Classroom Activities
My school district follows a precise instructional model for lesson plans. This model includes the following components: Snapshot, Lesson Objectives, Instructional Focus, Procedures and Activities (including Guided and Independent Practice), Class Review, Application, Assessment, Homework, and a Maintenance Moment. (22) See Appendix I for more details. Although I am using these components in the formation of my plans, the lessons in this unit can be adapted to any lesson plan format. Each lesson lasts forty-five minutes.
Lesson Plan 1
The opening lesson for my curriculum unit will awaken the senses. I will bring an assortment of chocolate products and kitchen utensils mentioned in "Bate, Bate Chocolate." The students will sing, chant, and create two Word Walls.
Snapshot
On a long table in the front of the classroom, I will assemble an assortment of chocolate products, chocolate candy bars, a molinillo, an olla para chocolate, a map of Mexico, and a bag of cacao beans. To increase student enthusiasm, I will wear a sombrero and display a Mexican flag in the front of the classroom next to the U. S. flag. In my opening remarks, I will ask the students what all of the objects and pictures have in common. Then, I will have the students chorally read two sentences from MacLeod's Chock Full of Chocolate that I will write on the blackboard: "From ancient Mexico to outer space, chocolate's been there! The Aztec people were slurping hot chocolate more than seven hundred years ago." (23) I will circulate the objects around the room so that students can observe, touch, and smell them. This introductory snapshot is designed to take ten minutes of class time. I will play recordings of the song and chant versions of "Bate, Bate Chocolate" during this time.
Lesson Objectives
This opening lesson will include state objectives from the Music, World Studies, and Language Arts Standards of Learning objectives. See Appendix II for a list of these objectives.
Classroom Materials
The students will use the Share the Music 3 pupil book and CDs for this lesson. I will display the following items mentioned in the "Snapshot" on a table in front of the class. I will also be using a Word Wall of Objects and a Word Wall of Adjectives, both with accompanying index cards. Recordings will be used for listening purposes.
Instructional Focus
Using echo-speaking and echo-singing, I will use the next ten minutes to teach the "Bate, Bate Chocolate" chant and song to the students. The students will use their pupil books to look at the words. After teaching the chant and song, I will play recordings of both the chant and the song. I will have the students sing and chant with the recordings. Next, I will ask students to raise their hands if they can identify any item on the display table. I will then write the names of the items on index cards and post them on a Word Wall of Objects. Next, I will ask the students, "What adjectives would you use to describe chocolate?" Again, I will write down their words on index cards and post them on a separate Word Wall of Adjectives. Following this activity, I will tell the students that during the course of this unit they will have an opportunity to write three fun assignments about chocolate using the words that they have generated. I will allow ten minutes for the creation of the Word Walls.
Procedures and Activities
I will invite two students who know a hand game to the chant version to demonstrate the hand game while I guide the class in reciting the chant. I will then allow five minutes of independent practice for each student to learn the hand game with a partner.
Class Review, Application, and Informal Assessment
Class Review will consist of performing the chant and song once each with the recordings. Students will apply what they have learned by choosing a partner and chanting "Bate, Bate Chocolate" while playing the hand game. An informal assessment will involve the students singing the song with the recording without my assistance. This portion of the lesson will last approximately five minutes.
Homework and Maintenance Moment
For homework, students are required to bring their favorite chocolate candy bar to school. For students who may be allergic to chocolate, any candy bar will be acceptable. During the final five minutes of class I will have students recite the words from both Word Walls twice as I point to them.
Lesson Plan 2
This lesson will take place during week three of my unit. The goal for this lesson is for students to create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting "Bate, Bate Chocolate" and "Chocolate (Is My Favorite Vegetable)." In a subsequent lesson, students will use the information in the Venn Diagram to write three paragraphs explaining how the two chocolate songs are the same and how they are different. Lesson Plan 2, however, will be comprised primarily of teaching the music elements of both songs and placing the appropriate information about the music elements within the correct areas of the Venn Diagram.
Snapshot
During the first five minutes of class, I will review the song version of "Bate, Bate Chocolate" with the students. I will have the students sing the song with the recording. Then, I will draw a Venn Diagram on the blackboard. Next, I will use the overhead projector to show a transparency of the sheet music and follow the music notes and lyrics as they sing. Next, I will play "Chocolate (Is My Favorite Vegetable)" and write a skeletal outline of the song structure on the blackboard. Any song can be used to compare with "Bate, Bate Chocolate."
Lesson Objectives
This lesson will include state objectives from both the Music and Language Arts Standards of Learning. See Appendix II.
Classroom Materials
The students will use the song lyrics and music terminology charts to fill in the Venn Diagram. They will each need one sheet of construction paper. I will also use a Venn Diagram worksheet as an assessment tool. Recordings of both songs will be used for listening purposes.
Instructional Focus
For the next ten minutes of class, I will use direct instruction to reinforce music terms that the students have studied since Kindergarten. A review of the song lyrics will be first. Then, I will use my music terminology charts, which are a part of my cart set-up, to give definitions and pertinent examples that are present in both songs. For "Bate, Bate Chocolate" I will write the note names of the three-note melody version on the transparency, above the lyrics. Music teachers who will be teaching this unit can teach the pitch syllables that correspond to the three notes: do, low la and low ti. The students will be asked to identify the names of the notes used in the song and to show where the notes move up, down, or remain the same. Next, I will point out parts A and B and show the students how these two parts of the song are different, especially with respect to the note values used. The song is sung and written in AB form.
The next ten minutes of the lesson will be used to teach the music elements that are particular to "Chocolate (Is My Favorite Vegetable)." Any song with a comparable theme will suffice as the comparison song. We will first read the song lyrics and discuss what they mean in the context of the chocolate theme. I will develop the outline produced on the blackboard during the Snapshot. Next, I will instruct the students on this song's note names, with primary emphasis on the refrain. We will discuss the definition of a refrain and how the refrain plays an important role in the form of this song. We will then analyze the note values used.
Procedures and Activities
This component is timed to last approximately ten minutes. Using guided practice, I will assist the students in filling in a large Venn Diagram on the blackboard. We will begin with filling in the overlapping section with ways in which both songs are alike. Then we will identify ways in which each song is different from the other by using the music terminology of the "Instructional Focus." As independent practice, the students will fill in individual diagrams on construction paper using the information in the Venn Diagram on the blackboard.
Class Review, Application, and Informal Assessment
These components can be completed within the remaining ten minutes of class. Class Review will consist of reviewing the melody and lyrics of both songs. Students will apply what they have learned by orally answering random questions pertaining to each song's melody, form and lyrics. The informal assessment will be in the form of a worksheet on which students will answer three questions about Venn Diagrams:
- How many of circles are needed to produce a Venn Diagram?
- Are the shapes placed side-by-side or overlapping?
- What information is included in a Venn Diagram?
Homework and Maintenance Moment
For homework, students will take their Venn Diagrams home and study them in preparation for writing the explanatory paragraphs the following week. Students will use any remaining time as a maintenance or transitional moment to study their diagrams.
Lesson Plan 3
This lesson will take place during week six of my unit. The goal for this lesson is for students to write a poem using alliteration. To prepare for writing this poem, students will create a list of sensory words and phrases. This list will be utilized along with the Word Walls of Objects, Adjectives, and Spanish Words, to create an entertaining poem.
Snapshot
During the first five minutes of class, I will have students read the words on all existing Word Walls that have been created during this unit. They will read each Word Wall two times.
Lesson Objectives
This opening lesson will include state objectives from the Music, World Studies, and Language Arts Standards of Learning. See Appendix II.
Classroom Materials
The students will use the Word Walls of Objects, Adjectives, and Spanish Words, as well as a list of Sensory Notes. I will also have the objects from Lesson Plan 1 on display for the students to see, touch, and smell.
Instructional Focus
For the next ten minutes of class, I will read a passage from renowned chef and food historian, Rick Bayless, in which he describes entering a chocolatera in Oaxaca, a city in Mexico: "Her cacao beans crackled as they roasted, her charcoal-heated metate coarsely ground the greasy beans back and forth with the cinnamon, almonds and sugar, and her hands patted the paste into fat cigar shapes. . . ." (24) These words offer a vivid description that will certainly create interest. Bayless's thoughts give students terms that describe what he sees, hears, smells, and tastes in a quaint eatery in Mexico. Using direct instruction, I will identify some of these sensory words and phrases.
Procedures and Activities
This next component is timed to last approximately five minutes. Using guided practice, I will assist students in locating other sensory words and phrases in the passage. Next, students will work independently to write down a personal list of sensory words and phrases formulated from their hands-on experiences with the displayed objects, and from their individual feelings and thoughts regarding Bayless's passage. Students will share their words with the class, and I will then write them on the blackboard in one list labeled "Sensory Words and Phrases."
Class Review, Application, and Informal Assessment
These components can be completed within the remaining twenty minutes of class. Class Review will consist of chorally reading all of the sensory words and phrases and then reading the words that begin with the letter c. Next, students will apply what they have learned by identifying words from the other Word Walls that begin the letter c. I will write these words on the blackboard next to the sensory words. From the Word Walls, the words listed on the board, and other words that individuals may generate themselves, each student will individually write a poem using alliteration, based on words that begin with the letter c. Using the title "A Chocolate Dream," the informal assessment will be for the students to write their poem in a way that will be entertaining.
Homework and Maintenance Moment
For homework, students will practice their poems so that they may read them for their classmates for the next music class. As a closing activity, students will swap papers and read another classmate's poem. If there is ample time, partners may offer constructive criticism.
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