1. TJ 641 – Introduction to Art and Music. Unit Plan: Kenyan Safari No. of Lessons: 5 Class Size: 23

2. This unit of work will consist of 5 lessons of music relating to the fun and enjoyable topic of a Kenyan safari. Students will work in 5 groups of 4 and one group of 3 in researching an animal that you might see on a Kenyan safari for example a zebra or a giraffe. They will research their habitat what they eat and any fun or useful facts and information they can about their animal. This will follow them to making a performance of either a song, a song and dance, or a short play that includes a song about their chosen animal. This unit will hopefully give the students an understanding of different animals that you might see on a safari and useful facts about them conveying their information through the art of music and performance to their classmates. This will be a fun and enjoyable task for the students and will give them confidence in drama and speaking to their classmates and analyzing their and others work. This will be done without pushing students to perform anything they don’t want to be doing.

3. Lesson 1 - Use this as an introductory lesson to the unit. - Brainstorm with the students about safari’s by reading them a story book with pictures of animals that also shows the climate and habitat of the animals. Lesson 2 -This lesson is for the students to be put in groups and to choose an animal they wish to research. - make sure that the students research all different facts about their animal that they can use for the performance. Lesson 3 -This lesson is a follow on from the previous with researching their animal. - students should be thinking about their final performance ie. Their song, dance, or performance

4. Lesson 4 -Give them examples of songs about animals show them the use of facts and information in songs. Cues pitch, rhythm, tempo and structure. -Start the groups on writing their songs or short plays, for advanced groups begin practicing their song or performance. Lesson 5 -Use this lesson to rework and refine all of the groups songs or scripts. Emphasize the importance of their information and delivery of their song, pitch, rhythm etc. - Give them more time to practice songs, encourage them to bring in costumes/dress-ups from home for final performance. Video record or voice record each groups performance get them to perform in front of class or even at school assembly if confident.

5. The students will be working in groups which will make it easier for the teacher to control. This also bring in that some students may not contribute to the task effectively so give all students a sheet so they all have to research the animal and then rejoin as a group after the allotted time to jigsaw their ideas together. This is a very effective way to gather information by some students may miss some important information that others can pick up on and then share with the group. There is also importance on having specialized books for students to use also so that students don’t all race to the computers and arguments may begin. As a teacher it is important to have all eyes on students where possible at all times. By having these resources ready for students use it cuts down the managerial time of the classroom spending more time on the actual activity at hand.

6. Assessment is a very integral part of any unit and it is important to give students at level 4 the chance to self evaluate and peer evaluate. This gives them the opportunity to give constructive criticism as well as complements on the performance that will be conducted at the end of the unit. The students will be assessed by you as the teacher by following the set criteria as explained in class on their research sheet and their overall performance on the final presentation being enjoyable by class by themselves and by the teacher. This is all mainly about the confidence of children that they can feel comfortable in front of a crowd and have to basic skills to approach song and dance as a way to convey a message or even sometimes complex information.

7. Level 4: “They begin to reflect on their responses to other people’s works and consider other’s perspectives when discussing arts works. Students research, improvise, practice and rehearse skills, techniques and processes, using a range of media, materials, equipment and technologies.” – by using the self assessment and peer assessment this fits in by them thinking critically about others performances. The final performance the students will practice their skills in singing and or dance and performance. “They learn about ways to design, improvise, represent, interpret, make and present arts works that communicate feelings and their interests and understanding of themselves, their relationships and other people.” – creating a song from scratch using information entails a creative mind that they must use in their groups working together using previous experiences or interests they may have, sharing them with their group.

8. Pitch – how high or low a tone or note is when being sung. Tempo- this is how fast or slow you want your song to be either a quick upbeat song or a slow mallow song. Rhythm- to keep in rhythm or in time when singing together in a group. Structure- the structure of a song so it has rhythm and flows all together. There should be a chorus in a song and as many versus as you want

9. Duration: 60 min No. of students: 23 Objective: Students will be able to choose an animal they wish to study and compose a song about. They will work together and individually by gathering information and understanding some basic music structure. Equipment: Computers, animal books, worksheet and pencils for note taking.worksheet VELS: “Students research, improvise, practice and rehearse skills, techniques and processes, using a range of media, materials, equipment and technologies.” Teaching cues: 20 min- Give students time to explore the animals so they are choosing an animal that they will enjoy researching. This is a key element because if the student is interested they will complete the task more effectively.animals

10. Teaching Cues: 30 min- Make sure that students look at the following topics when researching their animal. Habitat, food, appearance, predators and any fun facts. Focus them on gaining useful information. 10 min- Make sure all groups have chosen an animal and they are happy with the decision. They should have already started researching with some good points of information already.

11. Gorilla Giraffe Zebra Monkey Elephant Rhino Lion

12. Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2007, March 19).Victorian Essential Learning Standards. Retrieved April 11, 2007,from http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/downloads/vels_standards/vels_arts.doc