The Arts

In this unit you will build on what you learned in Grade 5. In dance, you will add props and materials to your dances, use dance to interpret the central themes of stories and poems, start choreography with guided improvisation (using effort qualities like flick, poke, stab, fold and flow freely), and combine the elements in new ways: body bases, organic and geometric shapes, positive and negative space, proximity, group formations, and acceleration and deceleration. You will reflect on your strengths and areas for growth as a choreographer and audience member, learn how First Nations, Métis and Inuit dances express cultural identity in the past and today, and think critically about how pop culture and the media shape what we know about dance.

In music, you will feel 9/8, 6/4 and the uneven 5/4, read triplets, pick-up notes and Italian tempo marks, read ledger lines and name major, minor and perfect intervals, build I, IV and V chords and the 12-bar blues, layer electronic sounds, and compose a theme and variations with first and second endings. You will perform in two parts with dynamics from pp to ff and slurs, explore the timbres of the Orff ensemble, choir, drum line, marching band, guitar and electronic sounds, discover how culture and the media shape what we hear (including Canadian content rules), and compare music from different cultures and times, such as Inuit katajjaq and Tuvan throat singing, and the Baroque and Classical periods.

You will need a little open space, a soft prop (a scarf or towel), paper and pencils, and some kitchen instruments (a pot, a wooden spoon, a sealed container with dry rice). A keyboard or metronome app helps but is not required.

In this unit you will act and make art! In drama, a made-up story about the Cedar Hill Community Garden runs through the lessons: should the town pave the garden to make a parking lot for a new health clinic? You will explore the issue from many perspectives, build authentic characters (not stereotypes) whose relationships change, shape the drama by introducing new perspectives and ideas in and out of role with conventions like role on the wall and mantle of the expert, and strengthen the impact on a specific audience with sound, light, technology and split scenes. You will also explore themes and traditions from ancient Greek theatre, commedia dell'arte and Noh to Indigenous theatre in Canada today, and the contributions theatre makes to a community.

In visual arts, you will use lines that lead the eye and show force and movement, shade cylinders, cones and pyramids to show volume, draw in one-point perspective with a strong focal point, mix tertiary colours and use colour naturalistically and expressively, and explore this year's principle of design: balance. You will draw faces with proportion, expression and exaggeration, create motifs, fonts and relief prints, and discover how art reflects the beliefs and traditions of many communities and what jobs art does locally and across Canada, including First Nations, Métis and Inuit art traditions that are living today.

You will need paper, a pencil (a soft 2B to 6B pencil helps), an eraser, a ruler, a flashlight, washable paint in red, yellow and blue, brushes, craft foam or a clean foam lid for printing, paper plates, scissors (with a grown-up), a mirror and a few household objects. Every lesson has hands-on activities, practice questions and a short quiz.

Curriculum expectations covered: Drama B1.1–B1.4, B2.1–B2.3, B3.1–B3.2; Visual Arts D1.1–D1.4, D2.1–D2.4, D3.1–D3.2 (The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1–8: The Arts, 2009).