Grade 4 Fine Arts Connecticut Standards

communicate information to peers about people, events, time and place related to classroom dramatizations.

demonstrate understanding of how the visual arts are used in the world around us; and

Connections

sing in groups, blending vocal timbres, matching dynamic levels, and responding to the cues of a conductor.

Students will apply analytical and evaluative thinking skills in dance.

Students will design and produce the technical elements of theatre through artistic interpretation and execution.

Students will act by developing, communicating and sustaining characters.

Students will identify and perform movement elements and dance skills.

History And Cultures

Students will demonstrate an understanding of dance in various cultures and historical periods.

Thinking Skills

identify and describe the choreographic structure of their own dances in simple terms.

compare how ideas and emotions are expressed in theatre, dance, music and visual arts;

Connections

identify various purposes for creating works of art;

Students will understand and apply elements and organizational principles of art.

improvise short songs and instrumental pieces, using a variety of sound sources, including traditional sounds, nontraditional sounds available in the classroom, body sounds, and sounds produced by electronic means.

Students will make connections between the visual arts, other disciplines and daily life.

Students will make connections between dance, other disciplines and daily life.

observe and describe the movement elements (action, space, dynamics) in a brief movement study.

identify ways in which the principles and subject matter of music and other disciplines taught in the school are interrelated.

demonstrate understanding of spatial concepts through, for example:<ul><li>shape-making at low, middle and high levels;</li><li>defining and maintaining personal space; and</li><li>demonstrating movements in straight and curved pathways;</li></ul>

identify and compare similar characters and situations in stories and dramas from and about various cultures, create classroom dramatizations based on these stories and dramas, and discuss how theatre reflects life; and

use variations of locomotor and nonlocomotor movement and vocal pitch, tempo and tone for different characters; and

identify by genre or style aural examples of music from various historical periods and cultures;

Instrumental

demonstrate accuracy in memorizing and reproducing simple movement phrases; and

select and use subject matter, symbols and ideas to communicate meaning.

articulate emotional responses to and explain personal preferences about whole dramatic performances as well as parts of those performances; and

Students will analyze, critique and construct meanings from works of theatre.

demonstrate audience behavior appropriate for the context and style of music performed.

identify possible improvements in the process of creating their own work.

Students will evaluate music and music performances.

explore, discover and realize multiple solutions to a given movement problem, choose their favorite solution and discuss the reasons for their choice;

recognize that there are different responses to specific works of art;

perform expressively a varied repertoire of music representing diverse genres and styles;

Healthful Living

observe two dances and discuss how they are similar and different in terms of one of the elements of dance (such as space) by observing body shapes, levels, pathways; and

create and arrange music to accompany readings or dramatizations;

Students will make connections between dance and healthful living.

Analysis

respond to a dance using another art form, and explain the connections between the dance and their response to it (for example, making a painting about a dance and describing the connections); and

Students will make connections between music, other disciplines and daily life.

use standard symbols to notate meter, rhythm, pitch and dynamics in simple patterns presented by the teacher.

perform independent instrumental parts while other students sing or play contrasting parts.

describe visual characteristics of works of art using visual art terminology;

improvise dialogue to tell stories, and formalize improvisations by writing or recording the dialogue.

perform on pitch, in rhythm, with appropriate dynamics and timbre, and maintain a steady tempo;

differentiate between a variety of media, techniques and processes;

observe and discuss how dance is different from other forms of human movement (such as sports, everyday gestures);

perform easy rhythmic, melodic and chordal patterns accurately and independently on rhythmic, melodic and harmonic classroom instruments;

present their own dances to peers and discuss their meanings with confidence.

design the playing space to communicate characters and action in specific locales; and

read whole, half, dotted half, quarter and eighth notes and rests in 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 meter signatures;

describe how the visual arts are combined with other arts in multimedia work;

imagine and clearly describe characters, their relationships and their environments;

identify and compare the various cultural settings and reasons for creating dramas and attending theatre.

demonstrate the following partner skills: copying, leading and following, mirroring;

use the elements of art and principles of design to communicate ideas.

Students will compose and arrange music.

perform in groups, blending instrumental timbres, matching dynamic levels, and responding to the cues of a conductor; and

identify and demonstrate basic dynamic contrasts (slow/quick, gentle/strong);

Students will understand the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.

demonstrate appropriate audience behavior in watching dance performances, and discuss their opinions about the dances with their peers in a supportive and constructive way.

echo short rhythms and melodic patterns;

Students will direct by planning or interpreting works of theatre and by organizing and conducting rehearsals.

identify various careers available to theatre artists.

Students will sing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of songs.

Analysis, Interpretation And Evaluation

identify the different ways visual characteristics are used to convey ideas;

Connections

Elements And Principles

improvise, create and perform simple dances based on concepts suggested by the teacher and their own feelings and ideas; and

assume roles (based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature and history) in classroom dramatizations.

Students will understand choreographic principles, processes and structures.

Improvisation

recognize that the visual arts have a history and a variety of cultural purposes and meanings;

History And Cultures

History And Cultures

create art work that demonstrates understanding of how history or culture can influence visual art.

analyze classroom dramatizations and, using appropriate terminology, constructively suggest (1) alternative ideas for dramatizing roles, arranging environments and developing situations and (2) means of improving the collaborative processes of planning, playing, responding and evaluating.

recognize that works of visual art are produced by artisans and artists working in different cultures, times and places.

use art media and tools in a safe and responsible manner.

Acting

create a dance project that reveals understanding of a concept or idea from another discipline (such as pattern in dance and science);

answer questions about dance in a particular culture and time period (for example: In colonial America, why and in what settings did people dance? What did the dances look like?).

Media

describe in simple terms how elements of music are used in music examples from various cultures of the world;

Students will consider, select and apply a range of subject matter, symbols and ideas.

use different media, techniques and processes to communicate ideas, feelings, experiences and stories; and

use improvisation to discover and invent movement and to solve movement problems;

create a dance phrase, repeat it, and then vary it (making changes in the time, space, and/or force/energy);

Creating

collaborate to select interrelated characters, environments and situations for classroom dramatizations; and

sing independently, on pitch and in rhythm, with appropriate timbre, diction and posture, and maintain a steady tempo;

improvise simple rhythmic and melodic ostinato accompaniments;

Connections

Evaluation

respond through purposeful movement to selected prominent music characteristics or to specific music events while listening to music.

Students will create theatre through improvising, writing and refining scripts.

Students will understand how dance creates and communicates meaning.

use appropriate terminology in explaining music, music notation, music instruments and voices, and music performances;

describe how different expressive features, and ways of organizing them, cause different responses; and

discuss a variety of sources for art content; and

explain how the wants and needs of characters are similar to and different from their own;

sing from memory a varied repertoire of songs representing genres and styles from diverse cultures;

Students will play, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of instrumental music.

perform folk dances from various cultures with competence and confidence;

explain how healthful practices (such as nutrition, safety) enhance their ability to dance, citing multiple examples.

describe their personal responses to specific works of art using visual art terminology; and

sing expressively, with appropriate dynamics, phrasing and interpretation;

identify similarities and differences in the meanings of common terms used in the various arts; and

select movement, music or visual elements to enhance the mood of a classroom dramatization;

identify connections between characteristics of the visual arts and other arts disciplines;

Analysis, Criticism And Meaning

Students will understand music in relation to history and culture.

use a system (that is, syllables, numbers or letters) to read simple pitch notation in the treble clef in major keys;

Vocal

identify connections between theatre and other disciplines in the curriculum; and

create a sequence or simple dance with a beginning, middle and end, both with and without a rhythmic accompaniment, and identify each of these sequence parts;

Students will reflect upon, describe, analyze, interpret and evaluate their own and others' work.

Notation

Students will listen to, describe and analyze music.

Students will understand, select and apply media, techniques and processes.

identify the sounds of a variety of instruments, including many orchestra and band instruments, and instruments from various cultures, as well as children's voices and male and female adult voices; and

History And Cultures

identify specific works of art as belonging to particular styles, cultures, times and places; and

perform a dance from a resource in their own community, and describe the cultural and/or historical context (how and why this dance is/was performed); and

Students will improvise melodies, variations and accompaniments.

identify symbols and traditional terms referring to dynamics, tempo and articulation and interpret them correctly when performing; and

Students will make connections between theatre, other disciplines and daily life.

identify and describe the visual, aural, oral and kinetic elements of classroom dramatizations and dramatic performances;

Choreography

demonstrate eight basic locomotor movements (walk, run, hop, jump, leap, gallop, slide and skip), traveling forward, backward, sideward, diagonally and turning;

explain, using appropriate music terminology, their personal preferences for specific musical works and styles.

Composition

improvise "answers" in the same style to given rhythmic and melodic phrases;

identify various uses of music in their daily experiences and describe characteristics that make certain music suitable for each use;

identify simple music forms when presented;

sing ostinatos, partner songs and rounds; and

Researching And Interpreting

Students will research, evaluate and apply cultural and historical information to make artistic choices.

collaboratively plan and prepare improvisations and demonstrate various ways of staging classroom dramatizations.

demonstrate the ability to work effectively alone and with a partner;

Meaning

improvise simple rhythmic variations and simple melodic embellishments on familiar melodies; and

video record a simple dance (after collaborative planning in small groups) which successfully shows the concept or idea that drives the dance.

describe how different media, techniques and processes cause different effects and personal responses;

collaborate to select and safely organize available materials that suggest scenery, properties, lighting, sound, costumes and makeup.

devise criteria for evaluating performances and compositions; and

describe visual, aural, oral and kinetic elements in theatre, dance, music and visual arts;

take an active role ina class discussion about interpretations of and reactions to dances that are either produced in class or viewed in the theatre or on video; and

Technical Production

Directing

identify and describe roles of musicians in various music settings and cultures; and

use a variety of sound sources when composing.

Students will read and notate music.

demonstrate kinesthetic awareness and concentration in performing movement skills;

identify connections between the visual arts and other disciplines in the curriculum;

Students will demonstrate an understanding of context by analyzing and comparing theatre in various cultures and historical periods.

demonstrate accuracy in moving to a musical beat and responding to changes in tempo;

describe the skeleton and how it works in simple terms; and

Elements and Skills

Content

create and arrange short songs and instrumental pieces within specified guidelines; and

demonstrate nonlocomotor movements (such as bend, twist, stretch, swing, sway);

identify at least three personal goals to improve themselves as dancers;

demonstrate perceptual skills by moving in response to, by answering questions about, and by describing aural examples of music of various styles representing diverse cultures;