Arts Across the Early Childhood Curriculum

EDUC 4216
Assignment 2
Pre-service Teacher names:
Kobi Keeley (110198338)

Unit title:
The Very Cranky Bear
Bland, N 2008, The Very Cranky Bear, Scholastic Press, Gosford NSW.

Site contextual information

The learning has been planned for a reception class in a public school in the Eastern Suburbs, it is mid-way through term one, week five. Ages range from five to six and a
half years old. The class consists of 27 children in total. 15 of these children are boys and 12 of these are girls. Within the classroom, there is one child physically impaired
in a wheelchair and one child who has a mild hearing impairment.

Prior learning the students have engaged in

This is the third lesson of our unit plan. Prior to this lesson, children have explored their emotions and the emotions of others. They have been exposed to ways to
regulate their emotions and have looked at the art techniques used to articulate emotions. The picture book, The Very Cranky Bear book has been used as a guide to
explore different feelings. In the previous art lessons, children have engaged in drama to create their own version of the story and through visual arts, children have
created an artwork that explores ways to cheer the bear up.

General capabilities consideration (ACARA 2018):

• Intercultural Understanding
- Children’s experiences with music is often connected to their cultural background, the way they express and respond to music is an expression of their
belonging and emerging identity (Dinham & Chalk 2018).
- Percussion will be explored throughout this lesson and Dinham & Chalk (2018) says percussion is found in all cultures around the world.
• Personal and Social Capability
- Children will identify, explore and create music through personal experiences and in social situations.
• Literacy
- Literacy techniques will be incorporated in this lesson plan through the inclusion of the picture book.
• Numeracy
- Numeracy is considered through identifying and creating patterns in music.
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Assignment 2
Elements of music explored:

• Rhythm is the arrangement of sounds in a pattern, such as the beat (pulse), duration (length) and tempo (speed) (Dinham & Chalk 2018). The beat will be
recognised through tapping of feet and clapping of hands, the duration will be explored by creating sharp and long sounds with instruments and the tempo will
be discovered by making fast and slow beats.
• Pitch refers to the high or low sound in music, children will discuss how the pitch can relate to our emotions (Dinham & Chalk 2018).
• Dynamics is the sounds loudness or softness, which can relate to how the volume of the sound can influence the expression of music (Dinham & Chalk 2018).
• The form and structure of music involves the elements such as the chorus, verse and phrases (Dinham & Chalk 2018). The picture book will play a role in
the form and structure of the music explored and created, for example the repeated phrases in the book will act as the chorus.
• Timbre signifies the unique quality of a sound and considers the way the sound is produced, for example breaking glass is distinguishable from a trumpet blowing
etc (Dinham & Chalk 2018). Children will explore ways to produce sounds (hitting, shaking, scraping, blowing) and consider the materials (wood, skin, metal,
plastic) to create music to relate to emotions.
• Texture is the difference between thick and thin sounds created when voices or instruments are layered (Dinham & Chalk 2018). This element will be
explored as children play music one at a time and then simultaneously and discuss the difference.

Forms of music:

• Dinham and Chalk (2018) list vocalisations, songs, chants, body percussion, improvised percussion, instrumental music and sounds from the
environment as forms of music. Children will be given the opportunity to experiment with all different forms of music during the lesson.

Cross-curricula consideration:
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures
- Are explored through the implementation of certain resources.

Learning intentions: Success criteria for students:

• Develop aural skills by exploring and imitating sounds, pitch and rhythm
patterns using voice, movement and body percussion (ACAMUM080)
(ACARA 2018).
• Create compositions and perform music to communicate ideas to
an audience (ACAMUM082) (ACARA 2018)
• Students are able to recognise different elements of music through
improvising, composing, arranging and performing music (ACARA 2018).
• Students are able to demonstrate aural skills by keeping in time when
creating music.
• Students are able to modify sounds by varying different elements to
express different ideas, moods and feelings.
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Assignment 2
• Students will experiment with their voices, body percussion and
instruments to explore elements of music by recognising the differences
and developing a rhythmic sense (Dinham & Chalk 2018).
• Students will explore the power of music and its ability to communicate
emotions and moods by responding to, exploring and composing music.

Differentiation/Inclusion:

• Since music is predominantly associated with our capacity to hear (Dinham & Chalk 2018), it will be important to exaggerate body movements, visual cues and
kinaesthetic development for the deaf impaired student. Clapping, stomping and vibrations will be used as both a visual and touching technique to ensure
participation for all students. Dinham & Chalk (2018) indicates that linking visual imagery and movement to music is a positive approach to provide children with
a comprehensive music experience. Abotomey (2008, cited in Dinham & Chalk 2018) states that a broader range of musical sounds with an inclusion of pitches
(high and low notes) make sound more accessible for children with hearing difficulties whilst also exploring children’s sound perception capabilities.
• Incorporating listening, exploring and composing music within the lesson allows for many opportunities for musical development, students interests, and
capabilities are catered for through an open inclusive learning environment where students can develop musical skills at their own pace at different stages
(Dinham & Chalk 2018).
• Due to this being a reception class, some children may be subject to poor motor control or hand-eye coordination, however Dinham & Chalk (2018) clarifies that
body percussion and several percussion instruments can be effectively managed in a context where children have diverse skills. Students will be able to fully
participate in music-making and whilst doing so, will develop motor strength and control (Dinham & Chalk 2018).
• Percussion experiences such as drumming has proven to have positive effects in terms of assisting students to develop social skills by taking turns, interacting,
joining in and giving attention to others (Dinham & Chalk 2018). This activity will be particularly implemented to create an inclusive environment, in particularly
for the student with a hearing impairment and student in a wheelchair.
 Arts Across the Early Childhood Curriculum
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Assignment 2

SEQUENCE OF LESSON

Lesson Learning Experiences Main Resources Assessment

Focus

LESSON THREE Lesson Overview: The classroom will be open for During the unit
To ensure students are provided with fundamental skills for composing music, it is students to curiously find and resource plan, each child’s
Music
important that they engage in listening and playing experiences to develop their aural their own materials to use throughout work will be kept
and creative capabilities (Dinham & Chalk 2018). Student’s involvement in music-making this lesson. Dinham & Chalk (2018) in an art portfolio,
Lesson Time throughout this lesson will move through listening and responding, exploring, composing affirm that improvising with found therefore during
120 minutes – and responding. Through music experiences students are immersed in a world of objects to create music broadens this lesson the
spread out exploring the power music has to connect to our feelings and emotions (Dinham & Chalk student’s appreciation of the teacher will
before and 2018). Students will be encouraged to think about how emotions can be depicted environment as a source to create develop learning
after lunch through certain sounds. music and allows students to utilize stories to capture
their imagination. Improvised or student
Lesson running schedule: possible found objects in the development. The
environment may consist of; plastic teacher will listen
Listening and Responding (30 min) cups, bowls, bench surfaces, paper, to student voices
cellophane paper, pebbles/rocks, and ideas,
First the teacher will invite students to discuss ways that we can make different sounds. pencils, tins etc. specifically noting
For example, talking quietly, yelling, whistling, clicking, clapping, stomping, shaking an arts vocabulary
object etc. Discuss how all these different sounds can create music and introduce an Body percussion which involves and ideas.
example of elements of music: clapping, stomping, clicking and
• Rhythm – continually clapping to create a rhythmic beat rhythmically hitting parts of the body Throughout the
• Pitch- demonstrate a high and low pitch in our voices, relate the pitch of our will be applied during this lesson, lesson, the teacher
voices to emotions (higher pitch meaning we are happy, low voice is scary or sad which requires minimal resources will use a chart
etc) (Dinham & Chalk 2018). (appendix 1) to
• Dynamics – yelling vs whispering, ask students how they feel when the teacher record notes and
yells compared to when they whisper, talk about how our emotions way effect Percussion instruments which require observations to
the way we talk or respond to someone’s tone. Also discuss how we can make hitting, striking, rattling or scraping of contribute to the
different sounds by altering the way we clap (using two fingers, cupped hands, the surface to generate sound will be overall assessment
fingers spread out etc) available for students to use. of the unit plan.
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Assignment 2
• Timbre- ask students to close their eyes, the teacher claps her hands, ask Instruments that are suitable for this
students to open their eyes and guess what the sound was, how do they know? age group that will be provided
Do it again but this the teacher stomps their feet. Ask the students how they include:
distinguish the difference between sounds. The key to exploring elements of
music involves develop good active listening skills (Dinham & Chalk 2018). • Small wooden and plastic
drums (Asian, African and
After a meaningful introduction including conversations about sounds, the teacher will European culture)
read the book, The Very Cranky Bear. The teacher will ask students to think about the • Clap sticks (Indigenous
sounds that could be used when reading this book. During the read aloud, the teacher Australian culture)
will pause on page 5 after the cranky bear ROAR’s and ask students to think about what • Shakers (African culture)
sounds could represent the loud roar. The teacher should play with elements of music (Dinham & Chalk 2018).
whilst reading, for example, read a page really slow and the next page really fast. The
rhyme used throughout the book provides ample opportunities to sing phrases, the
teacher will sing the sentences on page 6 to provide students with the idea of turning
stories into songs. The teacher will pause on page 21 to discuss what emotions are shown
and what sounds could represent them.

Joining in on beat
Children’s listening skills are interwoven with percussion-based music making (Dinham &
Chalk 2018), to develop this skill, the teacher will create a simple beat by clapping and
employ students listening skills by asking students to join in when their name is called. By
the end of the beat, every student should be participating and staying in time with the
beat.

Exploring (30 min)

Percussion activities support student’s ability to hear and identify sound patterns in order
to develop a sense of rhythm (Dinham & Chalk 2018). Whilst students are sitting in a
circle, the teacher will strategically hand each student an instrument or tell them a body
percussion to use for this task. The teacher will then pose the questions to the students,
‘Where do you think your given instrument or sound could be used in the book?’ and
‘What emotion do you think your instrument or sound represents?’
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Assignment 2
Ostinato
Once the instruments and sounds have been analysed, the teacher will lead the students
to create a rhythm around the circle with the instruments or objects they were given.
This is an exploration of ostinato, which is a repeated musical pattern (Dinham & Chalk
2018). Using the different instruments around the circle, students will play and
experiment together to develop a rhythmic sense. This may be a 1-2-3 pause, 1-2-3 pause
rhythm which will involve all students and their given instrument or sound. For example,
it may be a hit of the drum, clap sticks and then someone stomping and so on. Creating
and recognising musical patterns is a key approach to music engagement (Dinham &
Chalk 2018).

As students move into the exploration phase, they will be invited to swap and choose an
available instrument or find an object in the class to explore sounds with. Students will be
enabled to participate in free exploration as it is important for students to engage in self-
initiated experiences as they explore the different ways to make sounds (Dinham & Chalk
2018).

Students should also have lots of purposeful opportunities to explore elements of music
through fun and engaging activities (Dinham & Chalk 2018). The teacher will ask the
students to make sounds to mimic certain parts of the book, for example the
onomatopoeia used ‘ROAR, BOOM, BANG, SCREECH’. Students will be invited to explore
ways of making sounds that capture the emotions in the book, for example on page 13
where the sheep is worried and on page 15 where the cranky bear is shown looking
angry. Students will be encouraged to make a happy noise with their instrument, then a
sad, angry and excited sound by adapting different elements of music. Students will be
encouraged to create sounds using only their voice and body, using improvised objects in
the classroom and using traditional instruments. Students will be encouraged to share
instruments to explore different possibilities.

The element of texture will be highlighted, as the teacher will encourage students to try
creating two types of sounds at once (using their voice whilst clapping etc) (Dinham &
Chalk 2018).
 Arts Across the Early Childhood Curriculum
EDUC 4216
Assignment 2
Making/composing (35 min)

Composing is a significant part of children’s music development and children should be

provided with opportunities to manipulate sounds and find ways to express ideas to
achieve their creative intentions (Dinham & Chalk 2018).

In pairs or small groups, students will be required to create a musical pattern using a
sentence or page from the book, for example, they may using the different elements of
music to sing (this may look like students singing a sentence each or singing all together,
singing fast/slow, loud/quiet) or they may use body percussion or instruments to make a
beat while someone reads the words etc. They may choose to link an instrument sound
to each character or repeat certain sounds in similar scenes. Students may extend their
musical experience by varying the combinations of instruments they use and have
different sounds coming in at different times (Dinham & Chalk 2018). Students will be
reminded to take into consideration the emotions expressed in the sentence or page they
choose. Students will be prompted to find ways to bring the sounds in the book alive by
using available objects and instruments. It will be the student’s decision on how they
incorporate music into the passage of the story and what elements they consider when
composing sounds.

When students use everyday objects in purposeful ways to make music, they are thinking
metaphorically and are involved in a creative invention (Dinham & Chalk 2018). When
students are enabled to compose their own sounds to make music, their ideas and
creativity are valued and developed (Dinham & Chalk 2018).

Responding (25 min)

Once students have composed sounds, it is foremost that they consider the forms and
elements they used (ACARA 2018). The teacher will ask students; what sounds are in your
musical phrases? What instruments, body percussion or types of voices did you include
and why? How did sounds that you used differ from each other?
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An important part of making music is to perform and share compositions and respond to
the compositions of others (Dinham & Chalk 2018). It is a part of the music curriculum for
students to learn to listen as performers and as an audience (ACARA 2018). Each group
will share their musical skit to the class and the teacher will lead the response by using
Dinham & Chalk’s (2018) RACE strategy to shape meaningful conversations. This will
include:

• R – responding to the music but making connections

This will include asking students: How did you feel when you were listening to
that music? Why? Did the music remind you of anything in your life? What
pictures came to mind when you were listening?

• A – the music’s attributes

What did you hear? What sound or instrument stood out for you? How would
you describe the music? Was there a rhythm? What elements of music were
included?

• C – context/significance of the circumstance

Do you think the sounds used matched the page of the book? Do you think these
sounds could be used in other sections of the book or to depict any other
emotions?

• E – evaluation/ judgement/ opinion

What did you like most about this music/ the sounds they created? What did you
like the least and why? What words best describe this music?
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Assignment 2
To end the lesson, the teacher will invite students to reflect on what they discovered
from this music lesson. The teacher will pose questions such as: What was the loudest
sound you could make when you were making different sounds? What was the longest
sound you made? Did any sound you made or heard surprise you? What sound suited the
happy emotion the most for you? What sound created a sad feeling? What was your
favourite way to create sounds?

Teaching • Clear demonstrations will be used throughout the lesson to explain and effectively introduce music processes such as how to hold an
Strategies instrument or different ways to explore the elements of music such as how to make a soft or loud sound (Dinham & Chalk 2018).
• Metz’s (1989, cited in Dinham & Chalk 2018) strategy of modelling and joining in will be used to advance student learning, this will include the
teacher explaining what they are doing as they model, for example ‘I am clapping to the beat of the music to help me understand the rhythm’ or
‘I am stomping loud to demonstrate an angry emotion’. Modelling and joining in should lead students to imitate these music making behaviours.
• Asking questions is described as an appropriate pedagogical strategy to support students to extend and reflect on their own ideas as well as be
exposed to other possibilities (Dinham & Chalk 2018). Throughout this lesson questioning will also be used as an assessment strategy to help the
teacher understand the students’ knowledge. Questions will be kept open-ended to prompt students to engage in purposeful dialogue to
extend their learning (Dinham & Chalk 2018).
• To extend student’s meaningful thinking during the exploration phase, the teacher will ask ‘I wonder’ questions such as, ‘I wonder if there were
things in the classroom that we could use as instruments? I wonder what would happen if you all played the instrument as the same time? I
wonder if it would make a difference if you hit that drum softer?’ (Dinham & Chalk 2018). These questions can be used to introduce different
elements of music.
• Specific coaching or intentional teaching will be employed when students require assistance, this will include the teacher being actively involved
in the learning process by offering to show them how to do something or by giving step by step guidance (Dinham & Chalk 2018). This may be
helping a student hold an instrument or making a particular beat etc.

Classroom set During the listening and discussion session, the teacher and the students will be sitting in a circle with the materials in the middle. This will encourage
up students to engage in conversations about the instruments and materials they see and spark discussions about the particular sounds they could make.
Students will be allowed to choose where they would like to sit/stand during the exploration phase.
At the end of the lesson, students will re-group in a semi-circle to reflect on the lesson.
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Assignment 2
Reference List: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) 2018, F-10 Curriculum, Arts F-7, Foundation year level description v8.3, Australian
Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, viewed 25th April 2020, https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/the-arts/music
Dinham, J and Chalk, B 2018, It’s Arts Play: Young children belonging, being and becoming through the arts, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne,
Victoria.
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Assignment 2
Appendix 1: Student assessment notes (use throughout the entire unit).

Student Assessment Notes

Class: Date:
Assessment Topic
Music Year level: Topic:

Student name Notes Observations

X

Teacher notes: