Brewer Elementary
Whatley – Beth Reeves
Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:
- Students will be able to identify specific geographic regions on a globe.
- Students will be able to use body percussion to express understanding of the content.
Integration Area/Subject:
Social Studies & Music
State Standards:
SS3G2 Locate and describe the equator, prime meridian, and lines of latitude and longitude on a globe.
ESGM3.CR.2 Compose and arrange music within specified guidelines.
- Create rhythmic and melodic motives to enhance literature.
Materials/Playing Space:
Students can stay by their desks
Description:
The PAIR Specialist introduced body percussion, telling students all the instruments needed for the lesson were already in the room. After a few suggestions of where these instruments were hiding, students figured out the instruments in the class were our bodies. Students learned to use claps, laps (hands to thighs), snaps, and stomps as four instruments we would use during the lesson. The PAIR Specialist also introduced tempo and volume.
The teacher then reviewed latitude, longitude, prime meridian, equator, North Pole, etc. Students were then divided into groups of 4-5. Each group was assigned a specific region on the globe (equator, prime meridian, or lines of latitude and longitude).
Students were then instructed, for example, how sound/rhythm/tempo might be affected do to placement on the globe. For example, students could imagine that a person is traveling from the equator to the North Pole, what sources of sound would you use and why? What source of sound would you start off with and how would the tempo be affected as you travel over mountains, or through bodies of water?
The students were challenged to reverse their body percussion creation: What would the rhythm sound like if the person was traveling from the North Pole to the equator?
Teachers are also encouraged to give students a particular area on the globe by giving them latitude/longitude number values. They must then find the exact location on the globe and create sources of sound that correspond with the location and thoroughly explain why.
Notes:
Side coaching from the teacher is very important during the activity. As the students do it more often, they will become more comfortable and creative.