Music into Poetry

Katie Jarvis, 4
th
grade
Standards:
RL 4.2- Determine a theme from a story, drama, or poem from details in the text;
summarize the text.
W4.1- Write opinion pieces on topics or text, supporting a point of view with reasons
and information.
W 4.1 a- Introduce topic clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure
in which related ideas are grouped to support the writers purpose.
W 4.1 b- Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.
W 4.1 c- Link opinions and reasons using words or phrases.
W 4.1 d- Provide a concluding statement or section related to opinion present.
MU:Re7.1.4a- Demonstrate and explain how selected music connects to and is
influenced by specific interests, experiences, purposes, or contexts.

MU:Cn11.0.4a- Demonstrate understanding of relationships between music and the
other arts, other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily life.

Objectives:
After listening and interpreting theme and mood of five songs and reading and
interpreting five poems, students will match each song with a poem and write an opinion
paragraph on all of them. In the five sentences paragraph students should introduce
their topic clearly, provide reasons that are supported by facts, and provide a concluding
statement.
Materials: music ready on computer, copies of poems, visual organizers for both the
songs and for the poems for all students, pencil, headphones
Steps in the lesson:

Introduction:
First, I would go over theme and mood. I would give the definitions and give examples
in both music and poems. Next, I would get the 5 centers ready. Next, I would explain
we are going to listen to 5 songs and with our visual organizers we will write in notes
about the theme and mood of the song and then do the same thing with poems. I would
also explain that after that they are going to match one song and one poem and going
to write a five sentence paragraph for each one explaining why they are similar in your
opinion. I also would explain that in a paragraph they need to introduce the topic clearly,
provide reasons that are supported by facts, and provide a concluding statement. Then I
would begin to do a guided practice.
Body:
* Guided Practice. On each one of the students visual organizers at the bottom
is an example. I would play the song and see what they get out of it and then read the
poem and see what they got out of that.
* Then I would have them help me make a five sentence paragraph.
* I would play the five songs and let them take their own notes.
* I would go over as a class some of what the students got for notes on the
songs.
* Next, I would split the children into five groups by picking names out of a hat to
decide who would be in each group. I would assign each group a poem to start out with.
* Once they are done with one poem and taking notes they would move on to
another till they have finished all five poems.
*Once all five poems were read and had notes taken on them, I would have them
match one song and one poem and then begin their five sentence paragraphs.
Closure:
Finally once the students had finished their 5 five sentence paragraphs explaining why
each song went with each poem, as a class we would talk about what everyone got and
their explanation behind it. That would conclude our exercise and then we would move
on to something else.
Assessment: To assess the students knowledge and participation, I would have a
rubric that would include note taking for both the poem and song. Also on the rubric I
would have a section to make sure they matched each song with a poem, and finally a
section on their writing.
Adaptations: One adaptation I would have for this lesson is letting students have a
teacher or helper write their note section and paper for them. Some students with
disabilities arent able to write by themselves or if they can, it may hurt them, so if this
applies, the student may have someone else write for them.
Another adaptation I will have is headphones. Some students learn better listening on
their own than in a group, so I would let students get a cd player or iPod with a set of
headphones, and let them listen to the songs that way.
Rationale: This assignment is important for four graders. It helps them work on theme
of writings, but also songs. It helps them write opinion pieces on topics or text,
supporting a point of view with reasons and information. Finally it helps demonstrate
understanding of relationships between music and the other arts, other disciplines,
varied contexts, and daily life.
Next Steps: I think the next thing we would on for writing would be persuasive essays.
They already understand how to provide reason from facts and details, so that would be
a good step in the right direction.