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Arts Integrated Lesson Plans and Materials for Teaching Literary and Musical Language & Wit & Wisom Grade 5 “Word Play”
Who’s on First
Pairs with Wit & Wisdom Lesson 2
This activity uses the collective Call and Response song form to engage students in the module text and comedy routine, “Who’s on First?,” quoting from the text while also building classroom rapport by fostering collaboration and self/social awareness.
Standards
Getting Ready
Downloads
TEACH!
Brain Connections
Creators
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1 – Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.5 – With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 5 here.)
NATIONAL ARTS STANDARDS
- MU:Cr1.1.5a – Improvise rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic ideas, and explain connection to specific purpose and context (such as social, cultural, and historical).
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
- This activity uses the collective Call and Response song form to engage students in the module text and comedy routine, “Who’s on First?” in alignment with the CCSS learning targets outlined in lesson 2 of the 5th Grade Wit & Wisdom Module, “Word Play.” In addition, this activity helps build classroom rapport by fostering collaboration and self/social awareness (CASEL, 2022).
STRATEGY
- Call and Response is both an engagement tool and technique for deepening content memory. It’s also important to note that as one of the first song-making activities of the unit, the entry point for music-making is easy and fun in order to give everyone a little confidence and show how simple music-making can be for just about anyone.
WELCOME + OVERVIEW
- In this unit, students will learn how authors and songwriters use language and wordplay to convey meaning, develop themes, and engage with the world around them. Through a variety of basic song structures, students will apply acquired content knowledge and express understanding of grade-level reading, writing, and speaking skills.
CONCEPT MAP
TEACHER TOOLS FOR “NON-MUSICIANS”
FEEDBACK TOOLS
- Glows – Students reflect on their own learning and celebrate their peers by sharing affirmations (“glows”) aloud.
- Bells and Whistles – Cheers, chants, gestures, or sounds that spread encouragement throughout performing experiences
- Check-Ins – Teacher builds rapport with consistent one-on-one student check-ins (celebratory and constructive feedback)
DIRECTIONS
1. Students watch and listen to the module text “Who’s on First?” As they do, students are instructed to take Notice and Wonder notes in their journals.
2. After viewing the text and collecting their notes, the teacher leads a discussion of what the students observed and the questions they had. The teacher instructs each student to circle ONE of their Notices or Wonders.
3. The teacher explains that we will now create a song together about our observations and questions.
4. The teacher taps out a beat on their legs or on the top of the desk. After several measures, they invite the students to join in. The tempo (or speed) should be moderate like the ticking of a clock.
5. The teacher counts 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 several times to help students understand the bar (or measure) and establish a beat for the song.
6. The teacher sings (or speaks) the line “Who’s on First?” starting on the 1st tap of the measure. This is going to be the Response. The three words, Who’s on First, should fall on the first three beats. This will probably begin to happen naturally.
7. The teacher invites the class to join in, adding the lyrics to the beat, to get the feel of it.
8. Once everyone is comfortable with this, the teacher explains that the Call, or alternate lines, will be the Notice or Wonder the students circled from their notes. The teacher provides a model using an example from one of the students’ own notes.
9. Students practice reading their chosen note aloud, and the teacher assigns the order the Calls will move in (note: setting up the physical environment with a circular seating formation may be helpful). Students are reminded that after each individual Call line, all students sing the Response, “Who’s on First?”
10. Once the directions are clear and everyone understands the concept, begin the song with a Call from one of the students followed by the Response “Who’s on First?” by all
11. Go around until everyone has had a chance to participate.
EXTENSION
1. Rhyming lines: Students can write a rhyming couplet (two lines that end in a rhyme, also known as an A/A pattern) about the text. The student would Call their first line to the class, and the class would Respond with “Who’s on First?” Then, that same student would Call out their second (rhyming) line, and again the class would Respond with “Who’s on First?”
2. Word meaning: Bring students’ attention to the Deep Dive vocabulary terms present in the text, like the word “peculiar.” Have each student write a Call line using the word in their own sentence or stating a synonym for the word.
3. Homophones: With students, identify the words in the text that also exist as homophones. Students work in teams to create a Call line using one of the identified homophone pairs.
4. Chorus creation: To extend the song form, the class could create a Chorus to be sung after every 3 – 4 students share their Call.
Chorus example:
Tell me, can you tell me?
Who’s on First?
Tell me, can you tell me?
Who’s on first?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Below are some examples of how Call and Response songs show up in many gospel, jazz, African children’s music, rock and roll, and work and protest songs. We highly encourage you to share these works with your students, and they can even be used to play in the background while students prepare their lines.
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- Georgia Sea Island Singers – Pay Me My Money Down (singing starts at :30)
- Call and Response in Gospel Music
- Drum and Piano Call and Response
- School Children Kenya call and response
- African Origins / Little Richard
- Oh zim zim
- No justice no peace
BRAIN TARGETED TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM
The Emotional Climate:
The 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.
