Lesson Title / Germs are Everywhere!!!!
A lesson integrating Media Arts, Music, and Health
School
Grade Level / East Aiken School of the Arts
4th Grade
Lesson Writer / Erica Neal
Statement about the writer,
Long Range Plans, and
Lesson Development / I am a 4th Grade Math and Science teacher. I have my Masters in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on Integrating the Arts into the Basic Curriculum.
This instruction came in the middle of January during flu season. The reason for this lesson was because there were a lot of flu cases in our school and I needed to make sure the students understood how serious it was to keep their hands clean and cover their mouths because of how quickly germs are spread. We also talked about the flu as being a communicable disease and how to stop the spread of pathogens. I wanted my students to actually see what happens when we touch things and have germs on our hands.
Unit Description / This unit helped students understand what the flu actually was and how quickly it spread. We also integrated technology in this lesson as well as music composition. This unit will take at least 5 days of 30 minutes or more sessions.
Enduring Understanding / The enduring understandings in this lesson were to identify what the flu is, how quickly it can spread and how to prevent the spread of the flu.
Essential Question / How can I prevent the spread of communicable diseases on a daily basis?
SC Academic Content Standards / SC Health Standard 1: The student will comprehend concepts related to health promotion to enhance health.
SC Health Indicators:
P-4.1.1 Define the term “pathogens”.
P-4.1.2 Describe ways to prevent or contain communicable diseases.
SC Academic Standards for the Visual and Performing Arts Implemented / VA. 4-2.3 Use visual structures and functions of art to create artworks that communicate ideas
MG 4-2.5 Demonstrate creativity by composing and arranging musical patterns
MA 4-1.2 Use a variety of media technologies, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas.
Instructional Objectives / At the end of this lesson, the students will be able to:
  1. Define and identify different communicable diseases (mainly the flu).
  2. Define and identify what a pathogen is.
  3. Create their own stanza of a song to the tune of Happy Birthday.
  4. Create an illustration of their germ.
  5. Create movements to their stanza and record it using the Aurasma app on the iPad.

Description of Instruction / The methods of instruction in this lesson are whole group and cooperative learning groups to work together and create their stanza and movements to the song.
Teacher Procedures and Student Tasks / Day 1
  1. The teacher will first lead students in a discussion using the following questions:
  2. What causes the flu?
  3. What is a pathogen?
  4. How can you protect against the flu?
  5. What are germs?
  6. Can you see germs?
  7. Where do germs live?
  8. After the discussion, the students, with the teacher, will read Chapter 7 in the health textbook. This chapter talks about communicable diseases, pathogens, and ways to stop the spread of pathogens.
  9. We will then talk about what a pathogen is and what they look like. We will also talk about how germs are everywhere and they spread very quickly.
  10. First, the teacher will have a student hold up their hand and ask if the class can see the germs on this student’s hand. The teacher will explain that germs are so small that we cannot see them with the human eye.
  11. The teacher will show the students glitter. She will explain that the glitter will represent the germs. The class is going to see whether or not germs spread.
  12. The teacher will put lotion on all the students’ hands and they will only rub the lotion in a little bit. The extra lotion will make the glitter stick better. The teacher will explain that the lotion represents sweat on the students’ hands and explain that any time we sweat we cause more germs to stick to our hands and body.
  13. The teacher will put glitter in the students’ hands and they will rub their hands together. They will show each other their hands and the teacher will ask if they can see the germs now. One half of the class will get green glitter and the other half will get red glitter.
  14. Next, students will high five, share a pencil, get things out of their bookbag, get a piece of paper out, etc. to show that germs spread when we are doing the things we do on a daily basis.
  15. At the end of this days lesson, students will stand with glittery hands and we will have a discussion on how we think we can stop the spread of germs.
  16. We will talk about washing with warm water and soap and singing the Happy Birthday song is the best way to get rid of germs.
Day 2-5
  1. The teacher will put up the words to the Happy Birthday song on the Smartboard. We will, as a class, sing it just to refresh the students’ memories on the tune of the song.
  2. The teacher will then use the cooperation challenge to put students into groups of 4.
  3. Students will then get in their groups and will write a stanza to a song about germs and the spread of germs to the tune of “Happy Birthday”
  4. Students will show the teacher their stanza and the teacher will work with the students to make sure it works with the tune of the song.
  5. After the students have finished their stanza, they will put motions to it and practice.
  6. Students will present their movements to the class and we will give constructive criticism to each group.
  7. Students will have time to practice before we record their song and motions.
  8. After the practice, students will record their movements with their words in an app called an Aurasma. After recorded, the teacher will put the video up on Aurasma.
  9. After videoing, the students will create an illustration to go with their stanza. The illustration will go up on in the classroom or on a bulletin board and it will be connected to Aurasma. When someone walks by the artwork, all they have to do is pull up Aurasma and point the camera towards the illustration and they will be able to see the video of the movements and the songs from the bulletin board.
  10. After the video, the students will complete a Quick Write explaining communicable diseases and how they can stop the spread of them.

Assessment / The students will be assessed on their cooperation within group work, their stanza and movements to their song, and also their quick write at the end of the unit.
Materials / Health textbook, computer, Smart Notebook, projector, computer paper, crayons, iPad with Aurasma app
Resources / Aurasma App, iPad
Attachments / Student examples are attached