LESSON PLAN Lesson Title: Building Vocabulary through Songwriting: Rewriting rhymes the Itsy Bitsy Spider
Content Area & Arts Discipline: Language Arts, Math, Music
Date:
Author &Presenter: Richelle Putnam
Grade Level: 1 - 3
Proposed Time Frame: 45 minutes
Spatial Requirements: for small group, classroom is fine; larger groups will require a bigger room with working tables and a performance space
Materials/Equipment: Power Point screen/TV, projector, several decks of playing cards (enough for each child to have ten cards), pencils. Paper, markers, CD player, instruments (can be homemade or not), chopsticks make good drumstricks; jars filled with rice or beans make the perfect shakers, etc.
Resources: http://www.zelo.com/FAMILY/NURSERY/ A site of nursery rhymes! http://www.nurseryrhymes.com/ Another great site
*Inspired by Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge website. http://www.tlsbooks.com/englishworksheets.htm http://www.kindergartenworksheets.net/rhyming-words- worksheets/kindergarten-rhyming-words-worksheet.html http://www.kidslearningstation.com/phonics/words-that-rhyme-v1.asp free rhyming worksheets for kindergarten http://www.nursery-rhymes-collection.com/music-for-kids_free-nursery- rhyme-audio.html http://yea.fm/album/283-Children_s_Music/192780-My_First_CD_- _Classic_Nursery_Rhymes_1/#/album/283-Children_s_Music/192780- My_First_CD_-_Classic_Nursery_Rhymes_1/ http://www.nurseryrhymes4u.com/NURSERY_RHYMES/Page_J.html Audios of nursery rhymes http://www.wordcalc.com/ Great tool for counting syllables http://www.brighthubeducation.com/pre-k-and-k-lesson-plans/15864-fun- activity-for-teaching-syllables/ Teaching syllables to kindergartners
Children Writer’s Word Book by Alijandra Mogilner, Writers Digest Books ISBN 0-89879-511-7
Early Childhood Education - Preschool Through Primary Grades by Jo Anne Brewer, 5th edition, University of Massachusetts, page 284
Vocabulary:
SUMMARY Give a brief overview of the lesson:
This lesson introduces phonetics, lyrical meter, and the development *Inspired by Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge website. of character and story. Students learn about rhyme and how counting syllables helps to create perfect meter in song and poetry. They will discuss the characters, the events and the settings in a nursery rhyme, brainstorm pairs of rhyming words and create their own verses. They will engage in activities to support their learning and share their new knowledge in the classroom. Students will learn that selecting new words in nursery rhymes can change stories, characters and events while maintaining the meter of the poem/song. Students will work on one poem, but can be introduced to other poems to expand the unit and give students an opportunity to work independently
BIG IDEA & LEARNING OBJECTIVES What overarching understandings are desired?
Students will identify how new characters, events and actions change a story.
Students will demonstrate their understanding of matching words that rhyme.
Students will demonstrate an understanding of phonetics and syllables through musical beats.
Students will demonstrate an understanding of character and plot development by using the creative thinking process of a writer.
Students will demonstrate an understanding of meter and rhythm.
Students will briefly identify the characters and events in nursery rhymes
Students will brainstorm on rhyming words
Students will create song verses (as a group or individually)
LESSON INSTRUCTION
List the steps of the lesson by following the outline below:
*Inspired by Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge website. Engaging Students:
Each student should have a printout of the Itsy Spider Share lesson goals and objectives with students that they will create new verses to favorite nursery rhymes by selecting new words. Recite with the students the nursery rhyme, “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.” Then, play the audio of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” First students listen. Then they sing along. Doing hand motions or introducing body movements to the song will be good. While listening to different versions of the song, students will clap their hands, slaps thighs, march, snap their fingers, do the wave and then return to the original hand motions of the song. This engages their bodily rhythmic skills and is lots of fun! Each student uses playing cards to count syllables in each line of the verse. As a “student reader” reads each word slowly, the other students lay a card on the table with each syllable, spreading the cards out so they can easily see how many cards, or syllables, there are in each line of the poem. Students put their own words into a musical version of the song. Students will be challenged by fitting their words to the rhythm of Soul, The Blues, Jazz and Latin, some rhythm being faster than others. Though the music may not be the authentic structure of each musical category, teachers can introduce the history of the music genre and ask students what “instrument” sounds they hear in each genre. Authentic cultural music techniques and structure can be introduced in a later lesson.
Building on Knowledge:
Ask students questions about character motivation and sequence of events. (Why do you think the itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the water spout? Where do you think the spout was located? Where are water spouts at your house? What do you think the sky looked like? Remind them of the line: “Down came the rain.” Test students’ knowledge by asking how many legs the spider had.) Recite the poem again, but this time the students will recite and count with you. After you count, ask them again how many syllables are in the line. Then say each word and ask them how many syllables there in the word. After they answer, repeat their answer. For example, the word “spider.” How many syllables are in the word “spider”? Spi (lay down card) der (lay down card). How many cards did I lay down? Pick up cards and count. One. Two. How many syllables are in the word “spider”? Students say *Inspired by Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge website. “two.” Then, repeat, “Spider. There are two syllables in spider.” Repetition reinforces retention. Have an overhead with the same nursery rhyme, but this one includes some blank lines. On board or on poster paper, have word lists from several rhyming families: est, ent, ell, ee, etc. (Create rhyming word lists that will easily replace the words (nouns and verbs) in the nursery rhymes. Explain that the class is going to brainstorm for new rhyming words to put into the blanks. Explain that the meter (syllable count) has to be the same and that if you replace the word “spider,” you have to replace another word with two syllables or you can replace two words, each one having one syllable. For instance, “spider” can be replaced with the word “pony” or the two words “big cat.” When a student suggests something like “little dog” to replace the word “spider,” use the cards to count the syllables. Spi (care) der (card); lit (card) tle (card) dog (card). How many cards in spider? Two. How many cards in little dog? Three. Can we use “little dog” to replace “spider”? This will be present some challenges because the characters and the action in the story will change. Sample poems with blanks should include clues for the students. Applying Understanding:
Students will work in small groups, but each one has a specific duty to the project whether being a reader or writer. Each student is a counter. Each table is provided students with several rhyming word lists that may or may not include corresponding pictures. These lists should include several possibilities for the underlined words for which the students need to find a rhyme. Students will count the syllables of each line in the poem with the cards on the table. Teacher will ask questions to make sure each student understands the process and assist when needed . Creating Opportunities for Reflection:
Students will share how the characters and settings change din their new versions
*Inspired by Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge website. Students will share their experience of keeping the syllable count the same
Students will share how even though the speed of a song may change, but the basic beat and rhythm remain the same.
Students will share how changing from one version of music to another challenged them.
Assessing the Experience:
At end of lesson collect worksheets Did student accurately choose correct rhyming words Did student accurately choose correct syllable count Did student accurately portray new rhyme in drawing
STANDARDS & PRINCIPLES
State Content Standards:
RL.K.1. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. RL.K.2. With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details. RL.K.3. With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story. RL.K.4. Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text. RL.K.5. Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems). RL.K.6. With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story. RL.K.7. With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts). RL.K.9. With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories. RL.K.10. Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. *Inspired by Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge website. Visual & Performing Arts Standards:
Sing with accurate pitch and rhythm. Play a steady beat. Using a variety of melodic and rhythmic instruments, create dramatizations of songs, poems, and stories. Improvise rhythms and accompaniments by playing instruments. Listen and respond to a variety of musical styles. Distinguish between qualities of music such as soft and loud, low and high, fast and slow, same and different, and tone colors. Improvise a response to the beat and tempo of various music examples with appropriate movements or dramatization. Identify the sound of brass, string, woodwind, percussion, and keyboard instrument families. Respond to music by painting, drawing a picture, or dictating a story. Recognize the message of the music in relation to other subject areas. Interpret ideas and stories contained in the language of songs and relate them to the appropriate subject area (e.g., reading, math, science). Identify word patterns and rhymes within a song text. Recognize differences that exist in various styles/genre of music.
COMPETENCIES and Suggested Teaching Objectives:
LANGUAGE ARTS:
The teacher will model segmenting a three to five syllable word By laying down a playing card for each syllable (e.g., hippo-pota-mus). The teacher will model using fingers to count the number of syllables in a multiple syllable word (e.g., bas-ket-ball = 3 syllables; student should hold up a finger for each syllable in word, three fingers). The teacher will show students a photograph or picture (spider, water spout) and ask them to orally describe it. The teacher will provide a sample rewritten verse of the Itsy Bitsy Spider The student will draw a picture of a familiar place or thing to correspond with the rewritten nursery rhyme. The teacher will have students create sentences that contain age- appropriate vocabulary. *Inspired by Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge website. MUSIC Through rewriting the Itsy Bitsy Spider, teachers will observe how students sing and keep a steady beat. Add the finger movements of each line of the verse. Most students will know the movements, but this gets them into the song. When the beat is internalized and performed correctly, a new version of the song is introduced. Students perform new body motions through clapping, slapping, marching, etc. and experience the song in new and exciting ways. After students rewrite the verse, teachers add the instruments and students sing and play instruments in groups.
Principles of Universal Design for Learning:
By the end of the 45 minute lesson, students will have been exposed to a variety of writing tools. They will have had the opportunity to select new characters, settings and new words to rewrite a favorite nursery rhyme. They will have listened to music, responded to the beat, and participated in making the beat. Using playing cards to count syllables, they recognized how words form their own rhythmic sound and beat. They also chose new characters, settings and action and chose words that fit into the right syllable count of each line to maintain the beat and the rhyming pattern. They will have illustrated their new song by drawing a picture.
MISC NOTES
Extended Learning Activities:
Each student can choose their own nursery rhyme to rewrite and do so independently.
Teacher can expand syllable lesson by asking students to find one two three syllable words to replace three two syllable words and one four syllable words to replace two two syllable words.
Teachers can expand on the genres of music, discussing more thoroughly the origins of the Blues, Jazz, Soul and Latino, as well as the instruments typically used and the rhythms.
Teachers can incorporate a history unit into this activity by having student choose a historical character and event to write about. ie: a
*Inspired by Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge website. frontiersman chopping down a tree to build a house in a new land.
Teachers can incorporate science into this activity by having student choose an element and action to write about. Ie: a seed grows into a plant.
TIPS/FAQs:
Provide a few sample rewritten poems for students to refer to. Sing the new poems several times, using the different genres of music provided. This helps the students “hear” how the songs will work to the same time signatures, but different beats.
Rhyming word lists should include words that will work well together in a story. Cats chase rats. Cats have fleas. Rats eat cheese. So including the rhyming words cat, rat, fleas, cheese on the rhyming words lists will be helpful.
Allow students a few practice times to incorporate their new songs into the music. This helps to develop their rhythm and listening skills.
Those students too shy about singing will participate with the instruments, so don’t worry too much about those who play more than sing. They are still developing their rhythmic skills during performance.
Teachers should show readers how to read the lines slowly, clearly enunciating each syllable so the other students at the table have time to lay a card down with each syllable.
Take all the new songs and the illustrations and create a Classroom Song Book
Invite other classrooms and/or parents to see the students perform their new songs to the different genres of music.
*Inspired by Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge website.