A Day at Thunder Ridge: Part 3

Robert Smith, BTSALP Art Coach in Alpine School District, led Ms. Decker’s 5th grade class through an integrated lesson using the book, The Mountain Dance by Thomas Locker. He started by having students close their eyes and listen to a Beethoven selection that complemented the wonderful illustrations in the book. Students listed words that described the music such as happy, intense, adventurous, calming and relaxing.

He then read the book to the students, pausing at certain passages for the students to visualize the words being read. The class then discussed the vivid verbs and interesting adverbs they found in the text. Breaking into small groups, students listed and recorded Earth Science vocabulary words. These words were tied to passages in the book.

Each group was given a different page from the book and asked to create a movement that illustrated the picture, text and vocabulary words. Students then performed their movements for their classmates.