Overview
Key Staff
Can be taught by a classroom teacher without outside assistance.
Key Skills
Making Art:
Performance Skills and Techniques
Developing Arts Literacies:
Applying Vocabulary
Global Connections:
Connecting to History and Culture
Creative Thinking:
Communication and Collaboration
Summary
After examining a poem about mountain creation from a Native American perspective and watching a scientifically-accurate film about mountain formation, students will write their own mountain-creation legend and use dramatization to demonstrate their understanding of one of the three ways a mountain can be formed. Additionally, they will create a mountain-shaped poem to conclude the lesson.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- Learn about mountains and geological time.
- Demonstrate understanding of connections between fact-based information and fictional sources.
- Work collaboratively with others to write a creation legend and produce a creative dramatization.
- Write a formatted poem about mountains.
Teaching Approach
Arts Integration
Teaching Methods
- Discussion
- Experiential Learning
- Large or Small Group Instruction
- Direct Instruction
Assessment Type
Performance Assessment
Preparation
What You'll Need
Materials
- Thin foam board in different colors
- Poem: “The Way to Make Perfect Mountains”
- Map, globe, or 3-D relief map
- Paper
- Pencils
Resources:
Required Technology
-
- 1 Computer per Classroom
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- Internet Access
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- Projector
Lesson Setup
Teacher Background
-
Obtain a copy of The Way to Make Perfect Mountains: Native American Legends of Sacred Mountains and read the poem of the same name by Byrd Baylor.
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Review video: How Mountains are Formed [http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/17733-mountains-how-mountains-are-formed-video.htm]
Prior Student Knowledge
Students should know the definition of “legend” (unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical).
Physical Space
Classroom
Grouping
- Large Group Instruction
- Small Group Instruction
Staging
Prepare open area for dramatization.
Accessibility Notes
Hearing impaired students may require signing or a transcript of the video. The video uses scientifically-accurate terms, which may be intimidating for some students, especially ESL.
The teacher may wish to spotlight certain terms from the video on the board and explain them once more.
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Instruction
Resources in Reach
Here are the resources you'll need for each activity, in order of instruction.
Engage
Build Knowledge
Reflect
Assess
Engage
1. Read “The Way to Make Perfect Mountains” by Byrd Baylor located within the Resource Carousel. Have students close their eyes while you read this poem to them. Ask them what they envisioned as the words were read. Guide the discussion by asking about colors, direction, birds, etc. You may want to recreate the legend on the blackboard using the four directions. Ask them if they think the mountains were actually created this way.
2. Discuss the definition of a legend. Explain that a legend is an unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical. It is fiction as opposed to factual. Ask students if they know any other legends.
Build Knowledge
1. Watch the video How Mountains are Formed about mountain formation. After viewing the film with students, reinforce the three types of mountain formation (folded, fault-block, and dome/volcanic) and terminology that is age- or grade-appropriate. Refer to worksheet. (NOTE TO TEACHERS: The film ends abruptly but all needed information is present.)
2. Locate major mountain ranges and state- or region-specific mountains on a map or globe. If possible, use a 3-D relief map to show mountain ranges. Have students “feel” the elevation. Identify the type of mountain, if possible.
3. Demonstrate mountain folding using flexible foam board. With the four layers of foam atop one another, apply pressure to two opposing ends. The layers will either bend upward or downward, to create folded mountains.
Apply
1. Write an original legend about mountain formation. Divide the class into small groups. Assign each group a type of mountain formation. Ask them to refer to the Mountain Formation worksheet for the science behind their type of mountain formation. Remind students that a legend is a fictional story that cannot be verified. Encourage them to be as creative as possible.
2. Produce and present each original legend as a dramatization. Each group will present its legend in dramatic form. You may choose to limit students to movement only (no verbalization), no props or costumes, etc. Ask the audience if they can determine the type of mountain formation by the presented legend.
Reflect
1. Write a mountain poem. Use the worksheet as a guide.
2. Display the final poems for the class (and others) to see.
Assess
Assess the student's work using the 'Assessment Rubric' located within the Resource Carousel
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Standards
The National Standards For Arts Education:
Theater
Grade K-4 Theater Standard 1: Script writing by planning and recording improvisations based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history
Grade K-4 Theater Standard 2: Acting by assuming roles and interacting in improvisations
Grade K-4 Theater Standard 3: Designing by visualizing and arranging environments for classroom dramatizations
Grade K-4 Theater Standard 4: Directing by planning classroom dramatizations
Language Arts
Language Arts Standard 1:
Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process
Language Arts Standard 2:
Uses the stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing
Language Arts
Language Arts Standard 8:
Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes
Science
Science Standard 2:
Understands Earth's composition and structure
