Chapter 3
Visual and
Performing Arts
Content
Standards
Grade Two
S
econd-grade students have learned a lot. They become excited when they
can connect their previous learning with something new or when they can
demonstrate their expanding skills. On their own and in small groups, they are
working to experiment and solve problems. Among their accomplishments
may appear brightly colored bits of modeling clay fashioned into tree frogs
representing a “new species” from a study of the diversity of life in the
rainforest; use of chants and clapping to mathematical rhythms and use of rap
music to memorize mathematical facts; a journal entry about a child’s picture
that includes the following sentence: “The diagonal lines show my legs are
moving.” Clearly, students are demonstrating acquired knowledge through
artistic self-expression.Dance
Students begin to combine dance movements into short se-
quences by using varied tempos and rhythms. They move fast and
then very slowly, first in an AB sequence and then in an ABA
sequence. Their sequences have movements that reach high and bend
down low. Naming locomotor and axial movements used in dance, they iden-
tify them in dances from various countries that they learn to perform. When
they describe how movements in dance communicate ideas or moods and are
alike and different, they use the dance vocabulary they are learning, such as
tempo, rhythm, and levels. And they learn (1) that dance can benefit overall
health and well being; and (2) that working with partners and groups is an
important part of dance.Music
Students learn verbal syllables, such as sol and fa, for the
degrees of the musical scale, called solfège. In doing so,
they learn to read, write, and perform simple
patterns of pitch, a process that leads to
a whole world of listening to, playing,
singing, and composing music.