Third and Fourth
Overview
This lesson is designed to complement the Oakland East Bay Symphony Young people’s Concerts performance of Peter and the Wolf, and can be used both prior to and after the performance. The activities in the lesson support students’ literacy growth and encourage the development of critical thinking skills. Students will match instruments to the characters they represent in the symphony, re-write the story of Peter and the Wolf from the wolf’s perspective, engage in a debate on whether or not the wolf should be released from the zoo, and make homemade instruments.
Language Arts/ The Arts
Materials
Audio recording of Sergie Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf if possible, but not necessary
Jon Scieszka’s book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
Poster paper
Book paper
Drawing utensils
Materials for instruments
Objectives
Students will be able to do the following:
1. Describe how musical instruments can communicate particular ideas or moods in music.
2. Write a story that uses a character's traits and motivations to determine the causes for that character's actions.
3. Use details, examples, or anecdotes to explain or clarify their position on an issue.
5. Compose and improvise simple rhythmic and melodic patterns on classroom instruments.
Steps
In this activity students will listen to Sergie Prokofiev’s Symphony Peter and the Wolf and match the instruments to the characters they represent.
1. Explain to students that Sergie Prokofiev composed the Peter and the Wolf symphony to introduce children to the different instruments of the orchestra.
2. Read the story of Peter and the Wolf to your class. An online version of the story can be found at http://library.thinkquest.org/17321/data/estext.html.
3. Stop at different points in the story and ask students to guess which instrument Prokofiev might have used to represent the character.
4. Tell students that they are going to listen to instruments and try to match them to the corresponding story character.
5. Write the following lists of instruments and characters on the board.
6. Go to the http://www.dsokids.com/2001/instrumentchart.htm Web site and click on the instruments listed above. Each link leads to a page that gives a brief description, history and sound clip of the corresponding instrument.
7. As you play the sound clip of each instrument, ask students to guess which character that particular instrument is representing and record their answers.
8. After everyone has finished, replay each instrument and ask students what character they thought it was and discuss the reasons for their choices. Example: The instrument made a loud bang that sounded like a gun.
Answers
Strings-Peter
Tympani- Hunters' Guns
Flute – Bird
Horns – Wolf
Clarinet – Cat
Oboe – Duck
Bassoon – Peter's Grandfather
Post-Concert Activities
Activity One
In this activity students will rewrite the story of Peter and the Wolf from the wolf’s perspective.
1. Read Jon Scieszka’s book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs to your class.
2. Discuss how this story differs from the classic tale of The Three Little Pigs when it is told from the wolf’s perspective.
3. Read the story of Peter and the Wolf to your class. An online version of the story can be found at http://library.thinkquest.org/17321/data/estext.html. You may also choose to copy the story from the site and pass it out to the students.
4. Ask students to rewrite the story of Peter and the Wolf from the wolf’s perspective.
5. Tell students not to change the plot of the story, but to retell the story from the wolf’s point-of-view.
6. Have students progress through the writing process (e.g., prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing successive versions).
Teacher Note: These Web sites offer information on the writing process.
http://www.angelfire.com/wi/writingprocess/
http://serv1.ncte.org/teach//Mathias13085.html
7. Explain to students that because they are “publishing” this book, the text needs to be free from errors.
8. Conference with each student and address the following items:
9. Ask students to illustrate their books.
10. Bind the pages together.
11. Have a class book party so that students can share their books with their classmates.
12. The following is a list of possible discussion questions to use after everyone has shared their story:
In this activity students will debate whether or not the wolf should be released from the zoo.
1. Tell students to imagine that the Peter and the Wolf story really happened and they live in the community where the wolf is being kept in the zoo. Tell them that some local residents think the wolf should be released from the zoo, and they are being asked to take a stand on the issue.
2. Ask students to decide if they think the wolf should be kept at, or released from, the zoo.
3. The students will create the following items to help convince people to either free the wolf or keep it in the zoo:
Teacher Note: Students’ written statements should
· Provide an introductory paragraph.
· Establish and support a central idea with a topic sentence at or near the beginning of the first paragraph.
· Include supporting paragraphs with simple facts, details, and explanations.
· Conclude with a paragraph that summarizes the points.
4. Display the finished posters and slogans around the room.
Teacher Note: Create a panel to hear the students’ arguments and make a decision on the wolf controversy. This panel might include parents, school administrators or students from other classes.
5. Have the students take turns reading their arguments to the panel.
6. After hearing all of the arguments, ask the panel members to discuss the issue among themselves and draft a brief statement to read to the class.
Activity Three
In this lesson students will make homemade instruments and use them to represent the characters in the book The Musicians of Bremen.
1. Read the story The Musicians of Bremen. An online version of the story can be found at http://www.interest.de/~krausst/grimm/musicians.of.bremen.html. You may also choose to copy the story from the site and pass it out to the students.
2. Ask the class to think about how Prokofiev used the instruments in Peter and the Wolf to represent the characters in the story. Instruct students to think about what instruments could be used to represent the animals in The Musicians of Bremen.
3. These Web sites contain directions on how to make homemade instruments.
http://menc.org/guides/wlc/tg02/Lesson6.html.
http://www.iit.edu/~smile/ph9416.html
Visit the sites to choose which instruments you would like to make with your class and copy the directions.
4. Break the class into small groups and provide them with materials to make the instruments.
5. Form small groups again and ask the students to complete the following tasks:
6. After all of the groups have finished their performances, ask each group to explain why it chose the instruments it did for the characters.
Learn about sound at The Sound Project Web site hosted by IBM, the Minnesota Orchestral Association and the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Music
Send students to this site to create their own music.
Create individual portfolios of students’ work.
Observe students in the following areas:
Conference with each student on these topics:
What did I learn from this project?
What do I still want to learn about this topic?
What part of my work on this project gives me a sense of achievement?
What would I do differently next time?
In what ways was I able to work with others on this project?
What did I like most about this project?
http://www.cde.ca.gov/standards/
Language Arts
1.0 Writing Strategies
Students write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a
central idea. Their writing shows they consider the audience and purpose.
Students progress through the stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting,
drafting, revising, editing successive versions).
3.0 Literary Response and Analysis
3.3 Determine what characters are like by what they say or do and by how the author or illustrator portrays them.
1.0 Written and Oral English
Language Conventions
Students write and speak with a command of
standard English conventions appropriate to this grade level.
Organization and Delivery of
Oral Communication
1.5 Organize ideas chronologically or around
major points of information.
1.6 Provide a beginning, a middle, and an end,
including concrete details that develop a central idea.
1.7 Use clear and
specific vocabulary to communicate ideas and establish the tone.
1.8
Clarify and enhance oral presentations through the use of appropriate props
(e.g., objects, pictures, charts).
Music
2.3 Play rhythmic and melodic ostinatos on classroom instruments.
4.3 Describe how specific musical elements communicate particular ideas or moods in music.
Compose, Arrange, and
Improvise
2.4 Create short rhythmic and melodic phrases in
question-and-answer form.
2.0 CREATIVE
EXPRESSION
Creating, Performing, and Participating in the Visual Arts
Students apply artistic processes and skills, using a variety of media to
communicate meaning and intent in original works of art.
Language Arts
3.0 Literary Response and Analysis
3.3 Use knowledge of the situation and setting and of a character's traits and motivations to determine the causes for that character's actions.
1.0 Writing Strategies
Students write clear, coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a
central idea. Their writing shows they consider the audience and purpose.
Students progress through the stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting,
drafting, revising, editing successive versions).
1.2 Create
multiple-paragraph compositions:
a. Provide an introductory paragraph.
b. Establish and support a central idea with a topic sentence at or near the
beginning of the first paragraph.
c. Include supporting paragraphs with
simple facts, details, and explanations.
d. Conclude with a paragraph that
summarizes the points.
e. Use correct indention.
1.0 Written and Oral English
Language Conventions
Students write and speak with a command of
standard English conventions appropriate to this grade level.
Listening and
Speaking
1.0 Listening and
Speaking Strategies Students listen critically and respond appropriately
to oral communication. They speak in a manner that guides the listener to
understand important ideas by using proper phrasing, pitch, and
modulation.
1.2 Summarize major ideas and supporting evidence presented in spoken messages and formal presentations.
Organization and Delivery of
Oral Communication
1.5 Present effective introductions and
conclusions that guide and inform the listener's understanding of important
ideas and evidence.
1.6 Use traditional structures for conveying
information (e.g., cause and effect, similarity and difference, and posing and
answering a question).
1.7 Emphasize points in ways that help the listener
or viewer to follow important ideas and concepts.
1.8 Use details,
examples, anecdotes, or experiences to explain or clarify information.
1.9
Use volume, pitch, phrasing, pace, modulation, and gestures appropriately to
enhance meaning.
Compose, Arrange, and
Improvise
2.3 Compose and improvise simple rhythmic and melodic
patterns on classroom instruments.
2.0 CREATIVE EXPRESSION
Creating, Performing,
and Participating in the Visual Arts Students apply artistic processes and
skills, using a variety of media to communicate meaning and intent in original
works of art.