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Unit 4: Lesson 9Brainstorm Themes for Seedfolks; Read "Gonzalo" & "Leona;" Investigate & Annotate the Text & Reflect

Unit 4

Planting a Community

                

 

 

Purpose 

In this unit, students read like detectives, asking questions and looking for clues about what characters are thinking, feeling, and doing. As they read, students compose music that represents those investigations in order to gain a deeper understanding of the characters and how they relate to the central theme of the story.

 

Unit Description

In this unit, students create a whole-class musical composition to Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, a Newbery Medal winning author. Seedfolks is told in a series of character chapters connected by a central theme. To prepare, students become “reading detectives,” annotating the text as they ask questions and look for clues about what characters are thinking, feeling, and doing. In doing so, they are making inferences and text-to-text connections and working toward identifying a central theme of the book. As students read, they learn a range of music elements and create music using classroom instruments and found objects to represent what they have learned about the characters. As a culminating event, the class creates and performs a Seedfolks Composition for an invited audience.

Intention of Unit

A4L Unit 4, Planting a Community, was initially designed and developed to target four primary literacy goals that were identified by teachers as particularly difficult for their students to master and apply – making inferences, text-to-text connections, determining theme, and annotating text.  The integration of an art form was perceived as a promising character traits with musical sounds and rhythm, by inspiring students to express and convey meaning and emotions, and to facilitate visualization of a theme for the text. 
 

Unit 4 Art Form

The art form designed for this Unit is music.  In much the same way that a story is conveyed in motion pictures or any media arts genre, the music is interwoven and connected to the text and images to identify and guide the viewer’s emotional interpretation of about what the characters are thinking, feeling and doing.  E.g.; the musical score is connected to descriptions of images and actions so that once the viewers have experienced the combined words with associated sounds, they can visualize what is happening when only the associated music is heard.    
 
The creation of music through found objects as well as available musical instruments is used as the art genre in this Unit.  This decision was made to comply with the strategy for equity and access used in all the A4L Units so that all students could experience the creation of a musical score even though their school may not have access to traditional musical instruments and students are not already knowledgeable about how to play them. 
This approach of relying on sounds, rhythm, dynamics, duration, pitch and timbre is not unprecedented and is masterfully used in music and dance compositions such as the Stomp and in the motion picture August Rush, as well as many other examples.  By using found objects to make sounds that convey the personality traits and actions of the characters in Seedfolks, students learn to listen intently and to discriminate the meaning of sounds and to be resourceful in finding ways to create music without formal music instruction.  
 

Differentiation Options

 
Vocal Music:  In addition to using music produced with found objects, a musical alternative is to use sounds produced by the human voice or body.  For example, the voice can also produce sounds that create different levels of dynamics, duration, pitch and timbre.  The voice alone is sufficient to produce the range of sounds and variations to define the characteristics of each character in the text and a thematic overview of the book.  The voice may also be effectively supplemented by sounds created using other parts of the body (e.g. clapping, rubbing hands, humming, stomping feet, etc.) or through a combination of voice and use of other found objects or musical instruments as suggested in the Unit.  
 
Visual Arts & Writing:  A substitute for the art genre of music could also be visual arts and writing, in which the students complement the association of sounds with quick linear gesture drawings and later with colors that convey character traits, emotions, and action.
 

Newly Added Feature: This Unit's student texts have been translated into Spanish

 

                

 

Common Core State Standards

Arts for Learning is aligned with the Common Core State Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language. This Overview describes the scope of the standards and this Quick Reference Guide provides each of the standards fully or partially met within this A4L Unit, followed by the charts that specifically identify the standards addressed in each lesson and step in the Unit. The standards are also coded and listed at the beginning of each lesson in the unit. Arts for Learning also provides a comprehensive student assessment program in each unit. This A4L Assessment Toolkit Quick Reference Chart indicates an overview of the locations of the tasks to be scored in the unit.
 
Each A4L unit is developed on a common framework and contains a 3-part sequence of instruction that educational research suggests will help students become more self-directed, independent learners. There is a gradual hand-off of responsibility--from teacher to students-- that is supported by assessment and teacher help as needed. Throughout A4L units the arts serve as motive and means to advance reading for meaning and writing thoughtfully.

 

 

 

 

Part 2

Exploring

Unit 4: Lesson 9

Brainstorm Themes for Seedfolks; Read "Gonzalo" & "Leona;" Investigate & Annotate the Text & Reflect

Unit 4: Lesson 9

Brainstorm Themes for Seedfolks; Read "Gonzalo" & "Leona;" Investigate & Annotate the Text & Reflect

 
 

LITERACY OBJECTIVE

By the end of this lesson students will be able to identify clues in the text that inform the reader about the character and annotate the text to track questions and thoughts while reading.
 
 

LITERACY "I CAN" STATEMENT

"I can use my chapter notes and reflection to create a character theme that represents Gonzalo or Leona."
 
 

 

LESSON OVERVIEW

 

Steps Pacing: 60 Minutes (Varies)
15 Minutes
45 - 150 minutes
 

 

Standards Alignment

 

Targeted Standards

 

Secondary Standards

 

Teaching Resources

 

A4L Texts

 

Student Notebook

 

Samples & Templates

 

Arts Materials

 

Life & Learning Skills

 

  Differentiation Options  

 

  Leveraging Moments

 

 

 

STEP 1: INTRODUCE PART 2

 
 
Process: Introduce Part 2 and provide students with additional scaffolding as needed for the writing and choreographing of poems.

 

  Differentiation Options: Reading "Gonzalo" & "Leona"

 

ELL Support: Comprehensible Input 

 

Suggested Dialogue

 

Introducing the Lesson

 

 

 

STEP 2: INTRODUCE LESSON 9

 
 
Process: Give an overview of the lesson objectives: Brainstorm themes for Seedfolks; assign ensembles additional chapters in Seedfolks; students read, annotate, and reflect on the text.
 
Suggested Dialogue

 

Lesson Summary

 

 

 

STEP 3: BRAINSTORM CENTRAL STORY THEMES FOR SEEDFOLKS

 
 
Process: Guide students to brainstorm possible central themes for Seedfolks by reviewing their Reflection Journals and looking for similar threads between Kim, Ana, and Wendell. Students record brainstorms in their A4L Notebooks on page 29, Seedfolks Central Theme. There are multiple themes that are appropriate for Seedfolks.

 

Connecting Literacy & Art  

 

Suggested Dialogue

 

Brainstorming Several Possible Themes for Seedfolks

 

 

 

STEP 4: ASSIGN "GONZALO" & "LEONA" TO ENSEMBLES

 
 
Process: Guide students to sit in Seedfolks Ensembles with their A4L Texts & Notebooks. Tell students to wait for the "Go" signal to begin moving. Assign "Gonzalo" and/or "Leona" to ensembles. Half the class can read each chapter or all ensembles can read both chapters. See this resource page for a brief summary of each chapter and this menu Differentiation Options: Reading Additional Chapters in Seedfolks (top of this lesson) to aid in decision-making. "Gonzalo" and "Leona" are on pages 11-17 in students' Unit 4 Texts.
 
Suggested Dialogue

 

Instructions for the Step

 

 

 

STEP 5: ENSEMBLES READ; INVESTIGATE & ANNOTATE THE TEXT

 
 
Process: Ensembles work independently or with appropriate scaffolding to read and annotate their new Seedfolks chapter. Explain the process to students: at each stopping point, readers should stop and annotate the text by asking "I wonder" questions; looking for clues that tell the reader what the character is thinking, feeling, or doing; and making notes in the margins. See this reference document, Reading Like A Detective.
 
Suggested Dialogue
 

Explaining the Process

 

 

 

STEP 6: ENSEMBLES COMPLETE SEEDFOLKS CHARACTER CHART FOR GONZALO AND/OR LEONA

 
 
Process: Ensembles independently complete the Seedfolks Character Chart for their new character(s). Students get their A4L Notebooks and turn to page 18.
 
Suggested Dialogue

 

Ensembles independently complete the Seedfolks Character Chart

 

 

 

STEP 7: TRANSITION TO MUSIC

 
 
Process: Guide ensembles to gather instruments. Depending on how the room is set up, invite two to four ensembles at a time to gather instruments. Ensembles should gather at least one from each music station. Rotate the order in which groups collect instruments each day.
 
Suggested Dialogue

 

Instructing Ensembles

 

 

 

STEP 8: GUIDE ENSEMBLES TO PRACTICE & DEMONSTRATE SOUNDS BRAINSTORMED FOR GONZALO & LEONA

 
 
Process: Guide ensembles to use their instruments to try out several of the sounds they brainstormed for either Gonzalo or Leona. Ensembles should select 3-4 characteristics or feelings and their corresponding sounds to try out using instruments. After 5-7 minutes of experimentation, invite students to demonstrate their sounds for the class.  Total time for practicing and demonstrating sounds is 12 minutes.
 
Suggested Dialogue

 

Introducing the Activity

 

 

 

STEP 9: STUDENTS REFLECT ON NEW CHARACTER USING THE REFLECTION JOURNAL

 
 
Process: Students work independently to reflect on their character.
 
Suggested Dialogue

 

Using the Reflection Journal

 

 

 

STEP 10: OPTIONAL - REPEAT READING, ANNOTATING, & REFLECTING WITH ADDITIONAL SEEDFOLKS CHAPTERS

 
 
Process: To give students more practice reading, annotating, and reflecting independently or with ensembles, assign additional Seedfolks chapters.

 

Step Alternatives: Optional Writing Extension

 

 

 

STEP 11: CLOSE LESSON 9

 
 
Process: Close the lesson with a look forward, describing the next lesson.
 
Suggested Dialogue

 

Looking Forward

 

Performing The Closing Ritual (Optional)

 

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS ON COMPLETING LESSON 9! YOU ARE NOW READY TO MOVE ONTO LESSON 10 OF UNIT 4.

 

 

 

 

You've now reached the end of our ArtsforLearning Curriculum preview.