Adapting Lessons for Grade School Students

[My Notes]
There are so many great resources out there for teaching so many things, but often the lessons I find online do not match the grade level I am looking for.  So then I am in the position of choosing to keep looking or figure out how to adapt the lesson to my students' level.
This week I was looking for a lesson to dovetail on the 3rd grade's exploration of the Harlem Renaissance.  When I was talking with the teachers, they said that they would like the students to hear more of the poetry and music of the time.
So I went looking for a "culture gallery" of the Harlem Renaissance appropriate for 3rd grade, and I have not found it yet.  I did find a great site designed for 9th grade and it was put together by readwritethink.org.  The resources linked from here are good and the classification activity is solid, the students are asked to create a Venn Diagram about Art, Music, and Poetry of the time.
My challenge is to make this content accessible and provide enough scaffolding that the students can explore a topic and create a Venn diagram in the time available.  To do this I am going to jigsaw the work, have students work in pairs, and have 3 pairs team up and share information.  I am also going to make the "research" much more simple and create a gallery of art, music, and poetry.  The galleries will all be on one page so the students do note have to "go" anywhere else.  Lastly I will create a paper scaffolding sheet so they can keep track of the words they are using to describe each category of art.

[the 3rd Grade Lesson]

Understanding The Harlem Renaissance Through Art, Music, and Poetry

We are learning about the Harlem Renaissance by looking at and listening to the art, music, and poetry of the time.  Today in class you will be paired up into observation teams.  each team will look at and listen to a different part of the Harlem Renaissance experience through art, music, and poetry.  As you observe you will take notes about what you observe, writing down words that describe what you see or hear.  
You will work with your group to create a diagram that shows what qualities art, music, and poetry of the time have in common.  We will create the Venn diagram on the computer and print it out when we are done.
A Venn diagram

Observation and Note-Taking

Art:

Watch this video, pause it as you need to if you want to get a better look at the images.



You will need to be ready to share your list of words that descibe this art with your team members:

Poetry:


Listen to the poems of Langston Hughes



Read the poems "Harlem" by Walter Dean Myers

You will need to be ready to share your list of words that descibe this poetry with your team members:

Music:

If your pair has been assigned music, watch the overview video and listen to a couple of songs.  Then work together to create a list of words that you feel describe the music.


Over View of: Jazz and Blues of the Harlem Renaissance



A Playlist of songs



You will need to be ready to share your list of words that descibe this music with your team members:

Looking for more resources?  Check out the books from our Library:


Making your Venn Diagram.

1. You need to complete your List of Characteristics for music, art, or poetry.
2. Meet with the other teams and share your list.
3. Copy their list onto your notes.

Your First screen:

Type your first name in the box and then click on "Begin by Making a List"
Add the words from your Art notes, be sure to spell them correctly! When you have all the words copied, click next.
Add the words from your Music notes, be sure to spell them correctly! When you have all the words copied, click next.
Add the words from your Poetry notes, be sure to spell them correctly! When you have all the words copied, click next.

You will place each word onto the circle that applies.  Look for words that were on more than one list, place those on the overlapping of the circles they share.  Think about your terms, do some seem to apply to music, art, and poetry? place these on the area where all 3 overlap.  You can use the + and - signs on each circle to make it bigger as you need.  

When you are done, please print.  You cannot save the image or share without printing.  



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