Colorado Academic Standards Online

Supportive Teaching Practices/Adults May:

1. Make and listen to music.
2. Use their voices in different ways (e.g., varying volume/dynamics, imitating sounds of machines, actions, animals and various characters) while reading a book, telling a story or singing.
3. Incorporate simple songs throughout the daily routine and transitions.
4. Introduce parts of a song and repeat until everyone learns the words. Incorporate hand gestures and body actions/movements to the words.
5. Read culturally diverse children’s books based on songs and encourage children’s participation in multiple ways.
6. Provide a variety of appropriate instruments (e.g., maracas, rhythm sticks, bells, tambourines, drums) for children to use for musical experimentation.

Examples of Learning/Children May:

1. Sing along to verses of songs that have a repeated pattern.
2. Incorporate hand signs and body actions/movements to the lyrics of the songs.
3. Play instruments to create different sounds.

Supportive Teaching Practices/Adults May:

1. Sing a tone/pitch or make a sound and invite children to repeat or echo it.
2. Experiment with having children match sounds, beats, words, pitches and speed/tempo.
3. Play music from different cultures and traditions.
4. Sing songs or play music suggested by children’s families.
5. Offer different types of music rhythms, patterns and tempos and invite children to clap, tap or move to the beat.
6. Provide many opportunities for children to hear or feel the vibrations of music with a steady beat.

Examples of Learning/Children May:

1. Clap hands in response to music.
2. Make sounds vocally and instrumentally with a variety of pitched, non-pitched, traditional, and non-traditional instruments.
3. Use words such as loud or quiet, fast or slow to describe music.
4. Move arms up to high notes/pitches and down to low notes/pitches.

Supportive Teaching Practices/Adults May:

1. Use recorded models of children singing songs.
2. Model contrasting ways of singing/speaking songs.
3. Help students identify missed words of a song.
4. Play singing games.
5. Break songs down into parts for students to echo-sing.

Examples of Learning/Children May:

1. Sing learned songs with and without recordings.
2. Choose when to appropriately sing, speak, and chant the words of a learned song.
3. Practice using high and low vocal sounds/pitches.
4. Play a variety of culturally diverse singing games.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognize that problems can be identified and possible solutions can be created. (Creativity and Innovation)
2. Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships and patterns in everyday experiences. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How does different music change the way you feel?
2. Is silence a part of music?
3. How many different ways can you move to music?

Expand and Connect:

1. Using developmentally appropriate movements to express music demonstrates ability to respond to musical elements.
2. Gross and fine motor skills are refined when responding to music through movement.
3. Expressing music through movement and dance is an important part of all cultures.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Communicating a variety of ideas and emotions through performance demonstrates a willingness to try new things. (Adaptability and Flexibility)
2. Accurately recognize one's own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence a performance. (Self-Awareness)
3. Articulate musical ideas using different forms of communication to express themselves. (Interpersonal Communication)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How does performing songs help you learn?
2. How does music express thoughts and feelings?
3. How can movement communicate the meaning of a piece of music?

Expand and Connect:

1. Use of nursery rhymes, counting songs, spelling songs, celebration songs, holiday songs, and patriotic songs enables varying ways to teach content skills.
2. Musicality is the ability to perform and respond to music in meaningful ways.
3. Movement can demonstrate the ability to follow musical elements.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Evaluating progress through practicing and adapting musical skills to attain performance goals aids in developing musicianship. (Perseverance and Resilience)
2. Recognizing where performance problems can be identified, as well as possible solutions can be created within musical practice and refinement processes, increases critical thinking within a musical context. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
3. Implementing a variety of teacher provided task and time management strategies through musical practice and refinement processes supports development of high-quality musical products determined by teacher criteria. (Self-Management)
4. Synthesizing information from multiple sources helps to demonstrate understanding of a topic. (Data Analysis)

Inquiry Questions:

1. When is a musical work ready to share?
2. How do individual musicians improve the quality of their performance?
3. Why is it important for the performer to stay focused throughout the performance?

Expand and Connect:

1. Musicality is the ability to perform and respond to music in meaningful ways.
2. Using movements to express music demonstrates ability to accurately respond to musical elements.
3. Music can contain a theme just as a story contains a main idea.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Build on personal experience to specify a challenging problem to investigate. (Creativity and Innovation)
2. Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships and patterns in everyday experiences. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
3. Demonstrate a willingness to try new things. (Creativity and Innovation)

Inquiry Questions:

1. Why is it important to keep a steady beat in certain situations?
2. Why are patterns important in music?

Expand and Connect:

1. Use of culturally diverse nursery rhymes and songs to enable varying ways to teach content skills and concepts.
2. Musicality is the ability to perform and respond to music in meaningful ways.
3. When performers respond to patterns and symbols of music, they are communicating a composer’s message just as a reader is communicating an author’s message.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Communicating a variety of ideas and emotions through performance demonstrates a willingness to try new things. (Adaptability and Flexibility)
2. Consider purpose, formality of context/audience, and distinct cultural norms when planning content, mode, delivery, and expression of a performance. (Social Awareness)
3. Articulate musical ideas using different forms of communication to express themselves. (Interpersonal Communication)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How can music tell a story?
2. Why are there changes in tempo and dynamic level in music?
3. Why is it important to keep a steady beat in certain situations?

Expand and Connect:

1. Singing songs focusing on phonemic awareness and songs that use cross body movements aid in the physiological needs of beginning reading skills.
2. Musicality is the ability to perform and respond to music in a variety of ways.
3. Responding to patterns and symbols in music communicates a composer’s message just as a reader is communicating an author’s message.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Evaluating progress through practicing and adapting musical skills to attain performance goals aids in developing musicianship. (Perseverance and Resilience)
2. Recognizing where performance problems can be identified, as well as possible solutions can be created within musical practice and refinement processes, increases critical thinking within a musical context. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
3. Implementing a variety of task and time management strategies through musical practice and refinement processes supports development of high-quality musical products. (Self-Management)
4. Synthesizing information from multiple sources helps to demonstrate understanding of a topic. (Problem Solver: Critical Thinking and Analysis)

Inquiry Questions:

1. When is a musical work ready to share?
2. Why is it important to interpret music symbols accurately and consistently in certain musical situations?
3. Why is it important to follow the person leading the group (e.g., director, conductor, teacher)?

Expand and Connect:

1. Musicality is the ability to perform and respond to music in a variety of ways.
2. Understanding responsible personal and social behaviors in musical settings gives insights to societal expectations in similar group settings.
3. When performers respond to patterns and symbols of music, they are communicating a composer’s message just as a reader is communicating an author’s message.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Build on personal experience to specify a challenging problem to investigate. (Creativity and Innovation)
2. Demonstrate flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness in taking on tasks and activities. (Adaptability and Flexibility)
3. Resist distractions, maintain attention, and continue the task at hand through frustration or challenges. (Perseverance and Resilience)

Inquiry Questions:

1. Are silences as important as sounds in music?
2. How do accompaniments change a song?
3. How do patterns in math connect with patterns in music?

Expand and Connect:

1. Mathematic patterns can be identified in music.
2. Music can communicates a message.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Communicating a variety of ideas and emotions through performance demonstrates a willingness to try new things. (Interpersonal Communication)
2. Consider purpose, formality of context/audience, and distinct cultural norms when planning content, mode, delivery, and expression of a performance. (Social Awareness)
3. Articulate musical ideas using different types of communication to express themselves. (Interpersonal Communication)

Inquiry Questions:

1. Why is it important to understand how to perform using the accurate notes and rhythms?
2. How does music make you feel?
3. How does playing technique alter the quality of sound?

Expand and Connect:

1. Singing songs focusing on phonemic awareness and cross body movements develop reading skills.
2. Learning to express music along with others demonstrates teamwork.
3. Musicality is the ability to perform and respond to music in a variety of ways.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Evaluating progress through practicing and adapting musical skills to attain performance goals aids in developing musicianship. (Perseverance and Resilience)
2. Recognizing where performance problems can be identified, as well as possible solutions can be created within musical practice and refinement processes, increases critical thinking within a musical context. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
3. Implementing a variety of task and time management strategies through musical practice and refinement processes supports development of high-quality musical products. (Self-Management)
4. Synthesizing information from multiple sources helps to demonstrate understanding of a topic. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)

Inquiry Questions:

1. When is a musical work ready to share?
2. Why is it important to interpret music symbols accurately and consistently?
3. How will knowing musical symbols help me in performing music?

Expand and Connect:

1. Learning to express music along productively with others demonstrates teamwork.
2. Understanding responsible personal and social behaviors in musical settings gives insights to societal expectations in similar group settings.
3. When performers respond to patterns and symbols of music, they are communicating a composer’s message just as a reader is communicating an author’s message.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Build on personal experience to specify a challenging problem to investigate. (Creativity and Innovation)
2. Demonstrate flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness in taking on tasks and activities. (Perseverance and Resilience)
3. Resist distractions, maintain attention, and continue the task at hand through frustration or challenges. (Perseverance and Resilience)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How are beat and rhythm different?
2. Do you think repetition and/or patterns are important to music? Why?
3. How does identifying patterns help with memorization?

Expand and Connect:

1. Recognizing that patterns occur in music as in other parts of life builds the ability to find connections in the world.
2. Identifying patterns in music from various cultures, historical periods, genres, and styles enables listeners to find similarities and differences in each.
3. Musicality is the ability to perform and respond to music in meaningful ways.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Synthesize connections between information gathered and personal experiences to communicate a variety of ideas and emotions through performance. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
2. Apply knowledge to set goals, make informed decisions and transfer to a performance. (Self-Management)
3. Model positive behaviors for others in rehearsals and performances. (Social Awareness)

Inquiry Questions:

1. Why are there changes in tempo, dynamics, and articulations in music?
2. What is the purpose of notating music?
3. Why is it important for ensembles to work as a team?

Expand and Connect:

1. Understanding the physiological aspects of posture, breathing, and technique leads to an understanding of the biological aspects of effective music production.
2. Musicality is the ability to perform and respond to music in meaningful ways.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Evaluating progress through practicing and adapting musical skills to attain performance goals aids in developing musicianship. (Perseverance and Resilience)
2. Recognizing where performance problems can be identified, as well as possible solutions can be created within musical practice and refinement processes, increases critical thinking within a musical context. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
3. Implementing a variety of task and time management strategies through musical practice and refinement processes support development of high quality musical products. (Self-Management)
4. Synthesizing information from multiple sources helps to demonstrate understanding of a topic. (Data Literacy)

Inquiry Questions:

1. When is a musical work ready to share?
2. What knowledge is needed to read and perform music?
3. How does identifying patterns help with memorization?

Expand and Connect:

1. Performance skill can be isolated and adjusted using technological devices to record, compare, and/or evaluate the result of different techniques.
2. Understanding the physiological aspects of posture, breathing, and technique leads to an understanding of the biological aspects of effective music production.