Elementary School Three Day Unit (Grade 4)

Science Standard: Students will describe the composition (including the formation of minerals, rocks and soil) and the structure of the earth

Music and Dance Standard: Students will improvise music and dance to express their understanding of an object

Indicators of Achievement: Students will:

• use a variety of traditional and non-traditional sound sources when composing and arranging
• use a variety of locomotor and non-locomotor movement to express (symbolize) their rock

Arts Standard: Students will describe and analyze the use of symbols, elements and materials in student work

Indicator of Achievement: Students will devise and apply criteria for evaluating their performance and composition

Materials:

• rock samples: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic
• simple musical instruments: tambourine, wood blocks, kazoo, slide whistle, etc.
  
• EVERYBODY NEEDS A ROCK, Byrd Baylor. NY, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1985
  
• video equipment

Preparation: Read Baylor's EVERYBODY NEEDS A ROCK. Discuss what the students have learned about types of rocks and rock formations. Show the students sample rocks. Have them examine and note the differences among:

• sedimentary - layered
  
• metamorphic - heat
  
• igneous - volcanic

Brainstorm with the class, adjectives that tell the three different classes of rock in terms of: color, hardness, consistency, chemical properties, location, method of formation, age, etc. Put all the key describing words on the blackboard for easy referencing.
Choose one word and discuss with the students what kind of rhythm and tempo, timbre and dynamics would illustrate that word. Demonstrate using one of the musical instruments.

Write the key words on pieces of paper and put them into a bag for students to choose from. In pairs, using the instruments supplied, have them create a short music phrase that expresses the adjective chosen. Give them a chance to work with their partner to: discuss their ideas, to explore rhythms--steady or irregular, dynamics--loud and/or soft, etc., to improvise a first draft of the piece, reflect on their work, and revise their piece for presentation to the rest of the class. Repeat the activity with different words as time permits.

DAY TWO

Preparation: Review basic non-locomotor and locomotor movement with the students and the idea of creating a path through space for the beginning, middle and end of a movement piece. Review the three kinds of rock.

Activity: Do a warmup that has the students doing non-locomotor and locomotor movements

Divide the students into groups of five or six to work on their final project. Have them repeat the process of creating a short musical piece, this time using one of the three basic types of rock as their subject. Introduce movement into the project by asking the students in each group to assign themselves roles as either dancers or musicians. The musicians will perform the music piece while the dancers choreograph a dance sequence to accompany the music. Ask each group to think about the following ideas as they move through their creative process: how the rhythm of the music will determine how the dancers move, how the movements they choose will "symbolize" the rock they are "dancing."

DAY THREE

Preparation: Before the students present the work, have the class create a checklist that includes the elements of music and dance that can be used to communicate the "idea" of their rock.

Activity: Do a warmup with non-locomotor and locomotor movement. Allow the students to rehearse their dance/music piece once or twice. Share the music/dance pieces and discuss what was communicated about the rock. Ask how specific movement or sound conveyed the idea of color or hardness, etc.

Assessment: Students will videotape their choreographed movement/music pieces. Then, using a class developed checklist, they will complete a written evaluation of their work and the work of one other group.

Based on ideas from Round Valley, AZ faculty.