Grades 5, 6, 7, 8

Dance

Music

Theater

Visual Arts

Identifying and demonstrating movement elements and skills in performing dance

Understanding choreographic principles, processes, and structures

Understanding dance as a way to create and communicate meaning

Applying and demonstrating critical and creative thinking skills in dance

Demonstrating and understanding dance in various cultures and historical periods

Making connections between dance and healthful living

Making connections between dance and other disciplines

Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music

Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music

Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments

Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines

Reading and notating music

Listening to, analyzing, and describing music

Evaluating music and music performances

Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts

Understanding music in relation to history and culture

Script writing by the creation of improvisations and scripted scenes based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history

Acting by developing basic acting skills to portray characters who interact in improvised and scripted scenes

Designing by developing environments for improvised and scripted scenes

Directing by organizing rehearsals for improvised and scripted scenes

Researching by using cultural and historical information to support improvised and scripted scenes

Comparing and incorporating art forms by analyzing methods of presentation and audience response for theatre, dramatic media (such as film, television, and electronic media), and other art forms

Analyzing, evaluating, and constructing meanings from improvised and scripted scenes and from theatre, film, television, and electronic media productions

Understanding context by analyzing the role of theatre, film, television, and electronic media in the community and in other cultures

Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes

Using knowledge of structures and functions

Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas

Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures

Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others

Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines

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Students demonstrate the following movement skills and explain the underlying principles: alignment, balance, initiation of movement, articulation of isolated body parts, weight shift, elevation and landing, fall and recovery

Students accurately identify and demonstrate basic dance steps, positions, and patterns for dance from two different styles or traditions (e.g., ballet, square, Ghanasian, Middle Eastern, modern)

Students accurately transfer a spatial pattern from the visual to the kinesthetic

Students accurately transfer a rhythmic pattern from the aural to the kinesthetic

Students identify and clearly demonstrate a range of dynamics/movement qualities

Students demonstrate increasing kinesthetic awareness, concentration, and focus in performing movement skills

Students demonstrate accurate memorization and reproduction of movement sequences

Students describe the action and movement elements observed in a dance, using appropriate movement/dance vocabulary

Students clearly demonstrate the principles of contrast and transition

Students effectively demonstrate the processes of reordering and chance

Students successfully demonstrate the structures or forms of AB, ABA, canon, call and response, and narrative

Students demonstrate the ability to work cooperatively in a small group during the choreographic process

Students demonstrate the following partner skills in a visually interesting way: creating contrasting and complementary shapes, taking and supporting weight

Students effectively demonstrate the difference between pantomiming and abstracting a gesture

Students observe and explain how different accompaniment (such as sound, music, spoken text) can affect the meaning of a dance

Students demonstrate and/or explain how lighting and costuming can contribute to the meaning of a dance

Students create a dance that successfully communicates a topic of personal significance

Students create a movement problem and demonstrate multiple solutions; choose the most interesting solutions and discuss the reasons for their choice

Students demonstrate appropriate audience behavior in watching dance performances; discuss their opinions about the dances with their peers in a supportive and constructive way

Students compare and contrast two dance compositions in terms of space (such as shape and pathways), time (such as rhythm and tempo), and force/energy (movement qualities)

Students identify possible aesthetic criteria for evaluating dance (such as skill of performers, originality, visual and/or emotional impact, variety and contrast)

Students competently perform folk and/or classical dances from various cultures; describe similarities and differences in steps and movement styles

Students competently perform folk, social, and/or theatrical dances from a broad spectrum of twentieth-century America

Students learn from resources in their own community (such as people, books, videas) a folk dance of a different culture or a social dance of a different time period and the cultural/historical context of that dance, effectively sharing the dance and its context with their peers

Students accurately describe the role of dance in at least two different cultures or time periods

Students identify at least three personal goals to improve themselves as dancers and steps they are taking to reach those goals

Students explain strategies to prevent dance injuries

Students create their own warmup and discuss how that warmup prepares the body and mind for expressive purposes

Students create a project that reveals similarities and differences between the arts

Students cite examples of concepts used in dance and another discipline outside the arts (such as balance, shape, and pattern)

Students observe the same dance both live and recorded on video; compare and contrast the aesthetic impact of the two observations

Students sing accurately and with good breath control throughout their singing ranges, alone and in small and large ensembles

Students sing with expression and technical accuracy a repertoire of vocal literature with a level of difficulty of 2, on a scale of 1 to 6, including some songs performed from memory

Students sing music representing diverse genres and cultures, with expression appropriate for the work being performed

Students sing music written in two and three parts

Students who participate in a choral ensemble sing with expression and technical accuracy a varied repertoire of vocal literature with a level of difficulty of 3, on a scale of 1 to 6, including some songs performed from memory

Students perform on at least one instrument (e.g., band or orchestra instrument, keyboard instrument, fretted instrument, electronic instrument) accurately and independently, alone and in small and large ensembles, with good posture, good playing +E11 position, and good breath, bow, or stick control

Students perform with expression and technical accuracy on at least one string, wind, percussion, or classroom instrument a repertoire of instrumental literature with a level of difficulty of 2, on a scale of 1 to 6

Students perform music representing diverse genres and cultures, with expression appropriate for the work being performed

Students play by ear simple melodies on a melodic instrument and simple accompaniments on a harmonic instrument

Students who participate in an instrumental ensemble or class perform with expression and technical accuracy a varied repertoire of instrumental literature with a level of difficulty of 3, on a scale of 1 to 6, including some solos performed from memory

Students improvise simple harmonic accompaniments

Students improvise melodic embellishments and simple rhythmic and melodic variations on given pentatonic melodies and melodies in major keys

Students improvise short melodies, unaccompanied and over given rhythmic accompaniments, each in a consistent style, meter, and tonality

Students compose short pieces within specified guidelines (e.g., a particular style, form, instrumentation, compositional technique), demonstrating how the elements of music are used to achieve unity and variety, tension and release, and balance

Students arrange simple pieces for voices or instruments other than those for which the pieces were written

Students use a variety of traditional and nontraditional sound sources and electronic media when composing and arranging

Students read whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and dotted notes and rests in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, 3/8, and alla breve meter signatures

Students read at sight simple melodies in both the treble and bass clefs

Students identify and define standard notation symbols for pitch, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, articulation, and expression

Students use standard notation to record their musical ideas and the musical ideas of others

Students who participate in a choral or instrumental ensemble or class sightread, accurately and expressively, music with a level of difficulty of 2, on a scale of 1 to 6

Students describe specific music events (e.g., entry of oboe, change of meter, return of refrain) in a given aural example, using appropriate terminology

Students analyze the uses of elements of music in aural examples representing diverse genres and cultures

Students demonstrate knowledge of the basic principles of meter, rhythm, tonality, intervals, chords, and harmonic progressions in their analyses of music

Students develop criteria for evaluating the quality and effectiveness of music performances and compositions and apply the criteria in their personal listening and performing

Students evaluate the quality and effectiveness of their own and others' performances, compositions, arrangements, and improvisations by applying specific criteria appropriate for the style of the music and offer constructive suggestions for improvement

Students compare in two or more arts how the characteristic materials of each art (that is, sound in music, visual stimuli in visual arts, movement in dance, human interrelationships in theatre) can be used to transform similar events, scenes, emotions, or ideas into works of art

Students describe ways in which the principles and subject matter of other disciplines taught in the school are interrelated with those of music (e.g., language arts: issues to be considered in setting texts to music; mathematics: frequency ratios of intervals; sciences: the human hearing process and hazards to hearing; social studies: historical and social events and movements chronicled in or influenced by musical works)

Students describe distinguishing characteristics of representative music genres and styles from a variety of cultures

Students classify by genre and style (and, if applicable, by historical period, composer, and title) a varied body of exemplary (that is, high-quality and characteristic) musical works and explain the characteristics that cause each work to be considered exemplary

Students compare, in several cultures of the world, functions music serves, roles of musicians (e.g., lead guitarist in a rock band, composer of jingles for commercials, singer in Peking opera), and conditions under which music is typically performed

Students individually and in groups, create characters, environments, and actions that create tension and suspense

Students refine and record dialogue and action

Students analyze descriptions, dialogue, and actions to discover, articulate, and justify character motivation and invent character behaviors based on the observation of interactions, ethical choices, and emotional responses of people

Students demonstrate acting skills (such as sensory recall, concentration, breath control, diction, body alignment, control of isolated body parts) to develop characterizations that suggest artistic choices

Students in an ensemble, interact as the invented characters

Students explain the functions and interrelated nature of scenery, properties, lighting, sound, costumes, and makeup in creating an environment appropriate for the drama

Students analyze improvised and scripted scenes for technical requirements

Students develop focused ideas for the environment using visual elements (line, texture, color, space), visual principles (repetition, balance, emphasis, contrast, unity), and aural qualities (pitch, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, expression) from traditional and nontraditional sources

Students work collaboratively and safely to select and create elements of scenery, properties, lighting, and sound to signify environments, and costumes and makeup to suggest character

Students lead small groups in planning visual and aural elements and in rehearsing improvised and scripted scenes, demonstrating social, group, and consensus skills

Students apply research from print and nonprint sources to script writing, acting, design, and directing choices

Students describe characteristics and compare the presentation of characters, environments, and actions in theatre, musical theatre, dramatic media, dance, and visual arts

Students incorporate elements of dance, music, and visual arts to express ideas and emotions in improvised and scripted scenes

Students express and compare personal reactions to several art forms

Students describe and compare the functions and interaction of performing and visual artists and audience members in theatre, dramatic media, musical theatre, dance, music, and visual arts

Students describe and analyze the effect of publicity, study guides, programs, and physical environments on audience response and appreciation of dramatic performances

Students articulate and support the meanings constructed from their and others' dramatic performances

Students use articulated criteria to describe, analyze, and constructively evaluate the perceived effectiveness of artistic choices found in dramatic performances

Students describe and evaluate the perceived effectiveness of students' contributions to the collaborative process of developing improvised and scripted scenes

Students describe and compare universal characters and situations in dramas from and about various cultures and historical periods, illustrate in improvised and scripted scenes, and discuss how theatre reflects a culture

Students explain the knowledge, skills, and discipline needed to pursue careers and avocational opportunities in theatre, film, television, and electronic media

Students analyze the emotional and social impact of dramatic events in their lives, in the community, and in other cultures

Students explain how culture affects the content and production values of dramatic performances

Students explain how social concepts such as cooperation, communication, collaboration, consensus, self-esteem, risk taking, sympathy, and empathy apply in theatre and daily life

Students select media, techniques, and processes; analyze what makes them effective or not effective in communicating ideas; and reflect upon the effectiveness of their choices

Students intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of their experiences and ideas

Students generalize about the effects of visual structures and functions and reflect upon these effects in their own work

Students employ organizational structures and analyze what makes them effective or not effective in the communication of ideas

Students select and use the qualities of structures and functions of art to improve communication of their ideas

Students integrate visual, spatial, and temporal concepts with content to communicate intended meaning in their artworks

Students use subjects, themes, and symbols that demonstrate knowledge of contexts, values, and aesthetics that communicate intended meaning in artworks

Students know and compare the characteristics of artworks in various eras and cultures

Students describe and place a variety of art objects in historical and cultural contexts

Students analyze, describe, and demonstrate how factors of time and place (such as climate, resources, ideas, and technology) influence visual characteristics that give meaning and value to a work of art

Students compare multiple purposes for creating works of art

Students analyze contemporary and historic meanings in specific artworks through cultural and aesthetic inquiry

Students describe and compare a variety of individual responses to their own artworks and to artworks from various eras and cultures

Students compare the characteristics of works in two or more art forms that share similar subject matter, historical periods, or cultural context

Students describe ways in which the principles and subject matter of other disciplines taught in the school are interrelated with the visual arts