Developing New Units: Kindergarten

As I wrote in this post… A while back, our school put the entire How We Express Ourselves theme into the hands of the Arts teachers. In a lot of ways, this was a fantastic idea. (And in just as many ways, it requires quite a bit of support from other parts of staff in order to be effective.) As the subject leader at that time, this huge and exciting task was dropped into my hands. Maybe this can inspire those of you who may be looking to replace or revamp your current Programme of Inquiry.

The unit we created for Kindergarten (ages 5-6) focuses on folk music, folk tales, and folk art. This worked great for music. There were so many folk songs and folk dances to choose from, I could have done this all year! Of course, the unit only lasted for six weeks, but when scheduled early in the year, I could make connections to it all year long. By the end of the year, some of the children could ask some really good questions about culture based on the songs. Plus, with clever repertoire selection, we could find some wonderful commonalities in what cultures value and what they choose as subjects for their music.

A Tale to Tell
Subject Focus: Social Studies (Society), The Arts
Central Idea: Cultures around the world express their beliefs and values through folk art.

An inquiry into:

• The characteristics of folk art (visual art, folklore, music, dance)
• The use of folk art to transmit cultural values and core beliefs
• Differences and similarities in folk art around the world

Folk music is a huge part of any music curriculum. How do you dig deeper into your repertoire?