Unit 7: Singer, Song, Drum, Rattle, Flute, Dance

May 14, 2024

Drum, Singer, Song, Storyteller

Essential Understandings

Essential Understandings TH/SH

Essential Understanding 1: Since Time Immemorial

Essential Understanding 2: Sovereignty

Essential Understanding 3: History

Essential Understanding 5: Identity

Essential Understanding 6: Lifeways

Essential Understanding 7: Language

Essential Understandings NMAI:

Essential Understanding 1: American Indian Cultures

Essential Understanding 2: Time, Community, and Change

Essential Understanding 3: People, Places, and Environments

Essential Understanding 4: Individual Development and Identity

Grade Themes

K: All About Me

1: My Home, My Family, My School

2: My Neighborhood

 

Overview

This Unit will allow students to learn about Music as Identity & Self-Expression; and will allow students to learn about traditional Native American instruments and movements.

 

 

 

 

 

Logistics

Where does this activity take place?

Classroom

How are students organized? 

Whole class

 

Time Required

  • Each Lesson contains a 5-day scope and sequence.
  • Each Day is approximately 20-30 minutes in duration.
  • The Unit will take approximately 5 weeks to complete.presentations.

 

Assessment Outcomes

  • Students will learn about various traditional Native American movements and artists.
  • Students will practice and perform multiple movement activities to a steady beat.
  • Students will show active listening during a read-aloud and answer questions connected to the text; identifying key details from picture and text.

Oregon Standards

Oregon Reading & Language Arts Content Standards

1.RL.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

1.RL.2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

1.RL.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

Oregon Art Standards

MU.8.RE2.2 1. Demonstrate knowledge of music concepts and how they support creators’/performers’ expressive intent.

DA.1.CR1.1 1. Explore movement inspired by a variety of stimuli and identify the sources of movement inspiration.

Background for Teachers

  • Teachers should know that storytelling has been influenced by Indigenous Peoples since time immemorial.
  • Teachers should know that these terms are/can be used interchangeably: Natives, Native Americans, Indigenous, Indigenous Peoples.

Key Terms

Big Drum: A large traditional Native American drum used during powwows and ceremonies; often made of wood, with stretched animal hide. Producing a low pitched sound.

Hand Drum: A small traditional Native American drum that is held in one’s hand; that is made of wood, with stretched animal hide. Producing both low and high pitched sounds.

Regalia: Traditional clothing that is handmade with ribbons, sequins, porcupine quills, beads, eagle feathers; worn with responsibility and pride during powwows and ceremony.

Jingle Dancer: A performer in Jingle Dress Dance during a powwow.

Fancy Dancer: A performer in Fancy Dance during a powwow.

Grass Dancer: A performer in Grass Dance during a powwow.

Powwow: A Native American ceremony in which celebrates culture, community, dance, food, elders, and relatives.

Flute: A handheld woodwind instrument that produces high pitched sounds.

Rattle: A handheld instrument that is made of a type of shell wrapped in animal hide, inside is either rocks, cherry pits, bones, or seeds. Producing rapid sounds in succession.

Key Ideas to Be Aware of and Keep in Mind

  • Traditional Native American music, instruments, and community events have been ongoing since time immemorial.
  • In addition to Traditional Native American music, modern day/contemporary Native American Artists are present with a continued theme of Community.
  • Music, Movement, and Dance that is performed during a Powwow (or ceremony) is sacred.

 

Before Delivering These Lessons

  • Watch/Listen to each suggested recording in its entirety to check for school and age-appropriate content.
  • Pre-read each read-aloud for fluency and question/answer assessment and discussion.
  • Open a free Epic! account, a digital reading platform.

 

Materials

 

 

Unit Learning Targets

  • I can identify and discuss similarities and differences of our identities within our classroom community.
  • I can develop self-confidence and self-expression through movement.
  • I can explore traditional Native American instruments and dance.
  • I can keep a steady beat through movement.
  • I can understand the connections between music and the world around me.

Course Content