Integrating Music Across the Elementary Curriculum

Book excerpt: This book is designed to support K-5 classroom teachers as they integrate music throughout the elementary curriculum. It contains detailed, practical ideas and examples, including full lesson plans and over 100 teaching ideas and strategies for integrating music with visual art, language arts, social studies, science, and mathematics. Following an overview of the interdisciplinary approach, the remaining chapters explore connections between music and other areas of the elementary curriculum. Each chapter also includes a section addressing national standards with tables showing the specific standards that are included in each lesson and activity. This text utilizes the most recent National Core Arts Standards (2015) as well as the most recent standards in mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts. All the lessons in this book are designed to be fully taught by classroom teachers; the content is accessible to those who lack formal music training, yet is solidly rooted in research and best practices. While classroom teachers can teach these lessons on their own, this book may facilitate partnerships and collaboration between classroom teachers and music specialists. All the lessons and activities included in this text have been reviewed by practicing teachers and most have been field tested in elementary classrooms. Throughout the book, there is an emphasis on interdisciplinary lessons that demonstrate valid connections between disciplines while maintaining the integrity of each discipline involved, including a teacher-tested model that allows teachers to successfully create their own interdisciplinary lessons.