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Curriculum integration ideas
AT THE 2001 SUMMER INSTITUTE, teachers involved in the CMC project compiled
a list of ideas for using music to teach the North Carolina Standard Course
of Study. They developed curriculum integration ideas for language arts,
mathematics, social studies, science, movement, and art.
Language Arts
- Encourage the students to look at the role music plays in their lives
through the use of a "Music Matters"
Journal.
- Teach the students to analyze music using "DITTO": Dynamics,
Instruments, Tempo / Theme, and Observations.
- Use poems and stories to create songs — or songs to create poems
and stories.
- Use music-related ideas for discussion topics, such as making money
in music or the stories behind the music.
- Write thank-you letters to the visiting artists.
- Write about a day when an artist/performer came to visit our class/school.
- Create lyrics to an instrumental song.
- Write a musical advertisement or notice relating to an upcoming event
or visit.
- Create diagrams to describe various musical instruments.
- Teach how to use key words from a prompt of question in the response.
- Write songs using newspaper articles to learn how to find the main
idea in a piece of writing.
- Compare versions of the same song using a Venn Diagram.
- Write poems based on a particular style or a style similar to an artist.
- Practice note-taking skills during interviews.
- Create news articles and radio broadcasts about CMC experiences.
- Write articles to preview an upcoming performance by an artist.
- Make public service announcements for upcoming performances.
Mathematics
Number Sense and Numerical Operations
- Add, subtract, multiply, and divide using musical notes (whole, 1/4,
3/4, 1/2).
- Use music notes to create math problems.
- Give fractional directions to call square dancing moves.
- Devise math problems using music situations: the number of strings
in a string band plus the number of beats to a measure equals...
- Use situations that arise from artist visits to create story problems.
Look for the mathematical opportunities in the stories the artist tells.
Spatial Sense, Measurement, and Geometry
- Measure the lengths of different instruments.
- Discuss the technology of making instruments — bracing, construction,
and so on.
- Design CD covers; give students geometric parameters for design and
have them do the measurement.
- Give fractional directions to call square dancing moves.
- Area: prepare room for visiting artists (concert and class discussions).
- Arrays (multiplication and division):Think about how chairs might
be set up in different rectangular arrangements when preparing for a
visiting artist or a performance.
- Consider different perspectives, such as birds-eye view, of a dance.
- Which instruments are symmetrical?
- Relate square dancing to quilting — rotations, reflections, translations,
and tessellations.
Data, Probability, and Statistics
- Surveys: Use short answer questions or checklists; make predictions
before collecting the data; use students, parents, and other grade levels;
use side-by-side comparison; use discussions to discover what the numbers
mean. (Circle graphs are especially hard concepts because kids can't
understand fractions/percents.)
- Graph lengths of instruments; use the numerical data to find the mean,
mode, median, and range.
- Use a Venn Diagram to sort and compare items such as artists, songs,
musical styles,or instruments.
Patterns, Relationships, and Functions
- Patterns using making instruments
- Patterns in musical notations
- Patterns of musical beats to a song
- Patterns in the physical movements in a square dance
- Analysis of music using the note patterns
Social Studies
- Construct a musical timeline to illustrate facts in each child's life
history.
- Discuss the social (and family) values surrounding music.
- Consider the purposes music has served in the past and continues to
serve in your community and in other communities.
- Consider the geography of musical traditions. What are the cultural
roots of the tradition? How did the tradition come to North Carolina?
Where are variations of this tradition celebrated/practiced?
- Use the life experiences of artists as starting
places to learn about community and life in North Carolina.
- Discuss how ballads and other songs connect to community history.
- Consider the economics of traditional music (specifically related
to the artists you are interacting with).
- Consider the economics of planning an event such as a square dance
or Breaking Up Christmas party.
- Construct a timeline for how musical traditions have evolved over
time. Consider the changes related to musical traditions in the context
of the state and national history. Form hypotheses that explain why
the changes have occurred, and predict future changes.
- Study the culture of North Carolina communities by learning about
the traditional music and other traditions from regions across the state
- Use a style of song (such as ballad or blues) to tell the stories
of state history.
Science
- Consider the systems of music — the body system of making sound,
the instrument as a system, the band or orchestra as a system, and so
on. What are the parts of these systems? How do they work together?
What would happen if one part of the system changed?
- What causes instruments to sound so differently but blend so well
(such as the number of strings, the size, and the type of wood)?
- Instrument making
- Sound waves / travel
Movement
- Clogging
- Square Dancing
- Flat-foot
- Shag
- Stepping
- Buckdancing
Art
- Design a CD cover that represents your life. Include song titles that
highlight memories; you can make the "CD" out of poster board
covered with alumninum foil.
- Word sounds — What does a sound look like? (Art is music and
music is art!)
>> Using an artist's
visit as springboard for curriculum integration
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