2nd Grade Humanities Songs

What is Humanities?
Here at Bryant, along with the regular music curriculum, 2nd graders also receive instruction in Humanities. Integrated into our daily lessons, humanities allows us to connect what we are learning in music class with the 2nd grade Science and Social Studies curriculum. Here are just some of the songs and activities we use to make connections between music and what they are learning in their classrooms. 

Social Studies: My Community

• We spend time in class talking about what a community is and how our music room can be a community. Each class created their own list of different qualities that make our music class a community. We then created our own community paper chain by connecting our own strips of paper with our names on them together into one long chain. Each student wrote one or two words that they think best describes community. It was so cool to see how all of our small pieces of paper came together to become something special to represent our 2nd grade music community.
• Here are a couple photos from our Humanities "Community" project where students traced their hands and wrote words that had to do with their communities. We then displayed all of our hands together outside of the music room.

Social Studies: Maps! 

• In class, we compare what they are learning about maps (what they are, the different parts of the map and how to read them) with what a map would look like in music. We talk about how notation is a form of a map in music because it tells us what to play, how to play it and when to play it. Essentially, it tells us where we are going. We also talk about musical form, and how figuring out the form of a certain piece helps us to anticipate what is coming next, to recognize patterns in the music, and to better understand what we are listening to. 
• Listen to this recording of Johannes Brahm's "Hungarian Dance No. 5" performed by the Berlin Philharmonic. Follow along with the form below and see if you can act out the different parts of the baseball game to the music!

Science: Rocks

Science: Sound!

Hey, kids! Want to learn how to make your own musical instruments? Visit Phil Tulga's website to learn how to make many different types of instruments at home!
Phil Tulga's Website

Want to learn more and test your knowledge about sound? Visit these two websites to play some fun sound games!
Instrument Sounds Game: Part 1
Instrument Sounds Game: Part 2