Lively Limericks 2-3

LIVELY LIMERICKS

LIVELY LIMERICKS

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will use limericks to explore both language arts and music skills at the same time, focusing on rhythm and rhyme to delve into poetry!

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can speak limerick texts rhythmically.

  • I can create an original limerick text using appropriate form and rhyme scheme. 

  • I can add musical elements to my limerick.

  • I can identify and create rhyme schemes.

Essential Questions

  • How can limericks enhance musical literacy as well as creative writing skills?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2: 

ELAGSE2RL4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

 

ELAGSE2RL10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2-3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

 

ELAGSE2RF4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. 

  1. Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

 

Grade 3: 

ELAGSE3RL4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases both literal and nonliteral language as they are used in the text.

 

ELAGSE3RL10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

 

ELAGSE3RF4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. 

  1. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

Arts Standards

Grade 2:

ESGM2.CR.1 Improvise melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

 

ESGM2.PR.2 Perform a varied repertoire of music on instruments, alone and with others.

 

ESGM2.RE.1 Listen to, analyze, and describe music.

 

ESGM2.CN.1 Connect music to the other fine arts and disciplines outside the arts.

 

Grade 3:

ESGM3.CR.1 Improvise melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

 

ESGM3.PR.2 Perform a varied repertoire of music on instruments, alone and with others.

 

ESGM3.RE.1 Listen to, analyze, and describe music.

 

ESGM3.CN.1 Connect music to the other fine arts and disciplines outside the arts.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

ELA.2.F.4.2 Read texts orally and silently with accuracy, appropriate rate, expression, and intonation. 

 

ELA.2.AOR.5.1 Describe the basic structure of a literary text (e.g., narrative, drama, and poem). 

 

Grade 3: 

ELA.3.F.4.2 Read a variety of texts orally and silently with accuracy, appropriate rate, expression, and intonation. 

 

ELA.3.AOR.8.1 Determine an author’s use of words and phrases in grade-level literary, informational, and multimedia texts: 

  1. distinguish between literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases (e.g., take steps)

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 2: I can improvise music.

 

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

 

Anchor Standard 6: I can analyze music.

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Limerick - A five-line poem with a strict form and humorous content 

 

  • Rhyme - The repetition of similar sounds

  • Rhythm - The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line or verse, creating a flow or beat
  • Rhyme scheme - The pattern of rhymes at the end of lines in a poem

Arts Vocabulary

  • Body Percussion - Sounds produced by striking or scraping parts of the body; typically includes snapping, clapping, patting, and stamping

  • Choral reading - Voices read together, using same rhythm, tempo, and expressive elements (as opposed to individual or small group reading)
  • Form - The structure of a composition; based on repetition, contrast, and variation
  • Found sound - Non-typical sound producers used as instruments (e.g., striking a desk with a pencil)
  • Unpitched percussion - Percussion instrument whose sound is typically produced by shaking, striking, or scraping and does not produce a specific pitch; includes shakers (maracas), drums (bongos, hand drums, congas), woods (claves, rhythm sticks, woodblocks, etc.), and metals (triangle, cowbell, finger cymbals)
  • Ostinato - A repeated pattern
  • Timbre - The quality of sound; component of a sound that causes different instruments to sound different from each other
  • Texture - Thickness or thinness of sound; impacted by the number and relationship of parts

 

Materials

  • Examples of limericks 
  • Various unpitched percussion instruments (can be found sound objects)
  • Pencil and paper

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Display the following limerick and invite individual students to read it. 
  • Explore rhythmic and non-rhythmic options for reading the limerick.

There was an old man of Peru [a] 

Who dreamed he was eating his shoe. [a] 

He awoke in the night in a terrible fright,  [b] 

And found it was perfectly true. [a]

 

Work Session

  • Lead students to understanding of limericks’ salient features: Rhythmic text (words can be read in rhythm), form (four 4-beat phrases = 16 beats), rhyme scheme (a a b a; “b” section also includes an internal rhyme scheme), and nonsensical text. 
  • Explore various ways of keeping the beat while speaking the poem. 
  • Explore various ways of performing the limerick, such as solo versus choral reading, putting the rhythm of the words in body percussion, using different body percussion or voices for rhyming words, using unpitched percussion instruments or found sound to play the poem, etc.
    • Discuss how the texture and timbre changes in each version.
  • Try different variations on the limerick, such as:
    • Transfer speech to unpitched percussion or found sound.
    • Using words from the limerick, challenge students to create speech ostinato (e.g., shoe, shoe, the man ate his shoe).
  • Divide students into groups and challenge students to create original limericks.
    • Students should decide on a means of performing their original compositions incorporating speech, body percussion, and/or unpitched percussion.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Students will perform their limericks for the class. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
  • Audience should identify the rhyming words and rhyme scheme in the performances.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, ability to identify elements of a limerick, ability to read a limerick rhythmically, ability to incorporate body percussion and unpitched instruments into reading performances, and collaboration with group members to create an original limerick.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can speak limerick text together rhythmically. 
  • Students can create original limerick texts using appropriate form and rhyme scheme. 
  • Students can add musical elements to their limericks (e.g., speech ostinato, body percussion ostinato, delineation of rhyming words, etc.).
  • Students can identify and create rhyme schemes.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Students create limericks incorporating other criteria, such as homophones or writing about a given topic, etc.
  • Students can write about compositional and performance experience. 
  • Students can create movement compositions illustrating the same form (for example, A A B A).

Remediation: 

  • Create a collaborative class limerick together rather than having students work in groups to create their own.
  • Create a class list of rhyming words for students to choose from when creating their limericks.
  • Rather than having students write a limerick, have individual groups perform prewritten limericks. Students should identify the rhyming words and rhyme scheme in the text.
  • During the performances, have the audience use body percussion to set the steady beat and have the performing group speak their limerick rhythmically giving them the option to participate with the body percussion the class has set.

 

*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: Maribeth Yoder-White. Updated by: Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: September 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules

Money Time K-2

Description

Using rhythmical experiences in music, the students will explore numbers and their relationships. Every aspect of music can be described mathematically. An understanding of patterns, the ability to develop operations, reveal functions, and being able to move toward higher levels of abstractions, can be strengthened through parallel music study. Dividing beats and meters: patterns; and starting the same patterns at different times to create canons: developing operations will be explored in this lesson.

DOWNLOAD GUIDE
BACK TO GUIDES
SHARE
FACEBOOK

Moving with Mathematics 4-5

MOVING WITH MATHEMATICS

MOVING WITH MATHEMATICS

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will explore the concepts of fractions, percentages, and decimals by creating dances using locomotor and non-locomotor movements.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 4-5
CONTENT FOCUS: DANCE AND MATH
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can choreograph dances that match mathematical and movement criteria.
  • I can correctly solve math problems involving fractions and percentages.
  • I can identify the fraction/percentage and movement type in performances.

Essential Questions

  • How can movement and choreography enhance understanding of fractions, decimals, and percentages?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4: 

4.NR.4: Solve real-life problems involving addition, subtraction, equivalence, and comparison of fractions with denominators of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 100 using part-whole strategies and visual models.

 

4.NR.5: Solve real-life problems involving addition, equivalence, comparison of fractions with denominators of 10 and 100, and comparison of decimal numbers as tenths and hundredths using part-whole strategies and visual models.

 

Grade 5: 

5.NR.3: Describe fractions and perform operations with fractions to solve relevant, mathematical problems using part-whole strategies and visual models.

Arts Standards

Grade 4: 

ESD4.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

 

ESD4.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

 

ESD4.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance

 

ESD4.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

 

Grade 5:

ESD5.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

 

ESD5.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

 

ESD5.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance

 

ESD5.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

4.NSF.2 Compare two given fractions (i.e., denominators 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 25, 100) by creating common denominators or numerators, or by comparing to a benchmark fraction such as 1/2 and represent the comparison using the symbols >, =, or <.

 

Grade 5: 

5.NSF.3 Understand the relationship between fractions and division of whole numbers by interpreting a fraction as the numerator divided by the denominator

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Fraction - A number representing part of a whole
  • Numerator - Represents the number of parts out of the whole that are being considered
  • Denominator - Represents the total parts of something
  • Percentage - A way to express a number as a fraction of 100

Arts Vocabulary

  • Choreographer - A person who creates dances
  • Beat - Basic unit of musical time; can be heard as a regular pulse underlying music
  • Dance composition/choreography - Creating the movements in dances
  • Chassé - A gliding dance step with a pattern of step-together-step
  • Locomotor - A movement that travels through space
  • Non-locomotor - A movement that does not travel through space
  • 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

 

Materials

  • Sound source and music
  • Paper and pencils
  • Written criteria for choreography on cards

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Begin the lesson by engaging students in movement that introduces students to the locomotor and non-locomotor movement.
  • Have students arrange themselves in a circle with enough personal space to move freely without touching a neighbor.
    • Turn on instrumental music with a steady beat.
  • First, have students bring awareness to their bodies by leading them through gentle stretches starting from the head and moving to the toes (e.g., head circles, shoulder shrugs, toe touches, etc.).
  • Introduce non-locomotor movements to students by directing them in the following movements.
    • Bending and Stretching: Bend the knees and stretch up high.
    • Twisting: Twist the torso to the left and right.
    • Swinging: Swing the arms gently from side to side.
    • Swaying: Sway the body from side to side with feet planted.
    • Turning: Spin in place, both directions.
    • Invite students to create their own movement.
  • Introduce non-locomotor movements to students by directing them in the following movements.
    • Walking: Walk around the room with different styles (tiptoeing, heel walking, big steps, small steps).
    • Jumping: Jump in place, then move forward and backward.
    • Chassé: Step-together-step by gliding.
    • Invite students to create their own movement.
  • Combine locomotor and non-locomotor movements.
    • Traveling with Twists: Walk across the room while twisting the torso.
    • Sway and slide: Sway the upper body while sliding sideways across the room.
    • Step and turn: Take three steps forward, then turn in place (repeat, moving in different directions).
    • Invite students to create their own movement.
  • Debrief the difference between locomotor and non-locomotor movements with students. Check for understanding by stating different types of movements and see if students can identify which type of movement it is.

 

Work Session

  • Tell students that in this lesson they will be using locomotor and non-locomotor movements to choreograph a dance that they will perform for the class.
  • Turn on music and help students find the steady beat by walking in place.
    • Now, count the beats into eight beat sections.
    • Have students count the eight beats along with you.
    • Practice adding some locomotor and non-locomotor movements as you complete the eight count.
  • Divide the sections into fractions or percentages (i.e., 50% of eight beats is four beats, 25% of eight beats is two beats, 3/4 of four beats, 1/4 of four beats, etc).
    • Guide students in choreographing a dance in which 50% or ½ uses locomotor movements and ½ uses non-locomotor movements. Help students think about the different patterns they could use to arrange movements.
  • Break students into groups and pass out cards with criteria on them.
    • Students will create a movement sequence or dance using the learned movements from the warm-up (or movements that they create) and the criteria assigned to them.
      • Example 1: Create a four-step dance combination that is 3/4 non-locomotor movement and 1/4 locomotor movement.
      • Example 2: Create a 32 beat dance in which 25% of your dance must be locomotor movement, 50% of your dance must be locomotor, and 25% of your dance must combine locomotor and non-locomotor movements.
      • Students should express their choreography math equation using >, <, or =.

 

Closing Reflection

  • The students will perform their choreography for their classmates. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
  • After each group performs, the audience will identify the fractions, percentages, or decimal equivalents that the group illustrated using locomotor and non-locomotor movements.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ learning by observing students’ ability to identify locomotor and non-locomotor movements in the activator, understanding of fractions and percentages, and collaboration with their groups to choreograph a dance based on fractions that uses locomotor and non-locomotor movements.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can choreograph dances that correctly match mathematical and movement criteria (fractions and locomotor/non-locomotor movements).
  • Students can identify the fraction/percentage and movement type being performed.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Challenge students by incorporating other types of dance elements such as levels.
  • Have students write their own math problem and choreograph a dance based on their problem.

Remediation: 

  • Scaffold the lesson by analyzing a math problem and choreographing a dance together that correctly matches the fractions or percentages to locomotor and non-locomotor movements.
  • Have students all use the same mathematical criteria. Solve the problem together as a class and then have students choreograph their dances.

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

Revised and copyright: June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules

Music and Acoustics 4-5

MUSIC AND ACOUSTICS

MUSIC AND ACOUSTICS

Learning Description

Students will work together creatively to compose a rhythmic piece using cups, demonstrating their ability to identify and understand the relationship between force, size and sound. Throughout the lesson, students will apply musical skills such as improvisation, composition, listening, and playing.

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can identify high, medium, and low sounds and loud, medium, and soft sounds aurally.
  • I can describe the impact of size and force on sound.
  • I can create and perform an 8-beat rhythmic pattern.
  • I can identify the pitch and dynamics of peers’ compositions verbally and through notation.

Essential Questions

  • How can music listening and composing support learning in other curricular areas?
  • What is the relationship between size and sound and force and sound?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

S4P2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how sound is produced and changed and how sound and/or light can be used to communicate.

 

  1. Plan and carry out an investigation utilizing everyday objects to produce sound and predict the effects of changing the strength or speed of vibrations.

Arts Standards

Grade 4:

ESGM4.CR.1 Improvise melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

 

ESGM4.CR.2 Compose and arrange music within specified guidelines.

 

ESGM4.PR.2 Perform a varied repertoire of music on instruments, alone and with others.

 

ESGM4.RE.1 Listen to, analyze, and describe music.

 

ESGM4.CN.1 Connect music to the other fine arts and disciplines outside the arts.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4: 

4-PS4-3. Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transmit information.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can arrange and compose music.

Anchor Standard 2: I can improvise music.

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

Anchor Standard 6: I can analyze music.

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Sound wave - A vibration that travels through a medium (such as air, water, or solid materials) as a result of oscillating particles
  • Pattern - A repeated arrangement of elements or events, often following a specific order or sequence
  • Transmit - To send or pass something

Arts Vocabulary

  • Acoustics - The branch of physics that deals with sound and sound waves
  • Body percussion - Sounds produced by striking or scraping parts of the body; typically includes snapping, clapping, patting, and stamping
  • Dynamics - Volume of sound (loudness, quietness)
  • Texture - The thickness or thinness of sound
  • Pitch - The highness or lowness of sound

 

Materials

  • Audio recording of drum composition (examples can be found on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, etc.)
  • Sound source (computer and speakers)
  • Drums of three different sizes (improvise with other objects, such as buckets or pots, that can be used in place of a drum if you do not have drums available)
  • Plastic cups of three different sizes
  • 8-beat visual (numbers 1-8 spaced evenly)
  • Pencils
  • “Pitch detective” charts for each student
  • “Pitch detective” visual on board

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips: Arrange student groups throughout the room so that they can move far enough apart during the creating process to enable careful listening and minimize distraction from other groups. Perform compositions out of sight of “audience,” so students rely on listening rather than sight to identify sounds heard. 

 

  • Play a recording of drums as students enter the room.
  • Have students listen and then discuss with a partner what they heard.
  • Introduce musical terms (e.g., instrument names, dynamics, pitch, texture, etc.) as students make observations.

 

Work Session

  • Take out three different sized drums (or buckets turned over). Demonstrate different pitches (high, medium, low) of various size drums (using the same relative force when you hit each drum).
  • Ask students if they can determine the relationship between sound and drum size.
  • Now change the force used on one drum–soft, medium, and hard. Ask students to determine the relationship between force and sound.
  • Now, transfer these acoustical principles to various size plastic cups.
  • Play a listening game with students. Out of students’ sight, perform 4- or 8-beat rhythmic patterns (or beats) on different drums and/or cups.
  • Challenge students to identify what was heard (e.g., three sounds on a small drum and one sound on a medium drum).
  • Have students echo the pattern, using body percussion (e.g., clap for high drum, pat for medium drum, stamp for large drum).
  • Perform an 8-beat rhythmic pattern using low, medium, and/or high sounds, and have students identify what they heard (high, medium, and low).
    • Keep the patterns simple by using quarter notes (one sound for each beat) and eighth notes (two sounds on each beat only).
    • Using an 8-beat visual (see below) may be helpful to guide student responses.

1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8

  • Vary the performance by changing the dynamics (loud, medium and soft). Have students identify the dynamics and how changing the dynamics changed the composition.
  • Divide students into groups of four to six students, with each student having a cup. Have students create an 8-beat pattern using cups.
    • Remind them to include everyone in the composing and performing process.
    • Have students try changing the dynamics of their performances as they rehearse.
  • Distribute pencils and “pitch detective” charts. While each group performs (out of the sight of their classmates), the other students will be “pitch detectives” and notate what they hear on their charts.
    • For example, using a blank 8x3 table (such as appears below), students could write an “X” in the appropriate boxes based on what they hear. The boxes below would demonstrate four high sounds, two medium sounds, and two low sounds.
  • Have groups perform again; this time students will use a key to indicate the dynamics of the sound–loud, medium or soft. For example, students could circle the X’s for loud, draw a triangle around the X’s for medium, and underline the X’s for soft.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Compare and contrast student compositions, discussing the differences in pitches, dynamics and rhythms.
  • Finally, have students complete a written reflection on the relationships between force and sound and size and sound.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator; ability to use musical vocabulary to describe music; ability to identify high, medium, and low sounds and loud, medium, and soft sounds; and collaboration with group members to create an 8-beat pattern using cups.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can identify high, medium, and low sounds and loud, medium, and soft sounds aurally.
  • Students can describe the impact of size and force on sound.
  • Students can create and perform an 8-beat rhythmic pattern.
  • Students can identify pitch and dynamics of peers’ compositions verbally and through notation.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Provide students with a variety of materials (including but not limited to cardboard boxes, plastic hangers, foil, rubber bands in different sizes, etc). Ask students to build (or design) new instruments that play different pitches. Allow students to research and explore how instruments are made. Having different students research different instruments will allow for discussion on how they make different sounds.
  • Combine two student compositions into a 16-beat phrase.
  • Combine two student compositions simultaneously, producing a thicker texture.
  • Alter dynamics and/or tempo of student compositions.
  • Have students write compositions for others to perform using various notational systems.
    • Write 1-2 Xs in each cell of a 3x8 table.
    • Use other symbols (triangle, square, circle) to represent high, medium, and low sounds.
  • Have students write sequential steps for generating new compositions.

Remediation:

  • When performing rhythmic patterns, have students perform a four beat pattern.
  • Group students into pairs as they complete their “pitch detective” charts.
  • Make the “pitch detective” charts 4x3.

ESOL Modifications and Adaptations:

  • Ensure that students have a clear understanding of the concepts of steady beat and pitch, along with the music vocabulary words texture, dynamics, acoustics, and body percussion prior to teaching this lesson.

 

*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: Maribeth Yoder-White. Modifications, Extensions, and Adaptations Contributed by: Candy Bennett, Patty Bickell, Vilma Thomas, and Lori Young. Updated by: Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: September 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules

Music Inspires Writing 4-5

MUSIC INSPIRES WRITING

MUSIC INSPIRES WRITING

Learning Description

Using music as inspiration for creating original poetry and music, students will develop skills and understandings in language arts and music. Creative thinking, vocabulary development, and structural understanding are necessary to create poetry and music in a prescribed form. Musical skills addressed include improvising, composing, listening, and speaking.

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can write diamante using appropriate form and parts of speech.
  • I can create and perform effective musical rendering of my diamante.

Essential Questions

  • How can music inspire written and musical composition?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4: 

ELAGSE4W4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade specific expectations for writing types are defined in Standards 1–3 above.)

 

ELAGSE4L1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

 

Grade 5: 

ELAGSE5W4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Gradespecific expectations for writing types are defined in Standards 1–3 above.)

 

ELAGSE5L1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Arts Standards

Grade 4:

ESGM4.CR.2 Compose and arrange music within specified guidelines.

 

ESGM4.PR.2 Perform a varied repertoire of music on instruments, alone and with others.

 

ESGM4.RE.1 Listen to, analyze, and describe music.

 

ESGM4.CN.1 Connect music to the other fine arts and disciplines outside the arts.

 

Grade 5:

ESGM5.CR.2 Compose and arrange music within specified guidelines.

 

ESGM5.PR.2 Perform a varied repertoire of music on instruments, alone and with others.

 

ESGM5.RE.1 Listen to, analyze, and describe music.

 

ESGM5.CN.1 Connect music to the other fine arts and disciplines outside the arts.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4: 

ELA.4.OE.1 Read and write for a variety of purposes, including academic and personal, for extended periods of time.

 

ELA.4.OE.4 Collaborate with others and use active listening skills.

 

ELA.4.C.4.1 Write grammatically correct single and multi-paragraph compositions using a variety of sentence types and phrasing.

 

Grade 5: 

ELA.5.OE.1 Read and write for a variety of purposes, including academic and personal, for extended periods of time.

 

ELA.5.OE.4 Collaborate with others and use active listening skills.

 

ELA.5.C.4.1 Write grammatically correct single and multi-paragraph compositions using a variety of sentence types and phrasing.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can arrange and compose music.

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

Anchor Standard 6: I can analyze music.

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Adjective - Describes a noun
  • Noun - Person, place, or thing
  • Verb - Action word
  • Gerund - Verb ending in –ing that acts as a noun
  • Diamante - Poem that looks like a diamond (derived from Italian word for diamond)

Arts Vocabulary

  • Body percussion - Sounds produced by striking or scraping parts of the body; typically includes snapping, clapping, patting, and stamping
  • Found sound - Sounds produced by non-traditional sound sources in the environment (e.g., scraping a ruler along a binder spine, tapping a pencil on a desk)
  • Timbre - Quality of sounds that causes different instruments and/or voices to sound different from each other
  • Rhythm - The pattern of sounds and silences over time, often created by the arrangement of beats, accents, and note durations
  • Melody - A sequence of musical notes that are perceived as a single, coherent entity; it is the part of the music that is most memorable and recognizable, often considered the "tune" of a piece
  • Form - The overall structure or organization of a piece
  • Timbre - The characteristic quality of a musical sound that distinguishes it from other sounds; the different sounds that different instruments make
  • Tempo - The speed at which a piece of music is played
  • Dynamics - The loudness or softness of sound
  • Program music - Compositions with extra-musical content intending to evoke a literary or pictorial association; particularly popular in the 19th century
  • Absolute music - Compositions with no intended literary, dramatic, or pictorial association

 

Materials

  • Paper and pencils
  • Tape
  • Sound source (computer and speakers)
  • Audio recording (e.g., Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”)
  • Whiteboard/flipchart and markers
  • Colored index cards/strips of paper (three different colors)
  • Visual of diamante form
  • Visual of diamante poem (“Seasons Change”)
  • Hand drum (or other sound source to make a drum beat)

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips: Arrange student groups in the room so that they can move far enough apart during the creating process to enable careful listening and minimize distraction from other groups.

 

  • Review definitions of nouns, verbs, adjectives and gerunds.
    • Use a hand drum (or other sound source) to set a steady beat. Speaking rhythmically to the beat of the drum, ask students what each part of speech is and have them answer, speaking to the beat of the drum.
  • Ask students what kind of instrument you are using. Ask them if a drum is a noun, adjective or verb.
  • Have students describe the sound and/or visual appearance of the hand drum; classify these words as adjectives.
  • Have students describe how one might play the drum (strike, hit, thump); classify these words as verbs.
  • Next, transform the verbs to gerunds (striking, hitting, thumping).
  • Challenge students to think of an instrument that produces a much different sound from a hand drum (such as a cowbell) and repeat the process of identifying the noun, adjectives, verbs, and gerunds associated with that instrument. Students can do this independently or with a partner.

 

Work Session

  • Review a few of the musical elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, form, timbre, tempo, dynamics as needed to guide listening to a selected piece of music (recommended - Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”).
  • Distribute paper and pencils to students. Play the selected piece of music and have students generate nouns, verbs, adjectives and gerunds associated with what they have heard.
  • Distribute three colored index cards to students and have them write their name on the bottom of each card.
  • Challenge students to transfer three selected words to the appropriate card, using one color card for nouns, a different color card for adjectives, and a different color for gerunds. Students can work with a partner if needed.
  • Post student responses on a wall in columns and discuss different responses.
  • Challenge students to use musical terminology when discussing why they chose certain words to describe what they heard.
  • Display a sample diamante poem and challenge students to discover the form.

 

  • Lead students to understanding that (1) the poem is shaped like a diamond (hence the name diamante); (2) diamante poems can be about one topic or about opposites; (3) the number of words and parts of speech vary by line to create the diamond shape; (4) line four transitions from the first part of the poem to the second; and (5) all words relate to the first and last lines of the poem.
  • Group students into small groups of three to four students.
  • Play selected audio recording, having students write words associated with what they hear. Challenge students to work together to use these words to create their own diamante about the music.
  • Have students experiment with various ways of performing student-created diamantes musically (individually or in small groups).
    • Create soundscape by using body percussion, found sound, unpitched percussion, etc. to accompany reading of diamante.
    • Transfer the text of the diamante to body percussion.
    • Transfer the text of the diamante to unpitched percussion instruments.
    • Use different combinations of voices and/or instruments to perform the diamante (e.g., line 1 = solo; line 2 = duet; line 3 = trio; line 4 = quartet; line 5 = trio; line 6 = duet; line 7 = solo).
    • Alter the tempo (fast/slow) and dynamics (loud/soft/crescendo/decrescendo) while reading the diamante.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Perform student-created diamantes with musical renderings. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
  • Discuss each performance discussing the parts of speech and the elements of music present.
  • Compare and contrast the diamantes and musical components. Discuss how all students listened to the same musical piece but the diamantes and musical accompaniments were different.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator; ability to identify and generate nouns, verbs, adjectives and gerunds; ability to analyze music in terms of rhythm, melody, harmony, form, timbre, tempo, and/or dynamics as discussed in class; and collaboration with group to create a diamante with musical accompaniment.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can write diamante using appropriate form and parts of speech.
  • Students can create and perform effective musical rendering of their diamante.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Have students experiment with other forms of poetry (e.g., acrostic poems, shape poems, cinquain poems).
  • Write diamantes about other topics (e.g., shapes for visual art and math; habitats for science).
  • If using program music, share the composer’s intent and title. Then have students write a different diamante using the composer’s intent as inspiration.
  • Compare and contrast student writing and musical renderings.

Remediation: 

  • Allow students to work with a partner when analyzing music and diamante.
  • Scaffold the lesson by leading the class to create a collaborative diamante and perform it with body percussion. Then, have students work in groups to create their own.

*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: Maribeth Yoder-White.

Revised and copyright: September 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules