Lesson Title:
Hot and Cold
Content Area & Arts Discipline: Science and Dance
Overview of the lesson: The study of front systems in science and levels and tempo in dance.
Grade Level:4th
Proposed Time Frame:30-45 minutes
Date Lesson Created:
March 2011
Lesson Author:
Paige Perkins
Room Requirements & Arrangement: Open space (If desks and chairs please move to the perimeter of the room).
Materials/Equipment: (A way to play music and wind sounds from grooveshark called Channel the Sublte Wind)
Resources: grooveshark.com has great free music.
Vocabulary:
Choreography- The steps that make up a dance.
Choreographer – The person who creates the steps in the dance.
Levels – In dance, one can dance at a high, middle, or low level in space.
Tempo – In dance, one can dance from very slow to a very fast including all the speeds in between. / BIG IDEA & LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to learn about front systems in weather and be able to tell the difference between the different front systems.
Students will be able to use and identify levels and tempo variations in dance.
Students will be able to use dance to express the story of the weather front systems.
PROCEDURES
List the steps of the lesson by following the outline below:
The teacher/teaching artist will engage students (“the hook”) by:
How many of you know people who are hot and cold? Well today we will take a look at how hot and cold weather can create different weather patterns.
The teacher/teaching artist will build knowledge by:
Allowing students to work in groups to create weather front systems.
Discussing and introducing weather fronts, cold, warm, and stationary. TTW also introduce movement levels and tempo.
TTW review/introduce fronts, cold, warm, and stationary with the class. Then the teacher will discuss choreography, choreographer and how dances often help tell stories. TTW explain that there are 3 levels in which we dance through space: High, middle, low and that we can move from very slow tempos to very fast tempos. TSW know experience this with a movement warm up. TSW move like the wind around the room until he/she hears a loud drum beat at which time they will freeze and listen for instructions.
  • TTW ask the students to move through the space like the wind at each level.
  • TTW ask the students to move through the space like the wind at very slow, slow, fast, and very fast tempos.
  • TTW will ask the students to move through the space with combinations of levels and tempos.
The class will discuss how they think cold air would move (slow and low) and warm air would move (faster and higher). Discuss with the class how violent thunderstorms, light rain and drizzle, and steady rain might look like in movement.
  • TTW will as the students to move through the space as cold air and warm air and as each type of rain.
  • TTW explain that the class will be put into small groups and given a recipe for a front. Their group will create the front they were given and perform for the class. The class will discuss and guess the front system that was performed and what evidence presented through the groups movement led them to their answer. (SEE dance recipes for fronts below).
The teacher/teaching artist will model the experience:
With discussion, visual aids of fronts, dance recipes for fronts, movement warm ups and whole group and small group work.
The teacher/teaching artist will guide the practice with the students by:
Allowing students to explore and create a dance movement representation of weather front systems.
The students will apply understanding by:
Taking their knowledge and creating weather movement dance to share and discuss with the class.
The teacher/teaching artist will create opportunities for reflection (Closing) by:
Allowing each to share something that helped them to remember the different weather fronts with movement.
The teacher/teaching artist will assess the students’ learning by:
Observation of movement performance. (A rubric could be implemented as a performance based assessment if desired)
STANDARDS & PRINCIPLES
Please list the competency from the following:
State Content Standards (i.e. CCSS, Mississippi Frameworks):
4th grade
Science Framework:
4. Develop an understanding of the properties of Earth materials, objects in the sky, and changes in Earth and sky.
4c. Investigate, record, analyze and predict weather by observing, measuring with simple weather instruments (thermometer, anemometer, wind vane, rain gauge, barometer and hygrometer), recording weather data (temperature, precipitation, sky conditions, and weather events), and using past patterns to predict future weatherpatterns.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.7
Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.
Arts Standards (i.e. MS Visual & Performing Arts Frameworks):
Dance Framework:
2. Demonstrate a problem-solving experience integrating kinesthetic awareness of
movement.
2b. Discuss and justify own movement choices and evaluate movement choices presented by others.
3b. Collaborate with a partner to create and explore movement possibilities.
4b. Create a sequence with a beginning middle and end with or without partners or rhythmic accompaniment.
Principles of Universal Design for Learning(at least one from each of the three guiding principles):
Principle 1: Provide multiple means of representation by showing main ideas through graphic organizers matched with visual and vocal directions.
Principle 2: Multiple means of action and expression through physical movement and verbal expression of communication explaining story.
Principle 3: Multiple means of engagement by being paired with peers to share, create and perform in a small group activity.
APPENDIX
Extended Learning Activities: Any grade level can use story telling through dance in any subject. Exploring more with science one might use the lifecycle of a butterfly, how plants grow, sexual and asexual reproduction, any of the systems of the body work beautifully.
Recipes
FRONT:
  1. Cold air from the NORTH move SOUTH
  2. Warm air from the SOUTH moves NORTH
  3. The point at which the cold and warm air meet is the front.
COLD FRONT:
  1. Warm air is on the ground.
  2. Cold air moves in under the warm air and pushes it up and out.
  3. Violent thunderstorms are a result.
WARM FRONT:
  1. Cold air is on the ground.
  2. Warm air moves in and pushes the cold air back.
  3. Usually light rain and drizzle is a result.
STATIONARY FRONT:
  1. A warm front and cold front meet and remain in place, neither pushing the other away.
  2. There will be rain for several days.

2/4/13