This Unit at a Glance:

Grade Band:

Grades K-4
 

Integrated Subjects:
(click to view more lessons in these areas)

 

Targeted Standards:

The National Standards For Arts Education:

Dance (K-4)
Standard 3: Understanding dance as a way to create and communicate meaning

Dance (K-4)
Standard 7: Making connections between dance and other disciplines

Music (K-4)
Standard 9: Understanding music in relation to history and culture

Theater (K-4)
Standard 2: Acting by assuming roles and interacting in improvisations

Theater (K-4)
Standard 3: Designing by visualizing and arranging environments for classroom dramatizations

Theater (K-4)
Standard 4: Directing by planning classroom dramatizations

Theater (K-4)
Standard 5: Researching by finding information to support classroom dramatizations

Theater (K-4)
Standard 6: Comparing and connecting art forms by describing theatre, dramatic media (such as film, television, and electronic media), and other art forms

Visual Arts (K-4)
Standard 3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas

Visual Arts (K-4)
Standard 4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures

Visual Arts (K-4)
Standard 6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines

 

Other National Standards:

Geography II (3-5) Standard 9: Understands the nature, distribution and migration of human populations on Earth's surface

Geography II (3-5) Standard 10: Understands the nature and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics

Grades K-4 History II (3-4) Standard 4: Understands how democratic values came to be, and how they have been exemplified by people, events, and symbols

Language Arts II (3-5) Standard 4: Gathers and uses information for research purposes

Language Arts II (3-5) Standard 7: Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts

Physical Education II (3-6) Standard 1: Uses a variety of basic and advanced movement forms

Physical Education II (3-6) Standard 2: Uses movement concepts and principles in the development of motor skills

 

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Harlem

 
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Unit Overview:

This five-lesson curriculum unit for grades 3–4 (adaptable for higher or lower grades) introduces students to Harlem, starting with black migration from Africa and from the American South to the North, to the Harlem Renaissance (including jazz musicians, visual artists, writers, and poets), and on to aspects of daily Harlem life (then and now) such as family storytelling and street games. The multiple lessons, which can be taught independently from one another, include a wide array of maps, research and analytical skills, and writing exercises, as well as student activities such as creating visual artworks, oral presentations, and dance pieces.

 

Lesson Overviews:

Creative Voices of Harlem

In this lesson, students learn about the artists of the Harlem Renaissance.

 

Portrait of Place, Portrait of a Family

Students learn about portraying places and life stories, both literally and metaphorically, through text and performance.

 

The Great Migration

Students create a mural to learn about the migration of African Americans to Harlem.

 

Street Games

Students experience street games of Harlem by learning about and playing established games.

 

Musical Harlem

Students learn about the musicians of the Harlem Renaissance.

 
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