ALEX Learning Activity

  

Retell a Familiar Story Using Elements of Music

A Learning Activity is a strategy a teacher chooses to actively engage students in learning a concept or skill using a digital tool/resource.

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  This learning activity provided by:  
Author: Casaundra Taylor
System:Huntsville City
School:Academy For Academics & Arts
  General Activity Information  
Activity ID: 2016
Title:
Retell a Familiar Story Using Elements of Music
Digital Tool/Resource:
 
Web Address – URL:
Not Applicable
Overview:

Students will use elements of music such as tempo, dynamics, and vocal exploration to retell a familiar story, including key details. The students will use music to show expression of the characters in the story. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.
  Associated Standards and Objectives  
Content Standard(s):
Arts Education
ARTS (2017)
Grade: K
Music: General
9) Demonstrate awareness of expressive qualities that support the creators' expressive intent.

Example: Interpret a story through vocal exploration, dynamics, and tempo.

Unpacked Content
Artistic Process: Performing
Anchor Standards:
Anchor Standard 4: Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.
Process Components: Interpret
Essential Questions:
EU: Performers make interpretive decisions based on their understanding of context and expressive intent
EQ: How do performers interpret musical works?
Concepts & Vocabulary:
Rhythm
  • Steady beat
  • Long/ Short
  • One and two sounds per beat
  • Silent beat
Melody
  • High and low
  • Pitch set: So, Mi
  • Musical alphabet
Harmony
  • Accompaniment/ no accompaniment
Form
  • Like and unlike phrases
  • Echo
Expression
  • Speak, sing, shout, whisper
  • Solo/ Group
  • Unpitched percussion
  • Flute, trumpet, violin, piano
  • Loud/ Soft
  • Fast/ Slow
Other
  • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette
Skill Examples:
Performing
  • Demonstrate same and different (e.g., fast/slow, loud/soft, high/low and long/short).
  • Demonstrate a steady beat and maintain it while performing.
  • Sing using head voice and appropriate posture.
  • Play a variety of classroom instruments, alone and with others, and demonstrate proper technique.
Creating
  • Create a wide variety of vocal and instrumental sounds.
Reading/ Writing
  • Explore connections between sound and its visual representation.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Move to music of various and contrasting styles, composers and cultures.
  • Demonstrate audience behavior appropriate for the context and style of music performed.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: K
27. Identify and describe the main story elements in a literary text.

a. With prompting and support, retell a text orally, including main character(s), setting, and important events in logical order.
Unpacked Content
Teacher Vocabulary:
27.
  • Identify
  • Describe
  • Characters
  • Settings
  • Important events
  • Literary text
27a.
  • Retell
  • Text
  • Orally
  • Main character(s)
  • Setting
  • Events
  • Logical order
  • Prompting
  • Support
Knowledge:
27. Students know:
  • Main story elements in a literary text.
27a.
  • Techniques for retelling a text orally using key details.
  • How to sequence events in logical order (first, next, last).
Skills:
27. Students are able to:
  • Identify the main story elements (characters, settings, and important events) in a literary text.
  • Describe the main story elements (characters, settings, and important events) in a literary text.
27a. With prompting and support,
  • Recall key details and important events in a text.
  • Orally retell a text, including main character(s), setting, and important events in logical order.
Understanding:
27. Students understand that:
  • Identifying the characters, setting, and important events in a text help them better understand the overall meaning of the text.
27a.
  • Recalling important events and details of a text helps to retell the story and understand the meaning of the text.
Learning Objectives:

The students will retell familiar stories using expressive qualities found in music.
  Strategies, Preparations and Variations  
Phase:
During/Explore/Explain
Activity:

  1. Students will retell a familiar story that they have previously studied using expressive movement and body percussion. Examples of body percussion are: stomping, patting thighs with hands, clapping, and snapping. 

  2. Students will rehearse in small groups to retell the story with movement before performing.

  3. The teacher will observe the students rehearsing and will ask the students if they have thought about the expressive intent of the characters. What is the voice quality of their characters, what about the tempo and dynamics of their movement to retell the story?

  4. The teacher will make anecdotal notes of students using create expressive movement and retell of the story as assessment when the groups of students perform for the class.
Assessment Strategies:
Advanced Preparation:

You will need to pick a story the students are familiar with and have read at least 3 times prior to this lesson. 
Variation Tips (optional):
 
Notes or Recommendations (optional):
 
  Keywords and Search Tags  
Keywords and Search Tags: