Mr. Knight's third grade classroom appears normal; there are math worksheets in the basket, vocab words on the board, and spelling tests every week. However, if you peek your head in during music time, you will see a group of quiet children transformed into budding singers and actors. For the past few years, Mr. Knight's class has written and performed an opera with an original story, lyrics, tunes, costumes, and stage set.

As the Arts Bridge Representative in Mr. Knight's classroom, I have the wonderful opportunity to help the children prepare for their operatic experience. The theme for their opera this year is Living vs. Non-living things (Science Standard 2).

My goals for the class are that the children will...
1) Develop basic vocal technique, sing in tune, and sing out.
2) Build confidence in their own singing.
3) Write a good opera that encorporates the science core.
4) Understand the structure of an opera and important opera vocabulary.

Thursday, December 31, 2015

#10- INDIVIDUAL WORTH

State Standards and Objectives
Standard 3 Objective 1d: Create together a new song. As a class choose the subject, compose the verse. Consider solo/chorus for the structure. Decide what volume, timbres, and tempo to use.

Learning Objectives
·      Students will come up with the Libretto for the first 2 lines of their opera.
·      Students will learn that every person is important in creating and putting on the opera.

Lesson

Today I started off by reviewing and playing the Rudolf the Red nose Reindeer song that Jane taught them last week. They all really enjoy doing the actions. Then we went to the Knight zone where I read to them a cute story about an elementary class that put on a school play. One girl wanted very badly to be the main character, but instead she was assigned to be the stage manager. While at first she was disappointed, she eventually realized just how crucial her job as stage manager was. After reading the story, we discussed how each character and part is just as important as another. We also discussed how each child’s ideas are unique and important.
Next, we came up with recitative for sentence one and two. The children came up with many good ideas and the story is starting to come together.
I am really grateful that I stumbled upon this story about the class play. I believe the children needed to hear that story and learn from the message it taught. There are some children in the class that are less comfortable in voicing their ideas, but I feel strongly that every child should feel valued and important. I hope that I taught them how important every person is.

If I were to do this lesson again, I would come up with questions ahead of time to guide the discussion. I think the children would have learned more if I had let them discuss more of what they had learned from the story. Unfortunately, I ended up doing most of the talking, limiting their opportunities to learn and grow.
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