music/social studies

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Home : 2005 : April : 12

music/social studies
By cH

There are many connections that can be made between social studies and music. Here's a rough outline of one very obvious possibility, probably at 5th grade level:

AMERICA IN MUSIC
1. Teach "Fifty Nifty United States"
by Ray Charles (should be available in one of the series on the shelves in the the curriculum lab of your school) When students can sing the main part of this song, they can name all 50 states in alphabetical order.
2. Review "The Star-Spangled Banner" as needed, including singing, memorization, and brief history
3. Teach/Review "America" and "America the Beautiful" as needed. Both

these songs have melodies which invite work on developing vocal skills.

4. Add at least one listening lesson, such as Morton Gould's "American Salute" or Charles Ives' "Variations on America." Any 5th grade T.E. of a music text should have at least one patriotic listening lesson you could use.

Depending on the length of your unit, you could also include a rhythm activity, using unpitched percussion instruments. Paper plate routines with red, white, and blue Solo plates are fun with songs like "You're a Grand Old Flag." Criss-cross and other types of puzzles can be made to fit exactly the information you wish to cover at Discovery.com.

Hope this gives you some ideas!