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Ideas
for Music, Art, and Social Studies |
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Exploring the Elements of Art I like to incorporate art into the curriculum by moving through the basic elements of design -- point, line, shape, color, and texture -- using simple activites that are open-ended and exploratory. These activities focus more on the process of creating and exploring than any intended finished product, I have compiled a list of open-ended "Elements of Art" exploratory activities that I use sequentially to help children tap into their own creativity AND to learn to appreciate the art around us. When I am teaching art this way, I also supplement the exploratory instruction with information about famous artists and discussions of their work, and also through focusing on specific illustrators of picture books. Click on the links for some basic ideas. ~~ Renee Goularte
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Music in the Classroom One of first grade teachers I work with in the mornings for Title I has children keep a song/poem binder. As they learn new songs and poems, she types up the lyrics and hole-punches them for children. As a literacy center, children read their poems/songs and illustrate them. I love Ella Jenkins and have a couple of her CD's. Of course, Raffi is always near the top of children's favorites as well. One newer resource I've found is Makin' Music ~ http://www.makin-music.com/musicalbums.htm ~ I have two of their CD's: "It's fun to play in the snow" and "Ring around the Rosy." Dial 911, Feel the Beat, Tua Tua, The Itsy Bitsy Spider (with added lyrics for big fat spider and teeny weeny spider), Shiver, and Jim Along Josie are all favorites requested repeatedly. I teach Head Start and my preschool students love these. I think they would also work for kindergarten and first. I have typed up the lyrics and inserted clipart for some of the songs to make posters. You should see my pre-k kids reading those posters. They love them so much that they fight over who gets to read what song/poem during reading time. ~~ Kim Ziemann |
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Assorted Music Resources Dr. Jean Gary Lamb piano music ~ www.garylamb.com
May There Always Be Sunshine by
Jim Gill ~ www.JimGill.com |
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Postcard Geography Our class works on a 49 state postcard exchange. We send postcards to 49 states and hope to receive back that number. This is a great way to teach geography. We compare and contrast the state/city/school of the postcard to our own state/city/school. We look up other information on the state if questions come up not answered on the card. We locate the state on a map and then color in the state on the children's' individual US Maps. I use the cards all year long as time allows. I have a business in town that donate the postcards. My class gets so excited when we have a postcard. This is fun for all grade levels. ~~ Patricia Nelson |
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