EXPLORING THEMES THROUGH PRINTMAKING K-1

EXPLORING THEMES THROUGH PRINTMAKING

EXPLORING THEMES THROUGH PRINTMAKING

Learning Description

Students will explore themes in fables and fairytales by identifying key details that support a central message. They will then create a symbol that represents this theme and use printmaking techniques to produce a visual representation of their understanding.

 

Learning Targets

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

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"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can identify the central message of a fable, folktale, or fairytale and explain how key details support it.
  • I can design a symbol that represents the central message of a story.
  • I can create a printing plate using a styrofoam sheet and use it to make a print.

Essential Questions

  • What is a central message and how can we determine it in a story?
  • How do key details in a story help us understand its central message?
  • How can we use symbols to represent ideas visually?
  • What is printmaking, and how can it be used to express meaning?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

K.T.T.1.c With adult support, demonstrate an understanding of the central message, lesson, or moral of the story based on the words and actions of the main characters.

 

Grade 1:

1.T.T.1.c Describe traits of the main characters and explain how their words and actions support the central message, lesson, or moral of the story.

Arts Standards

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

VA.CR.3 Understand and apply media, techniques, processes, and concepts of two-dimensional art.

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

ELA.AOR.2: Evaluate and critique the development of themes and central ideas within and across texts.

Kindergarten:

ELA.K.AOR.1.1 Identify and describe the main character(s), setting, and events that move the plot forward.

 

Grade 1:

ELA.1.AOR.1.1 Identify and describe the main story elements, such as character(s), setting, and events that move the plot forward.

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 7: I can relate visual arts ideas to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Central message/idea – The main idea or lesson in a story
  • Key detail – An important piece of information in a story that helps explain the main idea or theme

Arts Vocabulary

  • Symbol – A visual representation of an idea or theme
  • Printmaking – The art or technique of making prints, especially as practiced in engraving, etching, dry point, woodcut or serigraphy
  • Styrofoam printing plate – A carved surface used to make repeated prints
  • Brayer – A tool used to roll ink evenly onto the printing plate
  • Composition – How an artist arranges the Elements of Art (line, shape, form, value, color, space, texture) to create an artwork

 

Materials

  • Selected fairytale or fable
  • Pencils
  • Copy paper
  • Styrofoam sheets
  • Dull pencils or ball point pens
  • Water based printing ink
  • Brayers
  • Newsprint or packing paper
  • Paper for printing
  • Colored pencils or art sticks
  • Drying rack or space to lay prints

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Engage (Read & Discuss)

  • Read a selected fable or fairytale (e.g., "The Tortoise and the Hare", "The Three Little Pigs", or "The Lion and the Mouse").
  • Discuss the story’s central message and identify key details that support it.
  • Look closely at the illustrations.
    • Ask: How do they support the central message of the story?
  • Discuss what a symbol is, and ask students for examples of symbols in everyday life.
  • Brainstorm symbols that could represent the central message.
    • Here are some examples:
      • Hard work pays off (e.g., “The Little Red Hen” – Symbol: Grain of wheat or a loaf of bread).
      • Kindness is rewarded (e.g., “Cinderella” – Symbol: A heart or a helping hand).
      • Patience and perseverance (e.g., “The Tortoise and the Hare” – Symbol: A slow-moving turtle or a clock).
      • Bravery and courage (e.g., “Little Red Riding Hood” – Symbol: A shield or a roaring lion).
      • Sharing and generosity (e.g., “Stone Soup” – Symbol: A steaming pot of soup”).

Work Session

Explore (Sketch & Plan):

  • Discuss how symbols can convey meaning visually.
  • As a class, brainstorm examples of simple symbols that represent the central message for students to choose from.
  • Have students choose one for their artwork.

 

Create (Printmaking Process):

  • Introduce and demonstrate the printmaking process:
    • Carving the styrofoam plate:
      • Draw lightly with a pencil before pressing into the styrofoam to avoid mistakes.
      • Use a dull pencil or ballpoint pen to carve designs—press firmly but avoid puncturing all the way through the styrofoam.
      • Keep lines simple and bold for clear prints; intricate details may not transfer well.
      • Vary line thickness for added depth—thicker lines hold more ink, while thinner lines create subtle details.
    • Inking the plate:
      • Roll out a thin, even layer of ink on a tray before applying to the printing plate with a brayer.
      • Then, using the brayer, roll a thin, even layer of ink over the styrofoam plate. Too much ink can make details disappear!
      • Students should take turns rolling ink on the plate while their partner watches for even coverage.
    • Printing process:
      • Carefully place the inked plate face down on paper—one student can hold it while the other presses.
      • Use hands or a clean brayer to press firmly and evenly over the entire plate.
      • Lift the plate slowly to reveal the print!

Students may need to repeat this process, experimenting with different amounts of ink and application of pressure when transferring the print.

  • Cleanup and reflection:
    • Lay prints flat to dry before handling.
    • Have students compare their prints and discuss what worked well.
    • If needed, allow students to re-ink and try again.
    • Once prints are dry, add color and details with art stix, crayons, or colored pencils.

 

Classroom Tips:

  • Students can work in pairs to create prints.
  • Encourage students to work carefully.
  • Make sure there is a piece of newsprint under each printmaking station.
  • This process works great as a center. Set up a station and allow student pairs to rotate through to create their prints.

 

Extension:

  • Use Book Creator to record short videos discussing the central message of their assigned fairy tale or fable.
  • Students can also create digital storyboards with apps like Storyboard That to map out key details leading to the central message.

 

Closing Reflection

Reflect (Gallery walk and discussion):

  • Display student prints and discuss how each symbol represents a central message.
  • Have students write or orally explain a reflection explaining their design choices and how their symbol connects to the story’s central message.
  • Provide sentence stems for central message explanation ("The central message of this story is ___. I know this because ___ and ___.") as needed.

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Teacher observation during discussions and sketching planning

Summative

  • Final print and reflection explaining their artistic and thematic choices

 

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Encourage advanced students to incorporate multiple symbols in their design to represent multiple central messages.
  • Read different versions of the same fairytale, compare the central messages, and create symbols to represent the central message of each version.

 

Remedial:

  • Pair students for peer support during sketching and carving phases.
  • Offer pre-drawn templates.
  • Assist students with the carving and/or printing process.

 

Additional Resources

 

Credits

Ideas contributed by: Shannon Green

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

Revised and copyright:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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YOUR VIEW MATTERS–POINT OF VIEW K-1

YOUR VIEW MATTERS–POINT OF VIEW

YOUR VIEW MATTERS–POINT OF VIEW

Learning Description

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

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

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

Essential Questions

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

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

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

 

Grade 1:

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

Arts Standards

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

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

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

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

Kindergarten:

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

 

Grade 1:

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

Arts Standards

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

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

Arts Vocabulary

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

 

Materials

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

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

EMOTION FACES & WALKS

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

 

STEP IN MY SHOES RELAY

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

Work Session

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

 

WHOSE STORY IS IT?

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

 

POINT OF VIEW BOOK

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

 

Closing Reflection

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

 

Assessments

Formative

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

Summative

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

 

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

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

 

Remedial:

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

 

Additional Resources

 

Credits

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

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

Revised and copyright:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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THE BLUES (OR NOT-SO-BLUE BLUES) K-1

THE BLUES (OR NOT-SO-BLUE BLUES)

THE BLUES (OR NOT-SO-BLUE BLUES)

Learning Description

Using a twelve-bar blues form, students will create music expressing the blues (or “not the blue blues”) about selected subject content.

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can write lyrics about assigned content using a prescribed form.
  • I can play blues harmony.
  • I can combine music and language to express feelings and ideas.

Essential Questions

  • How can music express feelings and ideas?
  • How can music and language be combined to express feelings and ideas?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Non-ELA Standards will vary depending on selected content for blues compositions; thus, standards below are offered as ideas only and are not exclusive.

Kindergarten:

SKP1 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to describe objects in terms of the materials they are made of and their physical attributes.

 

Grade 1:

S5E1.a Construct an argument supported by scientific evidence to identify surface features (examples could include deltas, sand dunes, mountains, volcanoes) as being caused by constructive and/or destructive processes (examples could include deposition, weathering, erosion, and impact of organisms).

Arts Standards

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

ESGM.PR.2 Perform a varied repertoire of music on instruments, alone and with others.

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

ESGM.RE.2 Evaluate music and music performances.

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

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Non-ELA Standards will vary depending on selected content for blues compositions; thus, standards below are offered as ideas only and are not exclusive.

Kindergarten:

K-ESS3-3. Obtain and communicate information to define problems related to human impact on the local environment.

 

Grade 1:

1-LS1-1. Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can arrange and compose music.

Anchor Standard 4: I can play instruments alone and with others.

Anchor Standard 9: I can relate music to other arts disciplines, other subjects, and career paths.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

Non-ELA vocabulary will vary depending on selected content for blues compositions.

Arts Vocabulary

  • Beat - The pulse underlying music
  • Blues music - A genre that evolved from folk music of African Americans in the American South (work songs, field hollers, and spirituals) during the late 1800s
  • Body percussion - Using the body as an instrument; includes patting, clapping, stamping, and snapping
  • Chord - A combination of three or more pitches played at the same time
  • Chord progression - A sequence of chords
  • Form - The organization of a piece (how the music is put together)
  • Harmony - Two or more pitches sounding simultaneously
  • Key - The group of pitches (scale) around which a piece of music revolves
  • Measure - The space between two bar lines
  • Phrase - Musical sentence

 

Materials

  • Boomwhackers (or other pitched instruments)
  • Writing materials (e.g., pencil and paper)
  • Recording of blues music (see suggestions below)
  • Sound production resources (e.g., speaker and phone)

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Using found sound or body percussion, perform a rhythm (or steady beat) for eight beats. Have students echo. Label this rhythm A.
  • Using a different found sound or body percussion, perform a different rhythm for eight beats. Have students echo. Compare and contrast with A. Label this rhythm B.
  • Tell students they will be creating musical compositions using same and different patterns (A and B).

Work Session

  • Play a blues recording and ask students about the mood of the music. Lead them to understand that blues music is often about hardship. Suggested blues pieces are “The Thrill is Gone” (BB King), “One Shoe Blues” (BB King), and “Sweet Home Chicago” (Eric Clapton).
  • While many different blues forms exist, this lesson will focus on the twelve-bar blues.
  • The twelve-bar blues includes three phrases (lines), each with four measures and chords, thereby yielding twelve bars (measures). Twelve-bar blues uses three chords (I, IV, and V) in the following sequence:

I    I   I   I

IV IV I   I

V  IV I   I

  • Display visual of twelve-bar blues (this is one example of twelve-bar blues; other versions also exist). The numbers on the top indicate beats; the roman numerals on the bottom indicate chords.

 

beats   1-2-3-4     1-2-3-4     1-2-3-4    1-2-3-4

chord    I               I                I               I

beats   1-2-3-4     1-2-3-4     1-2-3-4    1-2-3-4

chord   IV              IV             I               I

beats   1-2-3-4     1-2-3-4     1-2-3-4    1-2-3-4

chord   V               IV             I               I

 

  • Have students keep the steady beat using different body percussion for each chord.
    • For example, students pat the steady beat for the I chord, clap for the IV chord, and snap for the V chord.
  • Play the recording and have students perform body percussion to show the chord progression.
  • Display visual showing pitches in the I, IV, and V chords.

 

G       C        D

E        A        B

C        F        G

 

I         IV        V

 

  • Give each student a boomwhacker and practice playing the bottom pitch of each chord. Then, play the twelve-bar blues, playing four beats for each chord.
    • For example, students playing C will play 16 beats in the first phrase (bar) since there are four I chords in the first phrase. (If playing boomwhackers and changing chords is too challenging for students, the teacher can play the chord roots on boomwhackers while students say the names of the chords or the chord roots using a steady beat.)
  • Have students listen to the recording to determine the form of the lyrics. (This may take repeated listening.) Lead students to understand the form as A A B (A = first four bars, A is repeated, B = last four bars).
  • Listen to the recording to determine the specific content of the lyrics in A and B phrases (bars). Lead students to understand that A presents a problem, followed by A that repeats the problem (sometimes with a slight variation), and B offers a comment on or twist to what has been presented. All bars end with rhyming words.
  • As a class, have students write lyrics for their twelve-bar blues. (If students choose, they may write a “not-so-blue blues”, a celebration rather than a commiseration!)
    • Since each phrase (bar) is 16 beats long, the lyrics should present the problem (A) and reflection (B) succinctly and include rhyming words at the end of each bar!
  • Lyrics content can be aligned with subject matter content. For example, students could write blues (or not-so-blue blues) about how constructive and destructive forces create deltas, sand dunes, mountains, and volcanoes.
  • Have students perform their blues (or not-so-blues) compositions (speaking or singing) together.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Question students about lesson content, including music and content area vocabulary and understanding.

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Through observing and questioning, assess students’ understanding of the twelve-bar blues harmony and lyrics.
  • Through observing, assess students’ ability to play a steady beat using body percussion and boomwhackers.
  • Through observing, assess students’ understanding of academic content while writing lyrics.

Summative

  • Students write and share lyrics reflecting assigned content in prescribed form.
  • Students play the twelve-bar blues.

 

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Students explore a different blues form.
  • Students write additional blues lyrics using the same form.
  • Students play all pitches in each chord.

 

Remedial:

  • For a student having difficulty playing a steady beat, another student with beat proficiency could gently tap the steady beat on the student’s shoulder.
  • For a student having difficulty playing the boomwhacker at the right time, track the chords on a visual, point to the student (or have another student point to the student) to cue playing the boomwhacker, or pair the student with another student playing the same boomwhacker pitch.

 

Additional Resources

Websites for information on blues:

 

Credits

Ideas contributed by: Dr. Maribeth Yoder-White

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

Revised and copyright:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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SING ME A STORY K-1

SING ME A STORY

SING ME A STORY

Learning Description

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

 

Learning Targets

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

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"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

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

Essential Questions

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

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

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

 

Grade 1:

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

Arts Standards

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

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

ESGM.RE.2 Evaluate music and music performances.

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

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

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

 

Grade 1:

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

Arts Standards

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

Anchor Standard 6: I can analyze music.

Anchor Standard 7: I can evaluate music.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

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

Arts Vocabulary

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

 

Materials

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

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

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

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

Work Session

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

 

Closing Reflection

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

 

Assessments

Formative

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

Summative

  • Responses to reflective and discussion questions

 

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

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

 

Remedial:

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

 

Additional Resources

 

Credits

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

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

Revised and copyright:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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MOVING WORDS: INTEGRATING DANCE AND WRITING FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION K-1

INTEGRATING DANCE AND WRITING FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION

MOVING WORDS: INTEGRATING DANCE AND WRITING FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION

Learning Description

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

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

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

Essential Questions

  • How can identifying the main idea and supporting details in choreography enhance our understanding and interpretation of a dance performance?
  • How can I use the elements of dance to tell a story?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

K.T.T.1.c With adult support, demonstrate an understanding of the central message, lesson, or moral of the story based on the words and actions of the main characters.

K.T.T.1.e Use a combination of drawing, labeling, writing, and dictating* to create a text with narrative techniques (e.g., characters, setting, events) told in the order in which they occurred.

 

Grade 1:

1.T.T.1.b Identify a simple plot with a problem and solution.

1.T.T.1.e Use knowledge of narrative techniques (e.g., characters, settings, events) to create texts that share real or imagined experiences and events with a sense of closure.

Arts Standards

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

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

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

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

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

ELA.K.OE.2 Acquire, refine, and share knowledge through a variety of multimedia literacies to include written, oral, visual, digital, and interactive texts.

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

 

Grade 1:

ELA.1.OE.3 Make inferences to support comprehension.

ELA.1.AOR.2 Evaluate and critique the development of themes and central ideas within and across texts.

Arts Standards

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

Anchor Standard 2: I can choreograph a dance.

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

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

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

Arts Vocabulary

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

 

Materials

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

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Discuss the similarities between a choreographer and an author, such as how both are creators and storytellers.
  • Watch a selected piece of choreography.
  • Have students identify the story elements in the choreography–who are the characters? What is the setting? What was the beginning, middle, and end?
  • Ask students what they think the dance was about. Ask them what about the dance makes them say that.

Work Session

  • As a whole group, discuss how choreographers plan choreography just how writers brainstorm for their writing/essay.
  • Practice a brainstorm for choreography together exploring different types of movements, levels, and energy qualities (see Arts Vocabulary). Focus on one or two, such as locomotor/nonlocomotor and levels.
  • As a class, select a topic for their choreography (this could be inspired by a story that the class has read).
    • Discuss what the topic is (such as the main idea of the story) and the details of the topics (such as the characters, beginning, middle, end, etc.).
  • As a class, develop choreography to express the topic using the one or two elements of dance selected. For example, if using a story, choose a movement for the beginning, middle, and end.
  • Perform the choreography together as a class.
  • Have students illustrate the story of their choreography including the main idea and beginning, middle, and end displayed in the dance.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Students will answer: How did these movements help you understand the main idea/story?
  • Provide time for students to share their illustrations.

 

Assessments

Formative

  • While planning the choreography, ask the students the following questions:
    • What is the main idea?
    • What supporting details/beginning, middle, end are in the choreography?
    • Observe students’ movements for understanding of dance vocabulary.

Summative

  • Student illustrations of the dance
  • Student choreography

 

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Divide the class into three groups; each group of students will perform (first grade choreograph) the beginning, middle, or end.

 

Remedial:

  • Focus only on one element of dance, such as levels, in the choreography.
  • Instead of watching a piece of choreography for the activating strategy, read a story that the dance will be about.
  • Choreograph a dance for vocabulary words instead of for the plot of a story.

 

Credits

Ideas contributed by: Melissa Dittmar-Joy. Updated by: Katy Betts

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

Revised and copyright:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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