How were the characters in our season roleplays different based on the season?
    • How does weather change a setting? What sort of weather did we observe in our different season plays?
    • What was the mood in each season? Why do you think that was?
    • How did acting out your role plays help you remember the cycle of seasons?

    Differentiation

    Above Grade-Level:

    • Give above-level small groups differentiated instructions when creating their 3-part role play of their season. Ask them to create dialogue in the form of a script for each part of their role play. So the role play would consist of 3 scenes. All scenes must include a spoken line by every group member. The lines should help us understand how characters respond to their setting in this specific season.

    Below Grade-Level/EL Students:

    • A week prior to the unit, begin letting below-level and EL students get familiar with grade-level specific informational texts on weather. Help build their background knowledge by introducing weather/season vocabulary.

    Activities could include:

    Appendix (See Downloads)

    • Suggested Seasonal Props
    • 3-Part Retell Document
    • Season Role Play Rubric

    Credits

    U.S. Department of Education Arts in Education--Model Development and Dissemination Grants Program Cherokee County (GA) School District and ArtsNow, Inc. Ideas contributed and edited by: Robin Hatcher, Jody Staab, Ta-Tanisha Harris, Jessica Espinoza, Richard Benjamin Ph.D., Michele McClelland, Mary Ellen Johnson, Jane Gill

    Season Poetry in Performance

    Science, English Language Arts, Visual Arts, and Theater

    Description

    This arts integrated project immerses students in exploring Season Poetry through a variety of different artistic processes. Students engage in writing, rehearsing, and performing Season Haikus and then using this poetry to create a Visual Arts piece. 3-dimensional Season Mobiles are created using their student-created haikus. Additional options to collage and create digital art projects with voice recordings of students’ season poetry are also included.

    PROJECT DOWNLOADS

    Download Project

    Haiku Template

    Learning Targets

    “I Can…”

    • Use a haiku to describe each season
    • Create a haiku using my season vocabulary
    • Use a haiku to express seasonal changes
    • Place the four seasons in an order that makes a complete cycle

    Essential Questions

    • How can I use poetry to express the seasons and how they change throughout the cycle?

    Curriculum Standards

    RL.1.4 Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses

    SL1.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and large groups

    S1E1. Students will observe, measure and communicate weather data to see patterns in weather and climate

    1. Identify different types of weather and the characteristics of each type
    2. Correlate weather data (temperature, precipitation, sky conditions, and weather events) to seasonal changes

    Arts Standards

    VA1PR.1. Creates artworks based on personal experience and selected themes

    1. Creates artworks emphasizing one or more elements of art (e.g. color, line, shape, space, form, texture)

    TAES1.3. Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining roles within a variety of situations and environments

    1. Makes movement choices in assuming roles
    2. Uses body and voice to communicate ideas, emotions, and character actions
    3. Collaborates and cooperates in theatre experiences
    4. Assumes roles in a variety of dramatic forms such as narrated story, pantomime, puppetry and role play

    Content Vocabulary

    • Seasons (Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall/Autumn)
    • Cycle
    • Change
    • Poem
    • Poetry
    • Haiku
    • Key details

    Arts Vocabulary

    • Volume
    • Tempo
    • Pitch
    • Expression
    • Rehearse
    • Perform
    • Texture
    • Collage
    • Layer
    • Sound scaping
    • 3-dimensional mobile

    Technology Integration

    • iPads

    Examples of Digital Story-Telling Apps:

    • Adobe Voice
    • Voicethreading.com
    • Scratch

    Formative Assessment

    • Questioning
    • Teacher Observations during Artistic Process

    Summative Assessment

    • Haikus (See Downloads for a Haiku Template.)
    • 3-Dimensional Season Mobile
    • Digital Storytelling Piece

    Materials

    Season Poetry selections (see Additional Resources); Cardboard pizza trays; Scissors; Glue; Tape; Ribbon; Paint; Coloring utensils; Scrapbooking materials; Magazines

    Activating Strategy (5-10 min)

    • As a class, read aloud some preselected Season Poems (see Additional Resources for a suggested book list).
    • Direct students to sound-scape the sounds you may hear in the poems as you read.
    • Model how to perform poetry using an expressive voice: you may find words that you want to say softly/loudly, quickly/slowly, high pitched/low pitched.
    • Read a poem a few times modeling different musical elements you can apply using your voice.

    Classroom Tip:

    • Discuss tempo (fast/slow), volume (loud/soft).
    • When doing the soundscaping, give students visual cues that indicate you want to hear sounds (Ex: Cup hand to hear) and another cue when you want students to silence (Ex: finger on lips).

    Main Activity

    Part 1: Give students directions on how to write a Haiku:

    • A haiku should contain only three lines, totaling 17 syllables throughout. The first line is only 5 syllables. The second line is 7 syllables. The third line is 5 syllables again.
    • Direct students to create a haiku for each season. (See Downloads for a Haiku Template.)
    • Remind students to refer back to the class list of season words we created during Project 1.
    • Perform your haikus either in small groups or as a class.

    Possible Extension:

    • Allow students to then work in small groups to create choreography for their haikus.
    • Review locomotive and non-locomotive movements they could use to develop their choreography.

    Part 2 (OPTION A):

    • Give students a large circular cardboard cut-out (pizza pie size).
    • Poke a hole in the center of the circle.
    • Partition the circle into fourths.
    • Talk about each fourth of the circle representing a season, in the correct order of the cycle.
    • Students either paint a season setting for each fourth OR rewrite their season haiku for each fourth.
    • Give out ribbons, strings, construction paper, glue, and tape.
    • Direct students to use the ribbons and paper to create items associated with the season that could then hang down from each season quadrant.
    • This mobile could then be attached to a coat hanger to hang.
    • Students could see how the cycle moves through the seasons.
    • Exhibit the mobiles in a place where other students can come see.

    Part 2 (OPTION B):

    • Use a digital storytelling app to record students reading aloud their Season Haikus.
    • Direct students to create a photo collage that represents each season.
    • Magazines, children’s book sleeves, dried flowers, and scrapbooking materials can be used.
    • Take a photo of the artwork.
    • Voice thread the student’s voice recording to each illustration.
    • Provide an opportunity for these Season Digital Storytelling Projects to be viewed together as an audience.

    *This project could be done in groups of 4 students (each student can represent a different season) or done independently if time permits.

    Reflection Questions

    • How were the characters in our season roleplays different based on the season?
    • How does weather change a setting? What sort of weather did we observe in our different season plays?
    • What was the mood in each season? Why do you think that was?
    • How did acting out your role plays help you remember the cycle of seasons?

    Differentiation

    Below Grade Level:

    • You could place students in groups of four and direct each student to write a haiku for each of the four different seasons.
    • They could just focus their energy on one season and then work together as a group to determine what order they should perform their poetry, in sequence with the cycle of the seasons.

    Above Grade Level:

    • See the “possible extension” on part one. Students can take poetry and then stage choreography to the words in their haikus. They could rehearse and perform their poetry in motion.
    • Also the above-level group could do more with integrating the digital arts into their study of the seasons. They could work on recording their voices reading their poetry and then add images for each season. This digital storytelling project could be an ideal project for above-level students.

    EL Students:

    • Work with EL students before they write their haikus to remind them of key vocabulary words they may choose to use in their season poetry.
    • Review with them how to clap out the syllables.
    • Together identify the number of syllables in the words they choose to use in their poems so that the writing of the haiku is easier.
    • Also see below grade level instructions for ways to modify the small group project.

    Additional Resources

    Books:

    • Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber
    • Handsprings by Douglas Florian
    • Spring-An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur
    • Weather: Poems for all Seasons by Lee Bennett Hopkins

    Appendix (See Downloads)

    • Haiku Template

    Credits

    U.S. Department of Education Arts in Education--Model Development and Dissemination Grants Program Cherokee County (GA) School District and ArtsNow, Inc. Ideas contributed and edited by: Robin Hatcher, Jody Staab, Ta-Tanisha Harris, Jessica Espinoza, Richard Benjamin Ph.D., Michele McClelland, Mary Ellen Johnson, Jane Gill

    Wonderful Weather Forecasting

    Science, Visual Arts, and Dance

    Description

    In this project, students will record two weeks’ worth of weather data as a whole group. Students will use the weather data to create a tally table and then create a bar graph. The students will focus on weather forecasting and how it relates and affects the real world. Students will use body movements to represent their daily weather findings as well as perform these movements together. The students will also record their own weather data for one week, outside of the school setting. They will then use their data to create and record their own weather forecast.

    PROJECT DOWNLOADS

    Download Project

    My 5-Day Weather Forecast Planning Sheet

    Weather Forecast Rubric

    Wonderful Weather Forecasting Recording Sheet

    Learning Targets

    “I Can…”

    • Understand the importance of the weather
    • Forecast the weather
    • Create & perform body movements to represent daily weather happenings
    • Collect 2 weeks of daily weather data
    • Use a tally table and bar graph to tabulate weather data
    • Collect and record 1 weeks’ worth of daily weather happenings
    • Organize, create, and present/video-record my own weather data forecast

    Essential Questions

    • What are the different types of daily weather happenings and their characteristics?
    • Why is forecasting the weather important to people around the world?
    • Why is recording daily weather events important in order to make a weather forecast?

    Curriculum Standards

    S1E1. Students will observe, measure and communicate weather data to see patterns in weather and climate

    1. Identify different types of weather and the characteristics of each type
    2. Correlate weather data (temperature, precipitation, sky conditions, and weather events) to seasonal changes

    S1CS5. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly

    1. Use simple pictographs and bar graphs to communicate data

    Arts Standards

    D1CR.1 Demonstrates an understanding of creative and choreographic principles, processes, and structures

    VA1MC.1 Engages in the creative processes to generate and visualize ideas

    1. Recognizes and discusses how visual images can have multiple meanings.

    Content Vocabulary

    • Meteorologist
    • Weather report
    • Precipitation
    • Temperature
    • Forecasting
    • Predicting
    • Tally chart
    • Bar graph
    • Data
    • Sunny
    • Cloudy
    • Scattered showers
    • Thunderstorms
    • Snow
    • Ice

    Arts Vocabulary

    • Body movements
    • Representation
    • Unison
    • Facial expression
    • Choreography

    Technology Integration

    Formative Assessment

    • Daily class participation in accumulating weather information as well as the body movements/dances that correspond with each specific type of weather event.

    Summative Assessment

    • Video recorded weather forecast
    • 5-day weather presentation
    • Weather Forecast Rubric (see Downloads)

    Materials

    Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, chart paper, computer, projector, various writing utensils, video camera

    Activating Strategy

    • Teacher will show the class the cover of the book, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett. Teacher will ask the class: What do you think the title and cover of this book has to do with weather? Discuss as a whole group.
    • Read Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. After you reach the part in the book where there is an example of a “real” weather forecast, spend a few minutes having a class discussion on what the students know and or do not know about the topic of weather forecasting.
    • Complete the rest of the book.

    Main Activity

    Part 1:

    • Review the YouTube video clip of a real world example of a weather forecast on the evening news with Jason Brewer, a meteorologist from Florida: Here
    • Show the students the example of the Wonderful Weather Forecasting Recording Sheet (see Downloads), either via the computer & projector or you could recreate this sheet on a large piece of chart paper or butcher paper.
    • Explain to the students that for the next 2 weeks they will be observing the weather, recording the weather on a daily basis, as well as coming up with a body movement/dance (choreography) that goes along with the weather. (Example: A sunny day could be represented by putting your arms above your head in an arch to make a circle, and the students could have a big smile on their faces while their arms are raised in a circle like figure.) As a whole group they will record their observations on the recording sheet.
    • To keep it simple, use the following list for weather observations: sunny, cloudy, scattered showers, thunderstorms, snow, ice.
    • This activity will be done on a daily basis for 2 weeks: recording the weather and using the body movement that corresponds with the weather that day.

    Part 2:

    • On the 10th day of recording the weather as a whole group, the class will create a tally chart tallying the daily weather observations. Then the class will use the tally chart to create a bar graph. Using the collected data, a class discussion can take place on which weather observations happened the most or least. Remember to use the body movements/choreography as you review the 2 weeks’ worth of weather data.
    • Review with the class what weather forecasting is. There are several books in the Additional Resources section, as well as video clips in the Technology Integration section, to assist in this class discussion.
    • Explain to the class that they will be creating their own weather forecast, recording their weather observations for 5 days, and then performing their weather forecast for the class and or video recording the forecasts.
    • Each student will receive a copy of the My 5-Day Weather Forecast Planning Sheet (see Downloads). Review the directions as a whole group.

    Part 3:

    • On the 6th day the students should return to school with their weather forecasting sheets already completed.
    • At this point the teacher can decide how creative they will allow their students to get in regards to sharing their own 5-day weather forecast. It could be as simple as the students reading their forecasts in front of the class to adding more creativity to the project by adding props and recording the forecasts to reflect an actual weather forecast that is done on television.

    Reflection Questions

    • How were the characters in our season roleplays different based on the season?
    • How does weather change a setting? What sort of weather did we observe in our different season plays?
    • What was the mood in each season? Why do you think that was?
    • How did acting out your role plays help you remember the cycle of seasons?

    Differentiation

    Below Grade Level:

    • These students could do their illustrations for their 5-day weather project. They could also write the weather word being illustrated instead of using it in a complete sentence.

    Above Grade Level:

    • This group of students could do research on specific weather events such as: hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, cold fronts, etc. They could in turn share this new information with the class as a whole and or in small groups.

    EL Students:

    • These students would highly benefit from having several different children’s weather books as a resource throughout the project. They could also be partnered with an on grade-level or above grade-level student to assist with the actual presentation of the 5-day weather forecast/report.

    Additional Resources

    • Oh Say Can You Say What’s the Weather Today? By Tish Rabe
    • Weather Forecasting by Gail Gibbons
    • What Will the Weather Be Like Today? By Paul Rogers
    • Freddy the Frogcaster and the Terrible Tornado by Janice Dean

    Appendix (See Downloads)

    • Weather Forecast Rubric
    • My 5-Day Weather Forecast Planning Sheet
    • Wonderful Weather Forecasting Recording Sheet

    Credits

    U.S. Department of Education Arts in Education--Model Development and Dissemination Grants Program Cherokee County (GA) School District and ArtsNow, Inc. Ideas contributed and edited by: Robin Hatcher, Jody Staab, Ta-Tanisha Harris, Jessica Espinoza, Richard Benjamin Ph.D., Michele McClelland, Mary Ellen Johnson, Jane Gill

    Grade 1: Changes in the Season

    Additional Resources

    Books

    • Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber
    • Handsprings by Douglas Florian
    • Spring-An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur
    • Weather: Poems for All Seasons by Lee Bennett Hopkin
    • Oh Say Can You Say What’s the Weather Today? By Tish Rabe
    • Weather Forecasting by Gail Gibbons
    • What Will the Weather Be Like Today? By Paul Rogers
    • Freddy the Frogcaster and the Terrible Tornado by Janice Dean
    • Seasons by Marie Greenwood
    • True or False? Seasons by Daniel Nunn
    • Winter by Ailie Busby
    • Spring by Ailie Busby
    • Summer by Ailie Busby
    • Fall by Ailie Busby
    • Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner
    • Summer Is Summer by Phillis & David Gershator

    Additional Videos

    Tableau

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