Lesson Overview
Animal Action
GRADES K-1 ELA AND MUSIC
Discuss and review words that come to mind when describing a lion/elephant. Chart these words according to their parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.).
Tell the students that they will be listening to the Lion/Elephant selections of “The Carnival of the Animals”. Then, play the lion/elephant music selection.
Lesson Process:
Step 1: Through discussion (What do the animals/their surroundings look like? What are they doing? Are they moving? How are they moving?), chart any additional descriptive words that the music brings to mind.
Step 2: Ask students to pantomime the lion/elephant when the music plays again. Add more descriptive words to the chart.
Step 3: In groups, have the children come up with several sentences using descriptive language about one of the animals. They can then illustrate their writing.
Step 4: Provide time to share finished products. Ask students to act out the sentences in a tableau. Other students can guess the sentences after seeing each tableau.
Step 5: As a class, discuss and praise the children’s use of descriptive language in their writing.
Time Required:
30-45 minutes
Materials List:
- “Carnival of the Animals” CD
- Chart Paper
- Markers, Crayons
- Drawing/Writing Paper
- Pencils
Assessment:
Students are able to generate a list of descriptive words before and after acting/moving like a lion or an elephant.
Students can use/identify the descriptive words in their writing.