Citation
Incorporating Shared Reading into the Lower-Elementary Music Curriculum: A Cross-Curricular Guide

Material Information

Title:
Incorporating Shared Reading into the Lower-Elementary Music Curriculum: A Cross-Curricular Guide
Creator:
Kneezel, Melody
Publisher:
University of Florida
Publication Date:
Language:
English
Physical Description:
1 online resource

Thesis/Dissertation Information

Degree:
Master's
Degree Grantor:
University of Florida
Committee Chair:
Tuohey, Terese Volk
Committee Co-Chair:
Bauer, William I.

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Classrooms ( jstor )
Lesson plans ( jstor )
Music education ( jstor )
Music teachers ( jstor )
Musical improvisation ( jstor )
Musical rhythm ( jstor )
Musical rudiments ( jstor )
Reading instruction ( jstor )
Reading skills ( jstor )
Teachers ( jstor )
Music Education capstone project, M.M. in M. Ed

Notes

Abstract:
Despite the fact that most music educators have minimal formal training in reading education, there is an increasingly common expectation to show proof of reading instruction in the general music classroom. The purpose of this Capstone project was to explore opportunities to incorporate shared reading into the lower elementary general music classroom through existing classroom resources. This project explored the use of the already-present classroom library to incorporate shared reading in kindergarten, first, and second grade music classes through musical learning activities relevant to the content of the read-aloud book. This resulted in the creation of a lesson plan template that is easily adaptable for various types of musical activities that are aligned to the National Core Music Standards (PreK-8), including performing, creating, and responding. All these activities begin with reading aloud a classroom book and then engaging in a musical activity that can accompany the book. Additionally, the project includes a chart with a sample classroom library with book titles, authors, DRA levels, and total read-aloud time and three sample completed lesson plans for use in the lower elementary grade levels.
General Note:
Music Education terminal project

Record Information

Source Institution:
University of Florida Institutional Repository
Holding Location:
University of Florida
Rights Management:
Copyright Melody Kneezel. Permission granted to the University of Florida to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Resource Identifier:
1047962475 ( OCLC )

Aggregation Information

UFIR:
Institutional Repository at the University of Florida (IR@UF)
UFETD:
University of Florida Theses & Dissertations
IUF:
University of Florida

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 1 INCORPORATING SHARED READING INTO THE LOWER ELEMENTARY MUSIC CURRICULUM: A CROSS CURRICULAR GUIDE By MELODY KNEEZEL SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: DR. TERESE VOLK TUOHEY, CHAIR DR. WILLIAM I. BAUER, MEMBER A PROJECT IN LIEU OF THESIS PRESENTED TO THE COLLEGE OF THE ARTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF MUSIC UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2014

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 2 Abstract Despite the fact that most music educators have minimal formal training in reading educa tion, there is an increasingly common expectation to show proof of reading instruction in the general music classroom. The purpose of this Capstone project was to explore opportunities to incorporate shared reading into the lower elementary general music classroom through existing classroom resources. This project explored the use of the already present classroom library to incorporate shared reading in kindergarten, first, and second grade music classes through musical learning activities relevant to the content of the read aloud book. This resulted in the creation of a lesson plan template that is easily adaptable for various types of musical activities that are aligned to the National Core Music Standards (PreK 8), including performing, creating, and r esponding. All these activities begin with reading aloud a classroom book and then engaging in a musical activity that can accompany the book . Additionally, the project includes a chart with a sample classroom library with book titles, authors, DRA level s, and total read aloud time and three sample completed lesson plans for use in the lower elementary grade levels.

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 3 Incorporating Shared Reading into the Lower Elementary Music Curriculum: A Cross Curricular Guide It is common knowledge that reading sk ills influence all other subject areas in educatio n since reading is required in nearly every aspect of adult life (Darrow, 2008 ; Hall, 2014) . In the public school system of the United States, a strong emphasis on reading has been in place for many years . For elementary general music teachers, there is often much pressure to incorporate reading and writing skills into classroom music activities; however, since their training is in music education, they have often been taught very little about methods and skills for reading education (Hall & Robinson, 2012; Cardany, 2013 ; Hall, 2014) . How can music teachers teach supplemental reading skills in the music classroom with minimal professional development in reading and with limited resources ? Many studies h ave been conducted in the past to explore the influence or correlation of music education with general reading skills. Many of the research studies that were reviewed referenced Butzlaff's (2000) analysis. Butzlaff's analysis was of twenty correlational studies and six experimental studies that reflected on the relationship between scores on standardized reading tests and the study of music. The analyzed studies included the number of students studied, the size that the effect of music training seemed to have on reading scores, the type of musical program or training in which the students participated, and which reading assessment the students were given. Butzlaff's analysis showed that in the twenty correlational studies, music students had much higher standardized reading test scores, but there was no consistency to claim effects on the six experimental studies that had been performed. Butzlaff called for more large scale experimental studies with fewer errors to provide further evidence for the correl ation or causation of music training effecting reading skills.

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 4 In 2010, Telesco outlined several studies and called for more studies about the relationship between music and literacy as well, in hopes that with proof of positive causation, music teachers would purposefully include literacy education in their music classes, which in turn would positively impact students in both reading and music skills. Telesco discussed a 1993 study that is often referred to as the "Mozart Effect," that has been regularly incorrectly cited as proof that music instruction increases intelligence. Telesco argued that since the "Mozart Effect" study did not actually prove that music instruction increases intelligence , proof of the causation would be beneficial to advocate for music in schools , especially since reading scores of American students we re alarmingly low in comparison to students of similar ages in other countries. Both Butzlaff and Telesco referenced a few historical studies that studied the relationship between music training and reading skills. Barwick, Valentine, West, and Wilding (1989) gave sixteen students, eight male and eight female, ranging from seven to ten years old a musical aptitude test and compared the scores to the students' IQ scores and scores from a reading test. The researchers concluded that reading skills and musical abilities were related because the students with higher scores on the IQ and reading skills tests also scored higher on the musical aptitude test . In 1993, Gregory and Lamb st udied the relationship between a student's ability to hear phonetic differences in sounds and a student's ability to discriminate between same and different musical patterns and the subsequent relationship to the student's reading ability. The subjects fo r this were eighteen British first graders, and the results indicated that understanding the difference between musical sounds is related to the amount of musical training the child has received, but the influential factor is the ability to hear the differ ences between pitches. The results indicated

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 5 that the ability to hear the differences between musical patterns correlated positively with the student's ability to hear differences in phonetic sounds, and that both abilities require finely tuned aural skil ls. The researchers determined that there was a need for a study to determine if enhancing awareness of differences in phonetic sounds would correlate with enhanced awareness of musical changes. The authors assumed that finding the correlation between the two would create a positive position for advocacy of music education, as it would imply that music education could naturally enhance reading skills. Lucas and Gromko (2007) referenced the study by Gregory and Lamb (1993), coming to similar conclusions bu t through using different tests. Lucas and Gromko studied their hypothesis that since learning to read is dependent on connecting certain sounds with certain images and distinguishing between both the images and sounds, then music instruction that is desi gned to teach discrimination between musical patterns could teach students to apply the same discriminatory skills when reading. The researchers studied 27 first grade students from an American rural elementary school, and they discovered that scores betwe en the musical aptitude test and the reading assessment were significantly correlated, as Gregory and Lamb had previously stated using different assessments. A study by Darrow, Register, St andley, & Swedberg in 2007 was conducted to determine if music educ ation can improve reading skills of students with special needs, specifically those with a Specific Learning Disability (SLD). The researchers developed a music curriculum to target reading comprehension and vocabula ry with second graders over a four week period in two public schools in the southeastern United States. SLD students were placed in a treatment group, while regular performing students were placed in treatment groups and control groups. After implementation of the reading based music curriculu m, the students in both the control

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 6 group and treatment groups had significantly improved, although the improvement was more significant for the students in the treatment group. In 2010, Douglas and Williatts studied the correlation between students with high rhythm abilities and their reading skills under the hypothesis that if students could improve their rhythmic skills, their reading skills would also be improved. Th e participants were 78 eight year old students . Results showed that there was a positi ve correlation between students with higher rhythm abilities and better reading skills, and dyslexic students with lower reading skills tended to perform more poorly on rhythmic skills as well. The researchers indicated that training in music, specificall y training in rhythm and steady beat, might be an effective strategy for assisting children with reading difficulties. Based on the research from Douglas and Williatts, Slater and Kraus (2013) conducted a study with first and second graders over one year of musical training to discover how basic steady beat skills could be shaped by musical training to test if improvement in steady beat skills would correlate with an improvement in reading. After one year of music instruction, students improved in their ability to keep a steady bea t, making fewer mistakes than the students in t he control group (who received no music training over the year period). The authors concluded that there may be a connection between musical training and improvement in literacy , b ut they did not assess the students' literacy growth , citing the study of both literacy growth and musical growth as a possible future study . The authors s tated that if students can improve rhythmic skills, which correlate with reading performance, then t heir reading skills may naturally improve with musical training, and they called for future studies to examine the possible correlation or causation.

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 7 In 1998, Wallick studied 148 fourth grade string students who were removed from general classroom activit ies in a public Ohio school weekly for string instruction and 148 fourth grade non string students. The string students were matched with non string students of similar academic abilities and socioeconomic backgrounds. Wallick studied the differences in sc ores on the Ohio Proficiency Test before the year of string instruction and the scores after the year of string instruction. Results showed that while there was no significant statistical difference in writing and mathematics between string students and no n string students, there was a statistically significant difference in favor of string students in both reading and citizenship skills. Wallick stated that being pulled from class for music instruction not only did not hinder the students in their academic performance, but it seemed to positively impact their scores. Citing Wallick's study, Corrigall and Trainor conducted a study in 2011 that tested whether the length of time children took music lessons was associated with word decoding and reading compreh ension skills. The researchers studied 46 children, 35 girls and eleven boys, between the ages of six and nine years, and cited the number of years of music lessons the students received and their reading scores on standardized assessments. While the st udy did not show significant statistical evidence that length of music training positively affected decoding skills, after administering a pitch and rhythm discrimination test, results revealed that the length of music training did seem to correlate with r eading comprehension scores. S tudies have not been able to determine causation between music learning and reading skills . Darrow (2008) stated, "While the summarization and comparison of skills required for both literacy reading and music reading make mus ic and reading a natural fit, there is not yet a significant amount of evidence to glean why or how this transfer of learning may occur" (p. 33). Despite this lack of evidence, it is nonetheless prudent for music teachers to consider ways to

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 8 incorporate c ross curricular reading skills in the music classroom. There are several studies that indicate positive effects of curricular integration between general classroom studies and music studies. Baker (2013) defined art integration as "learning core content subjects (math, reading, language, science, social studies) through the arts (drama, dance, music, visual arts)" ( p . 1). Baker conducted a pilot study of the use of the arts to contribute to cognitive and intellectual growth in children through their core academic subjects. The author collected fieldwork and observations in classrooms in a kindergarten through eighth grade school in North Carolina over a period of two months with 371 students. Results showed that art integration significantly increases c ognitive skills and positively impacts development. Results also showed that integrating subjects teaches students that the subjects are connected and improves their interdisciplinary thinking skills. The author's conclusion was that methods of instructio n can be "guided by thematic objectives interwoven with the arts to yield rich and complex forms of learning for children that promote conceptual and intellectual development through the interrelatedness to overall instructional concepts and objectives " ( p . 13 14). Trinick (2011) wrote about the use of song to promote language learning . From the viewpoint of using music in the general education classroom, the author stated that songs are valuable tools for literacy learning because "for children, singing is a form of personal and cultural expression, evoking emotional responses, telling stories, and creating a sense of belonging and well being" (p. 5). The author mentioned that songs can be useful to teach many things, such as colors or parts of the body, and songs can express cultural values or tell stories with metaphors and imagery, which develops language knowledge. The author also stated that songs could be used to trigger memory, making them useful in the classroom for transferring necessary memorize d knowledge.

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 9 I n 2013, Miller conducted a cross curricular experimental action research project where a general music teacher and a fifth grade classroom educator integrated all subjects including music into a unit to study student engagement across the su bjects. The study focused on five areas of connections among the arts and core subjects, including similar topics, related skill sets, similar concepts, higher level th inking skills, and pedagogy . The study was performed over two years with nineteen fift h grade students mostly from the lower middle class from a small community of about 10,000 people. Results indicated that students were more interested in both subjects, their efforts toward their work and their achievements both improved, classroom behav ior improved, and it resulted in a positive collaborative working experience with another teacher. Both teachers felt that they learned more about teaching from the other person's skills, and the author was encouraged to go more in depth in musical skills because it was observed from classroom activities that the students were capable. The author stated that there was improvement in all five of the connection areas that were studied. Darrow (2008) discussed that reading skills could be easily incorporate d with music skills, but there wa s little research background in opportunities for collaboration between reading teachers and music teachers. Hall & Robinson (2012) discussed the connections between music and reading, and they stated that the subjects share severa l key instructional techniques. These includ ed phonemic awareness, which is the ability to identify and distinguish the sounds within words ; phonics, which is the ability to connect the sounds of words with the images that accompany them ; fluency, which is the ability to read quickly and accurately ; vocabulary, which is understanding key words within a subject ; and comprehension, which is the ability to understand what one has read. Hall and Robinson argued that using these techniques, m usic teacher s could more naturally incorporate reading into the music classroom.

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 10 Shared Reading Studies In an attempt to find ways to incorporate reading and writing skills into the music classroom without any professional development in the area and without a budget or time to purchase materials, I realized that a classroom library is often full of music related books that can be easily incorporated as read alouds (also known as shared reading). Shared reading is defined by the U.S. Department of Education in the Wh at Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report in 2007 as "a general practice that adults may use when reading with children and is intended to enhance young children's language and literacy skills" (p. 1) and "a general practice aimed at enhancing young child ren's language and literacy skills and their appreciation of books " (p. 1). According to What Works Clearinghouse reports, shared reading improves early reading and writing skills and implies statistically significant potentially positive effects in phono logical processing, which is the ability to process the sounds that are contained within a word. Shared reading is considered a vital part of early childhood reading instruction and is often part of the daily curriculum for elementary classroom educators in primary grades. Several studies have been conducted to determine the impact of shared reading on young students. In a 1996 dissertation, House Walters stated that "read aloudÉis establishing itself as a cornerstone of literacy development" ( p . 16). Th e author studied shared reading practices in eight first grade classrooms in six schools over a twelve week period. The teachers were instructed to keep a log of the books that were read to students and to colle ct three writing samples to represent the cla ss' average performance. The study suggested that most teachers in primary grades read to children regularly, and teacher individual philosophies seem ed to affect the quality and variety of reading. The study also suggested that the amount of shared read ing performed in the classroom and the quality to which it was performed can also impact young

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 11 children's writing skills, stating that "read aloudÉexposes a child to new ideas and words, it builds a child's experiences, and it promotes a child's understand ing of the basics of story construction and the written language of books" (p . 14). In 2012, Piasta, McGinty, and Kadervek studied the effects of Project STAR (Sit Together and Read), a program in which teachers read books aloud to students with specific instructional techniques to help them focus on the print instead of just the pictures, which in turn develops print recognition, or the ability to recognize the shapes of letters and combinations. The study participants were preschool students in 85 presc hool classrooms, and it consisted of three study groups: a high dose intervention group, a low dose intervention group, and a comparison/control group. The researchers found that students who received more shared reading time had significantly higher earl y literacy skills in reading, spelling, and comprehension than those in lower dose groups. In a similar study with four to five year old preschool children, Gallingame (2009) chose to evaluate a curriculum of structured, comprehensive vocabulary instructi on during shared reading time in both a short term time period and a long term time period. The study found that strategies used during shared reading greatly affect ed the vocabulary learning in students, and that long term intervention ha d a much more l asting positive effect on student vocabulary. Additionally, the author noted that continual shared reading through primary education wa s likely as important for long term vocabulary growth as it is for preschool students. The literature related to shared reading also stated the importance of at home read alouds with the child's parent before attending school. Sim and Berthelsen (2014) reviewed the effects of shared boo k reading by parents with four to six year old children in a home environment. Parents were directed to read books aloud three times per week to their children using specific

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 12 strategies of dialogic reading and print referencing in which the parents received training. The children were randomly placed in groups according to the types of str ategies their parents were instructed to use, including a control group with no specific strategies, a dialogic reading group, and a dialogic reading with print referencing group. Results indicated that children in the dialogic and dialogic print referenc ing groups significantly improved in both their expressive language and vocabulary skills. The authors stated from their own previous research that shared reading showed to improve student expressive language, which improve d all oral skills, vocabulary gr owth, and later success in reading and other academic areas. The three previous studies related to shared reading were conducted through an established curriculum with trained teachers /parents and strategies. Kindle (2010 ) sought to examine how teachers w ith little professional development in shared reading used effective means of incorporating vocabulary development in shared reading time, including strategies such as questioning, labeling, and context. The study was performed with four elementary teache rs who had not received professional development specific to shared reading instruction. The results showed that different teachers were significantly varied in their types of strategies and occurrences of strategies, and that the types of strategies vari ed in effectiveness. The author suggested that some typically observed instructional strategies actually detracted from vocabulary learning, mostly due to the teacher speeding through the vocabulary instruction because of time constraint or poor student b ehaviors. In 1998, Christensen studied patterns of student participation during the read aloud time and the literature dramatization in six multicultural first grade students, two of whom were English Language Learners, over a sixteen week period to deter mine if patterns of participation improved due to the type of read aloud. Results indicated that all students, and especially the

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 13 English Language Learners, increased their overall quantity and quality of participation, and that all six subjects had a sig nificant increase in verbal participation for the literature dramatization , which the author speculated was likely due to the higher level of participation in the dramatization over a standard read aloud. Only one study was found that was directly related to music instruction and shared reading . In 2006, Cornett published an article discussing the use of integrating the arts with general classroom instruction. After a discussion of activities in a school that has committed to integrating the arts into ev ery core curriculum subject, Cornett made strong arguments about the possible effects of regularly integrating music and the arts into the core curriculum . In referencing schools that have chosen to integrate the arts completely into the general education curriculum, Cornett said, "Teachers believe drama, dance, music, and visual art should be integral to literacy instruction because they are essentially means of constructing meaning" (p . 2). The arts are a primary way to communicate, and since the arts an d literacy are both based in an understanding of meaning, they are naturally related. Cornett said, "The meaning focused nature of the arts can combine with their instructional and motivational power to magnify the effects of daily read alouds" (p . 3). Re cognizing the obvious relationship between literacy and music, Cornett said, "Most important are the unique cognitive, affective, and social contributions the arts make to learning" ( p. 2). Summar y While it is not contested that reading education is vital ly important for a child's success in life (Darrow, 2008; Hall, 2014) , there is a need, as stated by Telesco (2010), to continue to study the relationship between music education and reading skills until there is proof of causation that music education pos itively influences reading skills, so that a statement of the

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 14 importance of music education can be si milarly accepted. M any researchers (Butzlaff, 2000 ; Corrigall & Trainor, 2011 ; Lucas & Gromko , 200 7; Wallick , 1998), have found a relationship between mu sical skills and reading skills, although the specific cause of the correlation remains to be determined. With an understanding of the obvious importance of reading instruction, a school wide goal has been applied in my district: "Eve ry student, without e xception or excuse, will be proficient or advanced in reading, writing, and math, " (S. Binegar, personal communication, August 21, 2013) and it is expected that all teachers, regardless of type of position, are working with students toward that goal. Card any stated, "Music teachers are charged with the task of aligning standards for other subjects to their music content. The expectations are clear: music teachers must demonstrate how music objectives and experiences relate to other subjects' standards and create experiences that provide continuity within and across subjects" (p. 36). With budget cuts occurring all over the United States, and with music education programs often among the first areas to be considered for cuts, music teachers may be more like ly to retain their positions with definitive proof that reading education is occurring in their classrooms. However, some music educators are apprehensive about incorporating music and reading into their classrooms (Hall & Robinson, 2012). Some music teac hers are concerned that incorporating reading activities into their classrooms will result in a loss of important music instructional time in lieu of reading skills (Hall & Robinson, 201 2 ) or that they will be seen as enhancers of reading instruction rathe r than specialists of an important subject that can stand alone (Hall 2014) . Cardany (2013) warned music teachers to be cautious about the percentage of their curriculums that they are choosing to align with the English Language Arts (ELA) Common Core stan dards, as too much incorporation will result in less music instruction and more reading

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 15 instruction. Cardany suggests instead that music teachers should align their curriculums first to music standards and then find ways in which ELA can apply afterward, w hich should happen naturally, as music and reading both require reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, and language , which are the four primary strands of the ELA standards . However, Trinick (2011) made the argument that music is valuable both fo r music's sake and as a springboard for learning other skills. Both "fulfill different functions within the musical sphe re of music education and are neither opposing n or complementary Ð just different means to different ends" (p. 6). In other words, using music to teach reading does not take away from the value of music as a stand alone subject; instead, it enhances its value and results in better educated children. The apprehension that music teachers feel is also related to their lack of professional de velopment or training in reading. Darrow (2008) stated that music lessons are most effective when they are purposely and expertly designed to include activities which enhance reading skills, but a ccording to a study by Hall (2014), only half of colleges r equire a reading course for an undergraduate degree in music education, and of those, 90% of the courses are offered through the school of education, resulting in little opportunity for future music educators to receive techniques for incorporating the two . In the same study, music education professors were aske d about their philosophies of incorporating music and reading in music courses, and only 64% believed that reading should be incorporated into music learning at all. With little support for cross cu rricular teaching in undergraduate courses and with little or no professional development funds, music educators are tasked with the difficult situation of creating meaningful lesson plans in an area in which they have not been, and likely will not be , tau ght formally. In working toward the goal of proficient or advanced students in reading, writing, and math, music teachers can consider using shared reading from their existing classroom libraries in

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 16 the music classroom. Though a cornerstone of the daily curriculum for most elementary school classrooms (House Walters, 1996), shared reading has not held a prevalent presence in general music classrooms or in music educator training programs. This is unfortunate, as several studies provided evidence that sha red reading in the general education classroom positively impacted student literacy, vocabulary, verbal skills, and writing skills (Pi asta, McGinty, & Kadervak, 2012; Gallingame, 2009; Kindle, 2010; Christensen, 1998; Sim & Berthelsen, 2014). If shared rea ding can do so much to improve reading skills, it should be part of the general music curriculum as well. An important reason to consider shared reading in the music classroom is the evidence of positive effects on students who learn across the curriculum instead of compartmentalizing different subjects. Baker's (2013) and Miller's (2013) studies have shown that teaching students to make connections between disciplines instead of compartmentalizing them can improve higher level thinking and meaning making . Incorporating music into a shared reading activity could encourage students to think more critically about the meaning behind stories and to remain engaged for longer in th e skill or task (Cornett, 2006). Even with evidence provided by Cornett of the e xcellent uses of music with shared reading, there is a need for templates for lesson planning that will allow teachers to easily adapt books for simultaneous shared reading and musical skills learning. These templates for creating 25 minute music lessons using classroom books and shared reading can be incorporated for a much lower expense than purchasing an entire curriculum or attending several training sessions, and many music teachers already have classroom libraries from which they can choose appropria te books. For those who do not have classroom libraries, the school library often

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 17 contains excellent rhyming, song based, or rhythmic books at appropriate reading levels for young children that could be borrowed and used during music classes. The purpose of this Capstone Project was to create a template lesson plan for using classroom books for simultaneous shared reading and musical skills learning. Specific research questions include: 1. What musical skills can be taught and supplemented through classroom books and shared reading? 2. Using knowledge about effective reading and listening skills, what would be a meaningful lesson plan template for incorporating classroom books into the music classroom? 3. How would this template appear if employed in a sample less on? Method My first research question related to the musical skills that can be taught and supplemented through classroom books and shared reading. I began by studying the National Core Music Standards (2014) for kindergarten, first, and second grades. The new standards include three major core standards: creating, performing, and responding, all of which I believed could easily be incorporated by reading classroom books. Lamme (1990) mentioned the use of musical theme teaching, which is using the the me or content of the book to serve as the basis for a lesson. Lamme gave several suggestions for categories of books to use for music instruction, including stories about musical performances ; music for personal enjoyment ; and creati ve activities such as writing lyrics or setting music to rhythmic phrases , for example, jump rope rhymes or hand games ; music and dance ; and music in nature. While the specific content in the article was rather outdated, it served as a springboard for incorporation of my own i deas using

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 18 my classroom books. It occurred to me that students could easily create new verses for a folk song that was illustrated through a classroom book, or students could create musical sounds on classroom instruments to accompany the mood of the book . Additionally, students could create by composing a musical tune for a rhyming story. Students could perform any of their creations, or they could perform by singing the refrain or parts of the verses if the book was an adapted folk song. Students coul d act out any of the musical stories as part of arts performing, as well , which would incorporate many musical skills such as steady beat, rhythm, melody, or opposites such as loud/soft, high/low, fast/slow, and upward/downward movement . With responding, the read aloud books could be related to biographies or stories about composers, and the students could do a listening activity related to the actual music. Students could also write in a musical journal related to the music by the composer or the mood of the book. It seemed that there were many simple options for incorporating shared reading into musical activities in the music classroom. The first step of my project after studying the national standards and brainstorming some musical activities that co uld accompany the books was to find the grade levels of the books. In Gallingame's (2009) study, it was determined that vocabulary teaching was an important part of shared reading instruction, so it was important that the books that I chose for each grade level were appropriate and contained vocabulary that would be beneficial to the students and possible for them to learn. My coworkers suggested that I level the books using the Developmental Reading Assessment ( DRA ) , which is a content leveling system u sed for guided reading in our classrooms. The teachers who suggested using the DRA also recommended that I cho o se books for shared reading that are within two grade levels of the students, but it was not vital that the books be exactly the same grade leve l as the students since DRA levels are intended for the children's independent and guided reading experiences . Since I would be reading the books

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 19 aloud to my class, it was recommended that they be a little higher than the suggested DRA grade level. Keepin g this in mind, I decided to include the DRA levels of the books, but I did not choose books for the sample lesson plans according to their DRA levels. See Appendix A for a list of my classroom books, authors, and DRA levels. The next part of my project was to find how long it would take to read the books in my classroom library aloud. It seemed impractical to me to use books for shared reading that last ed longer than 10 minu tes for a 25 minute music class, especially considering the research in my liter ature review that showed that shared reading was less effective when students were not engaged, and spending large amounts of time reading a book would likely disengage them. Over a period of several weeks, I read the books aloud and wrote the amount of t ime it took in black permanent marker in the front cover of the book, just underneath the DRA level. I also recorded the timing of the books in a spreadsheet with the book title and author. I felt it was important to read the books aloud to time them beca use I read much more slowly when I am reading to a classroom of students, and I wanted the timing of the books to be realistic for other music educators who may want to utilize the appendices. See Appendix B for a list of books, authors, and times. Since my first research question was to determine what musical skills and activities could be taught through shared reading, a very important part of my project was to categorize the content of the books into possible musical skills or standards that they could easily teach. I found several categories for my classroom bo oks, including musical stories , illustrated and expanded folk songs or other songs , instruments, biographies, and skills focus books (such as teaching high/low or loud/soft). See Appendix C for a sample chart of book titles, authors, and

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 20 categories. Some books contain multiple categories since they could be incorporated for different purposes. My second and third research questions were to create a meaningful lesson plan template that could be easily incorporated into many different lessons that were geared toward shared reading. I chose to study the district wide lesson plan that my school district employs for teacher evaluations, and I compared and contrasted it with other lesson plan templa tes I found on the I nternet by searching G oogle. I decided to create a template lesson plan using the categories in my district wide lesson plan , also incorporating a few other items into the design , such as a place to include materials and a place to wri te the focus vocabulary words of the book . I also decided the lesson plans should not exceed two pages, because then one copy could be printed front and back and included in any binder for easy future access and for simpler quick scanning. I decided that the first page should contain the age group and lesson length, lesson title, aligned national core music standards, objectives, materials, vocabulary, explanation of the assessment, and the assessment rubric. It would be simplest to view all learning act ivities on the second page, so I included them there, including the anticipatory set, basic instruction, modeling, guided practice, independent practice, and closure. See Appendix D for the lesson plan template with instructional writing and for the blank lesson plan template without instructional writing. In the lesson plan template, I included a basic assessment rubric that could easily be adjusted for different types of activities. See Appendix E for the rubric alone, tripled on one page so that it ca n be copied for use in individual student files for simpler data collection. After completing the template for the lesson plans, I chose three books, one for each grade level in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, which I thought were appropriate to try as read alouds. I studied the content of the books and the music, and I decided to create one

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 21 lesson plan in each major core standard. For second grade, I decided to make a creating lesson plan. For first grade, I decided to make a responding le sson plan, and for kindergarten, I decided to make a performing lesson plan. Using the charts of categories and books in Appendix C, I was able to easily find books for each grade level that fit the standards and musical concepts that I wanted to teach. See Appendix F for each of the sample lesson plans. Results As mentioned briefly above, up on completion of the lesson plan template, I chose to create a sample kindergarten lesson, first grade lesson, and second grade lesson. I chose the younger grades b ecause the research showed that the most effective vocabulary development is for young readers aged five to seven. I also chose the younger grades because the classroom teachers in my school typically only use shared reading as a regular part of th e curric ulum in kindergarten, first , and second grades. For the sample kindergarten lesson, I chose the book Buzz and Ollie's Steady Beat Adventure written and illustrated Donna Sloan Thorne and Marilyn Sloan Felts. I chose to do a performing lesson for this boo k, although I believe it could be easily incorporated as a creating lesson or responding lesson. For the lesson, the teacher begins by reading the book. During the book reading, the teacher stops periodically to include the students in a demonstration and performance of steady beat and unsteady beat as mentioned in the text of the book. There are several different types of steady and unsteady beats in the book, including rain falling (steady), windshield wipers (steady), a flat tire (unsteady), a clock (s teady), a faucet (unsteady and steady), a rocking chair (steady), hammering (steady), a metronome on a piano (steady), and raindrops again (steady). The more interactive the teacher can make the read aloud time, the more productive the skill teaching time will be. After reading the book, the teacher gives a short

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 22 formal lesson about the difference between steady and unsteady beats. The students receive rhythm sticks and perform steady and unsteady beats as the assessment. In my classroom, I use this book as part of my opposites unit with kindergarten, so during the closure, I tie in the concept of opposites. After this lesson, there are also lessons in high/low, fast/slow, up/down, and loud/soft. For the sample first grade lesson, I chose the book The Her oic Symphony written by Anna Harwell Celenza and illustrated by JoAnn E. Kitchel. The book is an excellent background story for Beethoven's creation of Symphony No. 3, including historically accurate information related to the original dedication to Napole on Bonaparte. The text of the book does an excellent job describing the emotions and expressiveness of the music, which will prepare the students well for a responding segment of the lesson in their listening journals. As an assessment, students listen to the Symphony No. 3 and write about what they hear. As a prompt, the teacher encourages the students to think of their favorite superhero and write about what they think the superhero is doing during the music. For the sample second grade lesson, I chose three books with similar content: I Know An Old Lady , designed and illustrated by Marjorie Taylor, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books written by Lucille Colandro and illustrated by Jared Lee, and I Know A Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello writte n by Barbara S. Garriel and illustrated by John O'Brien. As a creating lesson plan, the teacher reads all three books to the students and then discusses their similarities and differences. The teacher discusses that the authors were creative because they t ook a folk song with which they were familiar and adapted the lyrics to their own new ideas. For the creating lesson, students will adapt the melody with their own text with the prompt title of "I Know A Cool Student" instead of "I Know An Old Lady." Stude nts also write about the

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 23 expressive intention behind their lyrics, as aligns with the music standards. The teacher performs one student's creation at the end of class. The lesson could possibly be expanded to give students more time to create and to give the teacher more time to perform student samples. Students could also perform their own samples, and then students would respond to the samples of others for an all inclusive series of related lessons. Conclusion After writing the sample lesson plans, I used each one in my classroom, and I noted immediate increased engagement in student behavior. With interesting pictures and stories, students engage well with books, and with fun activities that either interrupt portions of the story or are included afte r the story, students engage in a musical idea and a literary idea at the same time, which seems to help them remember musical concepts more thoroughly. In the kindergarten lesson plan, my students enjoyed reading the story and applying it in an interact ive way. They asked questions related to what was happening in the pictures and were interactive as we acted out the different types of steady and unsteady beats that we found around the world. They retained the information, as they were able to answer the questions during the lesson closure and demonstrate the steady and unsteady beats during their assessments. Very few students scored below the "meets expectations" grade on the assessment. Since the lesson plan, students have retained the information and have been able to build from it in other activities related to steady beat and rhythm. In the first grade lesson plan, my students were very interactive during the story of the Heroic Symphony. They asked me questions about Napoleon Bonaparte and about B eethoven's friend during the story, demonstrating that they comprehended the story and engaged in what they thought might happen next. They really liked drawing their cartoons, but the class time

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 2 4 finished more quickly than they hoped. After implementing th e lesson plan in my own classroom, I would recommend that other teachers either shorten the book or stretch the plan over two music classes to give students ample time to draw because they were extremely creative and engaged in the activity. The second gr ade lesson plan was the most successful of the three when I implemented it into my classroom. The second graders were extremely excited, engaged, and active when they were able to make up their own verses to the song. Their answers were far more creative t han I was expecting, and many were very funny. Because of the success of the lyric change lesson plan and the ease of allowing students to create, which can sometimes be challenging for music teachers to implement, I recommend this lesson plan or an adapta tion of it for other teachers to try, especially with older elementary students. This Capstone project has resulted in very useful resources for general music classrooms. From the template lesson plan, I have found it very simple to adapt the content of my books into 25 minute lesson plans that are meaningful to students and include a cross curricular design. I have found it meaningful that the lesson plans are in a simple two page design but still incorporate all of the required portions of a lesson plan according to my district's curriculum. Using the template, I have saved hours of lesson plan writing, and many of the lesson plans I have written have been easy to adapt for substitute teachers who are often untrained in music. Including an easy to ada pt rubric has ensured that I have proof of student work, records, and benchmarks for skills, which is something that is required on the teacher evaluation system. I can slip the rubric easily into a student's file folder for quick access when I am plannin g for the future or discussing the student with another teacher, administrator, or the child's parent. In addition, the rubric holds me accountable to align my objectives and activities with an

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 25 assessment for each lesson. Other music educators could easil y adapt the lesson plan for their own needs and find the same positive uses that I have found. B y teaching reading in the music classroom, music teachers can demonstrate their desire to collaborate with other teachers as members of a team of similarly min ded educators. As a member of the team of teachers in my own school, just demonstrating a desire to be included in the school goal of proficient or advance d students in reading and writing has generated positive conversations and opportunities for collabor ation with other teachers and administration that may not have otherwise occurred . These conversations could lead to an opportunity for cross curricular work or studies such as the study performed by Miller (2013) that mutually benefits the students and the teachers. To expand on the project, I would recommend a study of the individually chosen state Common Core ELA standards because proof of cross curricular design in that area would be very meaningful to general educators and administrators. A good way to begin with incorporating the ELA Common Core standards is to utilize Cardany's 2013 article "General Music and the Common Core: A Brief Discussion," which outlin es several specific strands of Common C ore ELA standards that regularly apply and are easil y adapted into the general music classroom. In addition, it would allow a music teacher to collaborate with classroom educators as he/she sought to correctly incorporate standards in which he/she may not have been trained. Additionally, through further st udy, the lesson plan template could be incorporated into other cross curricular areas, including other fine arts such as drama, visual art, and dance, and other core curriculum such as math, science, and social studies. General classroom educators often h ave core content books in their classroom libraries that a music teacher could borrow. Additionally, I recommend a study of benchmark assessments of concepts taught through shared

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 26 reading to find correlation or proof of the improvement of student musical skills because of the incorporation of shared reading and musical activities. S tudents are sure to benefit from a music teacher who incorporates shared reading into the music classroom. These benefits include a s trong correlation of music skills related to reading skills in a positive manner, shared reading time that teaches important skills such as reading comprehension and vocabulary , and cross curricular education formulating connections between subjects in a student's brain that enhance interdisciplin ary thinking . With purposeful cross curricular goals in mind and a collaborative mindset, a music teacher can easily adapt the shared reading lesson plan template into use in her or her classroom with his or her personal classroom library. The music teac her could find success in saving money, finding useful substitute lesson plans, collaborating with general classroom educators, and enhancing student learning through teaching musical skills and activities while incorporating shared reading into the music classroom.

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 27 References Baker, D. (2013). Art integration and cognitive development. Journal for Learning through the Arts, 9 (1) . Retrieved August 9, 2014 from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/ite m/9wv1m987 . Barwick, J., Valentine, E., West, R., & Wilding, J. (1989). Relations between reading and musical abilities. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 59 (1) , 253 257. Butzlaff, R. (2000). Can music be used to teach reading? Journal of Aesthe tic Education, 34 (3) , 167 178. Cardany, A.B. (2013). General music and the common core: A brief discussion. General Music Today, 27 (1), 35 39. Christensen Haag, C. (1998). Exploring participation in a first grade multicultural classroom during two literacy events: The read aloud and the literature dramatization (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from Dissertations and Theses Full Text (9916241). Cornett, C.E. (2006). Center stage: Arts based read alouds. Reading Teacher, 60 (3), 234 240. Corrigall, K. A. & T rainor, L. J. (2011). Associations between length of music training and reading skills in children. Music Perception, 29 (2) , 147 155. Darrow, A. (2008). Music and literacy. General Music Today, 21 (2), 32 33. doi: 10.1177/1048371308316411. Darrow, A., Regis ter, D., Standley, J., & Swedberg, O. (2007). The use of music to enhance reading skills of second grade students and students with reading disabilities. Journal of Music Therapy, 44 (1), 23 37. Douglas, S. & Willatts, P. (1994). The relationship between mu sical ability and literacy skills. Journal of Research in Reading, 17 (2) , 99 107.

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 28 Gallingane, M.C. (2009). Effects of read aloud strategies on young children's vocabulary learning (Master's Thesis). Retrieved from Dissertations and Theses Full Text (338592 5). Godin, R.A. (1999 ). Integrating the arts into the curriculum: Its effect on an elementary school math and reading achievement (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from Dissertations and Theses Full Text (9926042). Gregory, A. H. & Lamb, S. J. (1993). The association between music and reading in beginning readers. Educational Psychology, 13 (1), 13 27. Hall, S. (2014). Preparing music preservice teachers to enhance language arts reading skills in the elementary music classroom: A degree program and course c ontent analysis. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 24 (1), 12 25. doi: 10.1177/1057083713489884. Hall, S.N. & Robinson, N.R. (2012). Music and reading: Finding connections from within. General Music Today, 26 (1), 11 18. doi: 10.1177/1048371311432005. Hous e Walters, H. (1996). Read aloud and its impact on young children's writing (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from Dissertations and Theses Full Text (ISBN 0 612 17605 3). Kindle, K.J. (2010). Vocabulary development during read alouds: Examining the instr uctional sequence. Literacy Teaching and Learning, 14 (1) , 65 88. Lamme, L. (1990). Exploring the world of music through picture books. The Reading Teacher, 44 (4), 294 300. Lucas, J., & Gromko, J. (2007). The relationship of musical pattern discrimination s kill and phonemic awareness in beginning readers. Contributions to Music Educatio n, 34 (1), 9 17.

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 29 Miller, B.A. (2013). Joining forces: A collaborative study of curricular integration, International Journal of Education & the Arts, 14 (1.9). Retrieved August 9, 2014 from http://www.ijea.org/v14si1/ . National Association for Music Education (2014). Core Music Standards (PreK 8). Retrieved from http://musiced.nafme.org/files/2014/05/Core Music Standards PreK 81.pdf . Pi asta, S.B., Justice, L.M., McGinty, A.S., & Kaderavek, J.N. (2012). Increasing young children's contact with print during shared reading: Longitudinal effects on literacy achievement. Child Development, 83 (3), 810 820 . d oi: 10.1111/j.1467 8624.2012.01754.x Sim, S., & Berthelsen, D. (2014). Shared book reading by parents with young children: Evidence based practice. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 39 (1), 50 55. Slater, J., Tierney, A., & Kraus, N. (2013). At risk elementary school children with one year of classroom music instruction are better at keeping a beat. PLOS One, 8 (10) . doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0077250. Telesco, P.J. (2010). Music and early literacy. Forum on Public Policy Online, 2010 (5) , 1 18. Retrieved August 9, 2014 from http://forumonpublicpolicy.com/vol2010no5/archivevol2010no5/telesco.pdf . Trinick, R.M. (2011). Sound and sight: The use of song to promote language learning. General Music Today, 25 (5), 5 10. doi: 10.1177/104837311402066. U.S. Department of Education (2006). Shared book reading. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/intervention_reports/WWC_Shared_Book_092806.pdf . U.S. Department of Education (2007). Interactive shared book r eading. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/intervention_reports/WWC_ISBR_011807.pdf .

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 30 Wallick, M. (1998). A comparison study of the Ohio Proficiency Test resu lts between fourth grade string pullout students and those of matched ability. Journal of Research in Music Education, 46 (2), 239 247.

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 31 Appendix A Classroom Books, Authors, and DRA Levels Page 1

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 32 Classroom Books, Authors, and DRA Levels Page 2

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 33 Appen dix B Classroom Books, Authors, and Read Aloud Time Page 1

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 34 Classroom Books, Authors, and Read Aloud Time Page 2

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 35 Appendix C Classroom Books, Authors, Categories, and Notes Page 1

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 36 Classroom Books, Authors, Categories, and Notes Page 2

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 37 Classroo m Books, Authors, Categories, and Notes Page 3

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 38 Appendix D Lesson Plan Template with Instructional Writing Page 1

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 39 Lesson Plan Template with Instructional Writing Page 2

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 40 Blank Lesson Plan Template without Instructional Writing Page 1

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 41 Blank Less on Plan Template without Instructional Writing Page 2

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 42 Appendix E Tripled Lesson Plan Blank Rubric

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 43 Appendix F Kindergarten Sample Lesson Plan page 1

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 44 Kindergarten Sample Lesson Plan page 2

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 45 First Grade Sample Lesson Plan page 1

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 46 First Grade Sa mple Lesson Plan page 2

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 47 First Grade Sample Lesson Plan page 3

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 48 Second Grade Sample Lesson Plan Page 1

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 49 Second Grade Sample Lesson Plan Page 2

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SHARED READING IN MUSIC 50 Second Grade Sample Lesson Plan Page 3