Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v5 - Grade 2

Lesson Video

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Performance objectives

• Listen to a story and know the characters' feelings.
• Use our bodies to move like different characters.
• Create sound effects using our hands and feet.
• Show emotions like happy, sad, or surprised with our faces.
• Work in a group to act out a short rhyme.

Lesson summary

This lesson introduces Grade 2 learners to the exciting world of integrated creative arts, focusing on how music, movement, and drama work together to tell stories and express emotions. In South Africa, our rich heritage is filled with storytelling (`iintsomi`), vibrant music, and expressive dance (like `gumboot` dancing or `indlamu`). This lesson connects directly to that cultural context, showing learners that they are already part of a long tradition of using their bodies and voices to create art. By exploring these elements, learners develop creativity, confidence, physical coordination, and emotional intelligence.

Lesson notes

This week, we are becoming storytellers using more than just our words! We will use music, movement, and drama to make stories come alive.

A. Music: The Sound of the Story Music helps to set the mood or feeling of a story. We can use our bodies or simple instruments to make music.

Rhythm: This is the beat of the music. It can be steady like a heartbeat (thump-thump, thump-thump) or a pattern of sounds. We can create rhythm by clapping our hands, tapping our feet, or snapping our fingers. This is called body percussion.

Example:* For a marching soldier in a story, we can create a strong, steady rhythm by stamping our feet: STOMP, STOMP, STOM

P. Tempo: This is how fast or slow the music is.

Example:* To show a tortoise character, we would use a very slow tempo (a slow, steady drum beat). To show a rabbit hopping away quickly, we would use a fast tempo (fast claps or quick taps on a tambourine).

Dynamics: This is how loud or soft the music is.

Example:* If a story has a scary giant, we can use a loud sound (like a big bang on a drum). If it has a secret whisper, we use a soft sound (like gently shaking a maraca or rubbing our hands together).

B. Movement: The Body of the Story Our bodies are amazing tools for storytelling. We use movement to show who the characters are and what they are doing.

Locomotor Movements: These are movements where we travel from one place to another.

Examples:* Walking, running, skipping, hopping, jumping, crawling, galloping.

How we use it:* A character might skip when they are happy, crawl like a baby, or run when they are being chased.

Non-Locomotor Movements: These are movements we do while staying in one spot.

Examples:* Stretching, bending, twisting, swaying, turning.

How we use it:* A character might stretch when they wake up in the morning, sway like a tree in the wind, or bend down to pick something up.

Levels: We can move at different levels to show different things.

High Level: Reaching for the sky like a tall giraffe or a bird flying.

Medium Level: Walking normally like a person.

Low Level: Crawling on the floor like an ant or a snake.

C. Drama: The Feeling of the Story Drama is about pretending to be someone or something else. We use our faces, bodies, and voices to show the feelings of the characters.

Facial Expressions: Our faces can show so many emotions without a single word! A smile shows happiness, a frown shows sadness, wide eyes show surprise, and a wrinkled nose can show anger.

Gestures: These are movements we make with our hands and arms. Waving hello, pointing at something, or shrugging our shoulders are all gestures.

Voice: How we use our voice can change the whole story.

Tone: Is the voice happy, sad, or angry?

Pitch: Is the voice high like a mouse or low like a giant?

Volume: Is the voice loud like a shout or soft like a whisper? By putting music, movement, and drama together, we can create a powerful performance! Guided Practice (With Solutions)

Question 1: Sound Effects for a Rhyme Let's use the rhyme "I'm a Little Teapot". How can we use body percussion to make the sounds in the rhyme?

Rhyme: "I'm a little teapot, short and stout. Here is my handle (action), here is my spout (action). When I get all steamed up, hear me shout! Tip me over and pour me out!" Worked Solution and

Commentary: Concept: The goal is to match sounds to the actions and words in the rhyme.

Step 1: For "When I get all steamed up...", we can create a sound for the steam. We can rub our hands together quickly to make a soft 'shushing' sound that gets faster and faster. This mimics the sound of water heating up.

Step 2: For "...hear me shout!", the teapot whistles. We can make a loud 'psssst' sound with our mouths or give one loud, sharp clap. This creates the climax of the line.

Step 3: For "Tip me over and pour me out!", we can make a pouring sound by saying "glug, glug, glug" or by making a soft, continuous 'shhhhh' sound as we pretend to pour.

Commentary: This exercise helps learners connect specific actions in a story to sounds they can create themselves, enhancing their understanding of musical storytelling (sound effects).

Question 2: Moving like Animals Let's imagine a story about a visit to the Kruger National Park. How would we move to show these three animals: an elephant, a snake, and a springbok? Worked Solution and

Commentary: Concept: This exercise uses different levels and types of movement (locomotor and non-locomotor) to portray animal characters.

Elephant: Elephants are large and slow. We would use heavy, slow locomotor movements. We can stomp our feet slowly and heavily. For the trunk (a non-locomotor movement), we can link our hands and swing our arms from side to side like a long trunk.

Snake: Snakes move low to the ground. We would use a low level. We can lie on our tummies and wiggle our bodies across the floor (locomotor). Or, we can stand up and make our arm move like a slithering snake (non-locomotor).