The Arts

Kindergarten: The Arts	Planning: Term # Tracking: Ach. Level
Overall Expectations	1	2	3	4
A. demonstrate an awareness of themselves as artists through engaging in activities in visual arts, music, drama, and dance;
B. demonstrate basic knowledge and skills gained through exposure to the arts and activities in the arts;
C. use problem-solving strategies when experimenting with the skills, materials, processes, and techniques used in the arts both individually and with others;
D. express responses to a variety of art forms, including those from other cultures;
E. communicate their ideas through various art forms.
Specific Expectations
Visual Arts
1. demonstrate an awareness of personal interests and a sense of accomplishment in visual arts (e.g., initially: willingly illustrate a page in a class book using their own ideas; eventually: offer to make a puppet for a play) [A] Student Talk: “I used to make my people like that. Now I make them this way.”
2. explore a variety of tools, materials, and processes of their own choice to create visual art forms in familiar and new ways (e.g., use natural and recycled materials at a learning centre) [A,B] Student Talk: “I used leaves and torn paper to make my picture.” “We used blocks and boxes to make a sculpture like the one in the book.” “I made a print with my sponge.”
3. explore different elements of design (e.g., colour, line, shape, texture, form) in visual arts (e.g., initially: create different kinds of lines with finger-paint; eventually: explore colour mixing) [B] Student Talk: “I cut a zigzag line.” “I made different shapes with play dough.”
4. use or demonstrate understanding of vocabulary related to visual arts in informal conversations and in discussions about their learning (e.g., describe the shapes, colours, or types of lines used in their painting; talk about and point out techniques used by an illustrator in a picture book; respond to the teacher’s questions about the textures in a collage) [B] Student Talk: “I used a wiggly line.” “I made a rubbing of my leaf.” “I gluedseeds on my picture to make it bumpy.”
5. use problem-solving skills and their imagination to create visual art forms (e.g., choose materials to make a three-dimensional structure stable; choose an alternative way to fasten the materials if the first way is unsuccessful) [C] Teacher Prompt: “I wonder how you are going to make sure your sculpture doesn’t collapse.”
6. express their responses to visual art forms by making connections to their own experiences or by talking about the form [D] Teacher Prompts: “What does Tommy’s painting make you think of?” “I wonder why the painter used so many wavy lines.” Student Responses: “That boy looks scared in the picture. I don’t like being in the dark either.” “All the wavy lines make the picture look as if it’s moving.”
7. respond to a variety of visual art forms from various cultures, including their own (e.g., paintings, fabrics, sculptures, illustrations) [D]
8. communicate their understanding of something (e.g., a familiar story, an experience, a song, a play) by representing their ideas and feelings through visual art [E] Student Talk: “I’m painting a picture of the girl in the story we read.” “I’m making a scary mask for the troll.”
Music
9. demonstrate an awareness of personal interests and a sense of accomplishment in music (e.g., initially: move to music in their own way or spontaneously keep the beat during a chant; eventually: choose rhythm instruments to make the sound effects they want for a song) [A] Student Talk: “I like to use the cymbals.” “I used drums to make the sound of thunder.” “I know that song. I’ll sing it for you.”
10. explore a variety of tools and materials of their own choice (e.g., spoons, castanets, rhythm sticks, music software) to create music in familiar and new ways (e.g., initially: use shakers that they have made at a learning centre to keep the beat in a familiar song; eventually: add sound effects to a computerized slide show) [A, B]
11. explore different elements (e.g., beat, sound quality, speed, volume) of music (e.g., clap the beat of a song; tap their feet on carpet and then on tile, and compare the sounds; experiment with different instruments to accompany a song) [B] Teacher Prompts: “What different kinds of sounds can we make with the instruments?” “What instruments could we use to make a sound like horses’ hooves?” “I wonder what this song would sound like if we sang it faster and softer.”
12. use or demonstrate understanding of vocabulary related to music (e.g., names of instruments; words for sound quality, speed, and volume) in informal conversations and in discussions about their learning [B] Student Talk: “That’s a drum. It made a loud boom.” “This song keeps getting faster.” “I’m keeping the beat with my foot.”
13. use problem-solving skills and their imagination to create music (e.g., experiment with different instruments to create a rhythm pattern to accompany a familiar song; contribute to making a variation on a familiar song with the class) [C]
14. express their responses to music by moving, by making connections to their own experiences, or by talking about the musical form [D] Teacher Prompts: “What does this song make you think of?” “I wonder why the singer sang the last verse quickly.”
15. respond to music from various cultures, including their own (e.g., folk songs, Aboriginal chants, songs in different languages) [D] Student Talk: “I heard that song at a wedding. It makes me want to dance.” “I can sing a song in my language.”
16. communicate their understanding of something (e.g., a book, an experience, a painting) by participating in musical activities (e.g., songs, chants) [E] Student Talk: “We made our sticks sound like thunder.”
Drama and Dance
17. demonstrate an awareness of personal interests and a sense of accomplishment in drama and dance (e.g., contribute their own ideas to role playing; move in ways of their choice in free dance; create their own actions for a song or chant and/or follow actions created by a classmate) [A]
18.explore a variety of tools and materials of their own choice to create drama and dance in familiar and new ways (e.g., use large blocks to create structures for dramatic play, use flashlights for shadow puppets, use streamers for dance movement) [A, B]
19. explore different elements of drama (e.g., character, setting, dramatic structure) and dance (e.g., rhythm, space, shape) [B] Teacher Prompts: “What happened first? Next? At the end?” “How many different ways can you move in your space?” “Let’s move like the elephants in the story.”
20. use or demonstrate understanding of vocabulary related to drama and dance in informal conversations and in discussions about their learning (e.g., words related to the concepts of roles, props, speed, direction, level) [B] Student Talk: “I’ll be the bus driver.” “Let’s make some puppets for our play.” “I can dance really fast.” “I was a leaf falling. I started up high, then I spun around, then I fell on the ground.”
21. use problem-solving skills and their imagination to create drama and dance (e.g., try out different voices for parts of a story or chant; find different ways to move to music, trying to connect the movement with the mood and speed of the music; create a sequence of movements) [C]
22. express their responses to drama and dance by moving, by making connections to their own experiences, or by talking about drama and dance [D] Teacher Prompts: “How did the way Sean pretended to be the troll make you feel?” “What did the group’s puppet show make you think of?” Student Responses: “He scared me when he yelled ’trip trap trip trap’.” “That puppet show we saw was just like the story we read.”
23. dramatize rhymes, stories, legends, and folk tales from various cultures, including their own (e.g., use actions, pictures, words, or puppets to tell a story at the dramatic play centre or at the block centre) [D]
24. communicate their understanding of something (e.g., a poem, a story, a piece of music) through drama and dance (e.g., move like the animals in a poem; find different ways to move to music or a teacher prompt; move as if they are outside on a windy day after hearing a story about the wind; freeze like a statue) [E]
Student Name:

Expectations: Copyright The Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2006.  Format: Copyright B.Phillips, 1998.