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Becoming Heart Forward
Arts Integrated Lesson Plans and Materials for Teaching Heart-Centered Learning & Wit & Wisdom Grade 4 “A Great Heart”
Heartbeat Artwork
Pairs with Wit & Wisdom FQT1
Guide students in analyzing works of art with both their mind and heart by expressing the emotional resonance of artwork through rhythm.
Standards
Getting Ready
Downloads
TEACH!
Brain Connections
Creators
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.7 – Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.2 – Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
NATIONAL ARTS STANDARDS
- Anchor Standard 4: Analyze, interpret, and select artistic work for presentation.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
- Students will analyze works of art with both their minds and hearts by expressing the emotional resonance of artwork through rhythm.
WELCOME & OVERVIEW
FEEDBACK
EXPLAIN
The heartbeat is literally the pulse of a muscle in our bodies, but figuratively it’s a feeling that something – in this case a work of art, a mural – has when we experience it.
When we look at art, especially art that reflects our life experiences in some way, we can often feel the music behind what we see. Let’s imagine a rhythm that we feel when we look at these murals.
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- Is it fast and energetic? Is it slower and thoughtful?
- Is it steady and driving with a clear sense of purpose? Is it irregular and mysterious?
- Are there loud and soft sections of the rhythm that reflect different areas of the mural?
- What is the overall feeling that you get from this artwork? Is it happy? Sad? Funny? Uplifting?
MODEL
Use “think-aloud” to model analyzing one of the murals through the heart by responding aloud to several of the prompts above.
CONNECT
Connect to the “Bigger Picture”
When we take the time to imagine how the art that we see might sound it becomes easier to recognize how it makes us feel. We are more likely to move from the head, where we’re thinking about things, to the heart, where we’re feeling them. This allows us to experience more of what life has to offer and discover possibilities in ourselves that we might not know.
We become more able to feel the heartbeat in everything around us!
APPLY
Instruct students to work in pairs to analyze another piece of art through heart. Have them extend to music making my making an actual beat by clapping their hands they feel the paining evokes.
BRAIN TARGETED TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM
Emotional Climate:
One Minute Mindfulness:
Check-in Song:
Physical Environment:
Learn More:
Learn more about Brain Targeted Teaching via Dr. Mariale Hardiman’s site and explore the arts integrated overlay below:
ROOT BRANCH MEDIA GROUP – BRING ROOT BRANCH TO YOUR SCHOOL!
All video content made in partnership with Baltimore’s Root Branch Media Group.
DAN + CLAUDIA ZANES – BRING THE ZANES TO YOUR SCHOOL!
Haitian-American jazz vocalist and music therapist Claudia Zanes and Grammy Award winning all-ages entertainer Dan Zanes have been making music together since the day they met in 2016. During their time together the two have toured extensively; written and performed Night Train 57: A Sensory Friendly Comic Folk Opera for the Kennedy Center; created House Party: A Family Roots Music Treasury songbook for Quarto Publishing Group; and released their first record as a duo, Let Love Be Your Guide, for Smithsonian Folkways. Their follow-up Folkways album, Pieces of Home, was released in August, 2024. Vocals! Guitar! Flute! Percussion! Trombone! Harmonica! Jaw Harp! Dan and Claudia bring their social electric folk music with them wherever they go. People attend the highly interactive concerts knowing they’ll be singing along and dancing to a sound that lies at the center of Haitian folk, early rock and roll, sea shanties, Black gospel and blues. Learn more at https://danandclaudia.com/.
RACHAEL BARILLARI
Rachael Barillari is the manager of the Baltimore Arts Integration Project and the founder of Soul Stori LLC, which produces integrative curricula and resources that seamlessly incorporate SEL and the arts into educational settings. She has served as an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins’ School of Education and has authored several publications, including “The Compassion Formula: Where Head Meets Heart For Greater Well-Being.” Her work emphasizes compassionate and holistic learning environments that nurture every child’s creative core. Rachael holds a Masters in Teaching from JHU and a Masters in Educational Psychology from Columbia University. She is a certified Integrative Wellness Coach and HeartMath Trainer, as well as a former Baltimore City Schools teacher.
Who’s Got Heart?
Pairs with Wit & Wisdom FQT1
After analyzing culturally reflective biographies, students use ABAB verse structure to describe the heart-centered values of courageous women.
Standards
Getting Ready
Downloads
TEACH!
Brain Connections
Creators
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.1 – Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.2 – Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.4 – Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
NATIONAL ARTS STANDARDS
- Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
- Students will describe the heart-centered values of courageous women using the ABAB verse structure.
FOCUSING QUESTION 1
- How does someone show a great heart, figuratively?
FOCUSING QUESTION TASK 1 PROMPT
- In a paragraph with an introduction, focus statement, textual evidence, elaboration, and a concluding statement, explain how a famous woman showed great heart.
WELCOME & OVERVIEW
FEEDBACK
READ & ANNOTATE
Students read biographies of women who showed great heart.
Wit & Wisdom’s Included Module Texts:
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- Biography of Anne Frank, Britannica Kids
- Biography of Clara Barton, Biography.com
- Biography of Helen Keller, Cobblestone
Culturally Reflective Alternative Suggestions (All available for free in multiple reading levels and languages via https://newsela.com/):
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- Feminists: Audre Lorde
- Yuri Kochiyama’s Commitment to Social Justice
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Political Newcomer Takes Surprise Step Toward a Seat in Congress
As they read, encourage students to take notes in the Active Reading Graphic Organizer (found on page following directions) to collect evidence of famous women showing great heart and connect this evidence with specific adjectives.
ABAB SONG STRUCTURE
Explain that to express their knowledge, students will craft a simple song about one of the famous women. In the verses, they will use text evidence to explain how they showed great heart.
Explain that the basic song form is what we call ABAB + a hook. This means we have verses of four lines in which the ending of the first and third line rhyme (A) and the second and fourth line rhyme (B).
For a chorus (or hook) that occurs at the end of each verse, there are a number of different options. We suggest a simple approach of just using the person’s name or their name and one of the heart-based adjectives/phrases they identified during their reading and annotations.
Show students the ABAB Song Example based on the module’s Hellen Keller biography. Have students identify the ABAB rhyme and text evidence the songwriter used.
CREATE SONGS
Show students the ABAB Song Example (found on page following directions) based on the module’s Hellen Keller biography. Have students identify the ABAB rhyme and text evidence the songwriter used.
PERSONAL CONNECTIONS
To further integrate the heart-based characteristics, further utilize ABAB songwriting, and help students apply this knowledge and skillset to their experiences beyond the classroom, encourage them to write another song about a person with a great heart from their own lives using evidence from their own interactions. Provide students with the musician’s example included in the resources below for reference.
BRAIN TARGETED TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM
Emotional Climate:
One Minute Mindfulness:
Check-in Song:
Physical Environment:
Learn More:
Learn more about Brain Targeted Teaching via Dr. Mariale Hardiman’s site and explore the arts integrated overlay below:
ROOT BRANCH MEDIA GROUP – BRING ROOT BRANCH TO YOUR SCHOOL!
All video content made in partnership with Baltimore’s Root Branch Media Group.
DAN + CLAUDIA ZANES – BRING THE ZANES TO YOUR SCHOOL!
Haitian-American jazz vocalist and music therapist Claudia Zanes and Grammy Award winning all-ages entertainer Dan Zanes have been making music together since the day they met in 2016. During their time together the two have toured extensively; written and performed Night Train 57: A Sensory Friendly Comic Folk Opera for the Kennedy Center; created House Party: A Family Roots Music Treasury songbook for Quarto Publishing Group; and released their first record as a duo, Let Love Be Your Guide, for Smithsonian Folkways. Their follow-up Folkways album, Pieces of Home, was released in August, 2024. Vocals! Guitar! Flute! Percussion! Trombone! Harmonica! Jaw Harp! Dan and Claudia bring their social electric folk music with them wherever they go. People attend the highly interactive concerts knowing they’ll be singing along and dancing to a sound that lies at the center of Haitian folk, early rock and roll, sea shanties, Black gospel and blues. Learn more at https://danandclaudia.com/.
RACHAEL BARILLARI
Rachael Barillari is the manager of the Baltimore Arts Integration Project and the founder of Soul Stori LLC, which produces integrative curricula and resources that seamlessly incorporate SEL and the arts into educational settings. She has served as an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins’ School of Education and has authored several publications, including “The Compassion Formula: Where Head Meets Heart For Greater Well-Being.” Her work emphasizes compassionate and holistic learning environments that nurture every child’s creative core. Rachael holds a Masters in Teaching from JHU and a Masters in Educational Psychology from Columbia University. She is a certified Integrative Wellness Coach and HeartMath Trainer, as well as a former Baltimore City Schools teacher.
The Circulatory Song
Pairs with Wit & Wisdom FQT2
This brain-based mnemonic device helps students understand and gain long-term retention of how the healthy circulatory system functions.
Standards
Getting Ready
Downloads
TEACH!
Brain Connections
Creators
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.1 – Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3 – Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.
NATIONAL ARTS STANDARDS
- MU:Cr1.1.4a – Improvise rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic ideas, and explain connection to specific purpose and context (such as social and cultural).
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
- Students will explore the circulatory system functions using a mnemonic device to deeper their understanding and retention.
FOCUSING QUESTION 2
- What is a great heart, literally?
FOCUSING QUESTION TASK 2 PROMPT
- Gather evidence about a literal great heart, and explain what it means to have a literal great heart by writing an informative paragraph with a focus statement, evidence and elaboration, and a conclusion.
WELCOME & OVERVIEW
FEEDBACK
IMPLEMENTATION
1. Share The Circulatory Song lyrics with students and invite them to follow along while playing the video of Claudia Zanes modeling the melody (printable version on the following page).
2. This song aims to function as a mnemonic device to support students in mastering the content of heart’s anatomy. Notice the simple beat made by the clapping of hands or tapping your desk, table, or lap. Therefore, no instruments are required.
3. As students listen, ask them to annotate the lyrics for where they see evidence for how a healthy circulatory system works from the text The Circulatory Story.
4. Point out that in this song, we’re using rhyming couplets, two lines that rhyme, followed by a hook / chorus.
5. Rehearse the song with your students so they can memorize the content. For the chorus, it might be fun to have one side of the room sing “H-E-A-R-T” and the other side responds with “That’s a hard working heart” and “And it keeps on beating beautifully.”
6. Invite students to share their renditions of the song on the classroom stage.
CREATE SONGS
Show students the ABAB Song Example (found on page following directions) based on the module’s Hellen Keller biography. Have students identify the ABAB rhyme and text evidence the songwriter used.
PERSONAL CONNECTIONS
To further integrate the heart-based characteristics, further utilize ABAB songwriting, and help students apply this knowledge and skillset to their experiences beyond the classroom, encourage them to write another song about a person with a great heart from their own lives using evidence from their own interactions. Provide students with the musician’s example included in the resources below for reference.
BRAIN TARGETED TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM
Emotional Climate:
One Minute Mindfulness:
Check-in Song:
Physical Environment:
Learn More:
Learn more about Brain Targeted Teaching via Dr. Mariale Hardiman’s site and explore the arts integrated overlay below:
ROOT BRANCH MEDIA GROUP – BRING ROOT BRANCH TO YOUR SCHOOL!
All video content made in partnership with Baltimore’s Root Branch Media Group.
DAN + CLAUDIA ZANES – BRING THE ZANES TO YOUR SCHOOL!
Haitian-American jazz vocalist and music therapist Claudia Zanes and Grammy Award winning all-ages entertainer Dan Zanes have been making music together since the day they met in 2016. During their time together the two have toured extensively; written and performed Night Train 57: A Sensory Friendly Comic Folk Opera for the Kennedy Center; created House Party: A Family Roots Music Treasury songbook for Quarto Publishing Group; and released their first record as a duo, Let Love Be Your Guide, for Smithsonian Folkways. Their follow-up Folkways album, Pieces of Home, was released in August, 2024. Vocals! Guitar! Flute! Percussion! Trombone! Harmonica! Jaw Harp! Dan and Claudia bring their social electric folk music with them wherever they go. People attend the highly interactive concerts knowing they’ll be singing along and dancing to a sound that lies at the center of Haitian folk, early rock and roll, sea shanties, Black gospel and blues. Learn more at https://danandclaudia.com/.
RACHAEL BARILLARI
Rachael Barillari is the manager of the Baltimore Arts Integration Project and the founder of Soul Stori LLC, which produces integrative curricula and resources that seamlessly incorporate SEL and the arts into educational settings. She has served as an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins’ School of Education and has authored several publications, including “The Compassion Formula: Where Head Meets Heart For Greater Well-Being.” Her work emphasizes compassionate and holistic learning environments that nurture every child’s creative core. Rachael holds a Masters in Teaching from JHU and a Masters in Educational Psychology from Columbia University. She is a certified Integrative Wellness Coach and HeartMath Trainer, as well as a former Baltimore City Schools teacher.
Heartbeat Theme Songs
Pairs with Wit & Wisdom FQT3
Students collect text evidence to support the emerging themes of the text, Love That Dog. This evidence becomes content for the verses of their “Theme Song” while the collectively crafted chorus defines the theme generally/names a theme in the text.
Standards
Getting Ready
Downloads
TEACH!
Brain Connections
Creators
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1 – Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.2 – Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.2 – Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.4 – Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
NATIONAL ARTS STANDARDS
- MU:Cr1.1.4a – Improvise rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic ideas, and explain connection to specific purpose and context (such as social and cultural).
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
- Students will determine the theme in the text Love That Dog through song, creating theme songs that contain their understandings.
FOCUSING QUESTION 3
- How do the characters in Love That Dog show characteristics of great heart?
FOCUSING QUESTION TASK 3 PROMPT
- Articulate a theme of Love That Dog, and how it relates to a change in Jack’s character, by writing a well-developed informative paragraph.
WELCOME & OVERVIEW
FEEDBACK
IMPLEMENTATION
1. Reinforce student’s understanding of theme versus main idea by using the Main Idea and Theme Chant provided in this unit (student printable on the following page). Experiment with singing the chant whole group and in call and response style.
2. Provide students with the theme graphic organizer on the following pages. As students read the text, encourage them to collect notes on potential themes and aligned text evidence.
3. Next, use the songwriting guide to use the evidence from the text to guide students in writing their own Love That Dog Theme Song. To creatively apply this concept and extend students’ learning further, use the additional guide to help students write a “Theme Song” for their own lives.
BRAIN TARGETED TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM
Emotional Climate:
One Minute Mindfulness:
Check-in Song:
Physical Environment:
Learn More:
Learn more about Brain Targeted Teaching via Dr. Mariale Hardiman’s site and explore the arts integrated overlay below:
ROOT BRANCH MEDIA GROUP – BRING ROOT BRANCH TO YOUR SCHOOL!
All video content made in partnership with Baltimore’s Root Branch Media Group.
DAN + CLAUDIA ZANES – BRING THE ZANES TO YOUR SCHOOL!
Haitian-American jazz vocalist and music therapist Claudia Zanes and Grammy Award winning all-ages entertainer Dan Zanes have been making music together since the day they met in 2016. During their time together the two have toured extensively; written and performed Night Train 57: A Sensory Friendly Comic Folk Opera for the Kennedy Center; created House Party: A Family Roots Music Treasury songbook for Quarto Publishing Group; and released their first record as a duo, Let Love Be Your Guide, for Smithsonian Folkways. Their follow-up Folkways album, Pieces of Home, was released in August, 2024. Vocals! Guitar! Flute! Percussion! Trombone! Harmonica! Jaw Harp! Dan and Claudia bring their social electric folk music with them wherever they go. People attend the highly interactive concerts knowing they’ll be singing along and dancing to a sound that lies at the center of Haitian folk, early rock and roll, sea shanties, Black gospel and blues. Learn more at https://danandclaudia.com/.
RACHAEL BARILLARI
Rachael Barillari is the manager of the Baltimore Arts Integration Project and the founder of Soul Stori LLC, which produces integrative curricula and resources that seamlessly incorporate SEL and the arts into educational settings. She has served as an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins’ School of Education and has authored several publications, including “The Compassion Formula: Where Head Meets Heart For Greater Well-Being.” Her work emphasizes compassionate and holistic learning environments that nurture every child’s creative core. Rachael holds a Masters in Teaching from JHU and a Masters in Educational Psychology from Columbia University. She is a certified Integrative Wellness Coach and HeartMath Trainer, as well as a former Baltimore City Schools teacher.
