Grade 4
Galleons Simulation Incorporates Many Disciplines
Students in fourth grade use an interactive simulation unit, “Galleons,” to learn geography, history, math, science and music. As students “sail” across the Atlantic Ocean in the 1500’s, they learn about the challenges faced by the early explorers and their encounters with the people already living in the New World. Students map their progress using longitude and latitude and create astrolabes, one of the earliest navigation instruments used by explorers. They learn about the importance of nutrition in the lives of the sailors and how sailors prevented scurvy by eating citrus fruits. We add music to this study to connect with the people affected by these early explorations. In listening for tempo, meter, rhythm, style, mood and form, students appreciate the diversity of music of cultures from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Students listen to the court music of the 1500’s and study the sea shanties that lifted the hearts of sailors on board their ships. As the students “land” in the New World, they listen to and write about the music of the Incas, Aztecs and Iroquois. They complete their unit by researching and writing a report about one of the early explorers.
Year-long Science, Math and Music Connections
In fourth grade, science and math are integrated through the FOSS kits and their units. When the class studies health, they do an activity called “Construct a Gut” and build the digestive system out of paper, then measure the length of the intestines. In the Food and Nutrition part of the unit, students use math to measure the area of a fatty material rubbed on brown paper, then monitor the temperature of water and yeast to test for the presence of sugar in foods. In the water unit, students measure and record the volume of evaporating water, and in the structures unit they record plant growth in centimeters. In the electricity unit, students graph how many washers it takes to “break the force” of two magnets stuck together. These are just some examples of how math and science fit together during the year.
During the Mini-Society unit, students work on integrating their study of poetry, economics and music together as they create advertising jingles for their products they design to sell. They learn about rhyme, rhythm, meter, and tempo, and then write rhyming poems to fit music of known songs. They then present these to the class as a culminating activity.
During our student of fractions, we connect music and math by relating musical notation to fractions. For example, a half note can be expressed as two as two quarter notes in the same way as the fraction 1/2 is equivalent to 2/4. Students start by identifying the relationship between whole, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes and move on to finding the equivalents for dotted notes. They also highlight a section of music and convert the notes into fractions.
Water: Connecting Science and Music
In our science water unit, we explore surface tension, evaporation, condensation, and the power of water. We discuss watersheds, water quality and conservation issues. We also incorporate music into the unit as a way of enhancing student understandings. Students listen to Debussy’s “La Mer,” Smetana’s “The Moldau,” and a CD of water sounds in nature. We discuss how the composers used rhythm, tempo, and melody to convey different images of water. While listening to pieces a second time, students draw the images that come to their minds. Finally, students choose a body of water they are familiar with and compose a short piece of music using school software.