Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
Interim Thoughts on the Draft MUSIC K-4 Curriculum*
14 August 2020
William French
* CONFIDENTIAL RECOMMENDATION TO THE MINISTER and her designates
Please accept my profound apology that I have taken so long to submit this feedback.
I aim to fulfil two purposes: I.) outline a suggested approach, in light of various aspects to address; and II.) address part of that, concretely, by showing how the CKF materials work, both as a functional model, as well
as for their suggestions as to content.
Once we have addressed the major structural design questions to do with one of the Fine Arts, we have (content aside) also done the other three.
I.
I have been comparing three schemes (AB K-4 Draft, CKF K-8 Sequence, and the Ontario 1-8 Arts Curriculum) and concluded that it might be best to employ Ontario’s very clear organizational scheme, while adding in
elements from MOSL, AB K-4 Draft, and the model offered by CKF.
Ontario has four components (CKF equivalent in brackets):
1. List of the Elements (Elements), supplemented with related grade-level concepts;
2. Creating and Performing (Creative), wherein the elements are learned and applied, with emphasis on creativity and active participation;
3. Reflecting, Responding, and Analysing (Analytical); and
4. Exploring Forms and Cultural Contexts (Historical).
CKF presents Elements and Creative all in one; however, I think there is real advantage in Ontario’s List that breaks out the elements and can be checked from year to year, by element, and then treats creativity with
greater care.
Ontario is missing:
1. MOSL’s emphasis on emulation of great works and appreciation of beauty, etc. (incorporation presumably in note at top)
2. CKF linkages to other curriculum subjects, such as History and ELA (incorporate presumably in Reflecting & Forms) though there might be some linkage – just not as much.
3. CKF explicit emphasis on Orchestra (presumably in Reflecting & Forms)
4. AB Draft has perhaps a bit more explicit emphasis on Indigenous art forms (incorporate presumably in Reflecting & Forms)
5. I am wondering about an element to do with protocols and conventions of arts participation and learning, etc. (along the lines that I developed at the top level of the ELA files I submitted). Ontario has a long
bit on the creative process, up front, but it’s not really what I am talking about, I think. CKF has the heading “Listening and Understanding” under which it more or less subsumes “Reflecting” etc and
“Exploring Forms” etc. Subsuming them is not a good idea, I think, and Ontario does better in breaking them out explicitly; however, I wonder if this could be part of a protocol item and/or it could tie into the
MOSL emphasis on learning from great works.
6. A note that Ontario has in its long introduction to the Arts curriculum has to do with Community Partners. I think something needs to be said along these lines, which would include the possibility of bringing
artists and arts organisations into schools, or even training teachers, among other forms of alliance to advance school-community cooperation for the arts.
II.
Below, I have projected the CKF model onto the template that most SMEs seem to be using (so far as I understand). It’s just a model, but a helpful one to understand. Throughout, I have inserted little notes that CKF
provides to show linkages; however, these tend to be to American History, so I include them just to suggest how we might show linkages. At the bottom of the tables, I provide a list of all the CK ELA, History &
Geography, and Science domain series each year, again, just to suggest where linkages across the curriculum need to be considered. It’s just another tool for putting that top of mind.
That’s probably it for the moment. On the weekend, I will try to see what it would look like to build other elements into something like Ontario’s structure.
Best regards,

Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Page   1

 Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
William French


Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Page   2

 Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
Arts Education – Music
Kindergarten

Grade 1

Grade 2

Essential Understanding Music Exposure
Guiding Questions
Learning Outcomes

GENERAL

Explicit Knowledge

Conceptual
Understanding

Perceptual
Understanding

Explicit Knowledge

Conceptual
Understanding

Perceptual
Understanding

Explicit Knowledge

Conceptual
Understanding

Perceptual
Understanding

Students will
know:

In order to
understand:

And do:

Students will
know:

In order to
understand:

And do:

Students will know:

In order to
understand:

And do:

Explicit
Knowledge

Conceptual
Understanding

Perceptual
Understanding

Explicit Knowledge

Conceptual
Understanding

Perceptual
Understanding

Explicit Knowledge

Conceptual
Understanding

Perceptual
Understanding

Students will
know:

In order to
understand:

And do:

Students will
know:

In order to
understand:

And do:

Students will know:

In order to
understand:

And do:

Teachers: In schools,
lessons on music should
feature activities and
works that illustrate
important
musical concepts and
terms and should
introduce important
composers and works.
When appropriate,
topics in music may be
linked to topics in
other disciplines.
The following
guidelines focus on
content, not
performance skills,
though many concepts
are best
learned through active
practice (singing,
clapping rhythms,
playing instruments,
etc.).

ELEMENTS

Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Through
participation,
become familiar
with some basic
elements of music
(rhythm,
melody, harmony,
form, timbre,
etc.).

Through
participation,
become familiar
with some basic
elements of music
(rhythm,
melody, harmony,
form, timbre,
etc.).

Through
participation,
become familiar
with some basic
elements of music
(rhythm,
melody, harmony,
form, timbre,
etc.).

Page   3

 Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
Arts Education – Music
Kindergarten

Grade 1
Recognize a
steady beat; begin
to play a steady
beat.

Grade 2
Recognize a steady
beat; moving to a
beat; play a steady
beat; recognize
accents.

Recognize a steady
beat, accents, and
the downbeat;
play a steady beat.

Move responsively
to music
(marching,
walking, hopping,
swaying, etc.).

Move responsively
to music
(marching,
walking, hopping,
swaying, etc.).

Move responsively
to music
(marching,
walking, hopping,
swaying, etc.).

Recognize short
and long sounds.

Recognize short
and long sounds.

Recognize short
and long sounds.

Discriminate
between fast and
slow.

Discriminate
between fast and
slow.

Discriminate
between fast and
slow; gradually
slowing down and
getting faster.

Discriminate
between obvious
differences in
pitch: high and
low.

Discriminate
between obvious
differences in
pitch: high and
low.

Discriminate
between obvious
differences in
pitch: high and
low.

Discriminate
between loud and
soft.

Discriminate
between loud and
soft.

Discriminate
between loud and
soft; gradually
increasing and
decreasing
volume.

Recognize that
some phrases are
the same, some
different.

Understand that
melody can move
up and down.

Understand that
melody can move
up and down.

Sing
unaccompanied,
accompanied, and
in unison.

Hum the melody
while listening to
music.

Hum the melody
while listening to
music.

Echo short
rhythms and
melodic patterns.

Echo short rhythms
and melodic
patterns.

Play simple
rhythms and
melodies.

Play simple
rhythms and
melodies.

Recognize that
some beats have
accents (stress).

Page   4

 Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
Arts Education – Music
Kindergarten

Grade 1

Grade 2
Recognize like and
unlike phrases.

Recognize like and
unlike phrases.

Recognize that
music has timbre
or tone colour.

Recognize timbre
(tone colour).

Sing
unaccompanied,
accompanied, and
in unison.

Sing
unaccompanied,
accompanied, and
in unison.

Understand that
music is written
down in a special
way and become
familiar with
the following
notation:
whole note
half note
quarter note

Recognize verse
and refrain.

Recognize that
musical notes
have names.
Recognize a scale
as a series of
notes.
Sing the C major
scale using “do re
mi” etc.
Understand the
following
notation:
staff, 𝄞 treble
clef, names of
lines and spaces in
the treble clef
whole note
half note
quarter note
whole rest, half
rest, quarter rest
Explicit Knowledge

LISTENING AND
UNDERSTANDING

Students will
know:

Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Conceptual
Understanding

Perceptual
Understanding

Explicit Knowledge

Conceptual
Understanding

Perceptual
Understanding

Explicit Knowledge

Conceptual
Understanding

Perceptual
Understanding

In order to
understand:

And do:

Students will
know:

In order to
understand:

And do:

Students will know:

In order to
understand:

And do:

Page   5

 Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
Arts Education – Music
Kindergarten

Grade 1

MUSICAL TERMS &
CONCEPTS

ORCHESTRA

ORCHESTRA

Teachers: To encourage
listening skills and the
beginnings of
understanding, play
various kinds of music
often and repeatedly.
In the kindergarten
classroom, music can
be played for
enjoyment, to
accompany
activities, to inspire
creative movement,
etc. Expose children to
a wide range of music,
including
children’s music,
popular instrumental
music, and music from
various cultures.

Recognize the
following
instruments by
sight and sound:
guitar, piano,
trumpet, flute,
violin, drum.

Be familiar with
the families of
instruments in the
orchestra: strings,
brass, woodwinds,
percussion.

Edvard Grieg,
“Morning” and “In
the Hall of the
Mountain King”
from Peer Gynt
Victor Herbert,
“March of the
Toys” from Babes
in Toyland

Note: Grieg’s “In the
Hall
of the Mountain King” is
a good work to illustrate
dynamics (loud and
quiet),
as well as tempo (slow
and
fast).

Know that the
leader of the
orchestra is called
the conductor.

ORCHESTRA
Note: Children will
review
families of instruments
and
specific instruments in
later grades

Be familiar with
families of
instruments:
strings, brass,
woodwinds,
percussion.

Note: In third grade,
students will take a
closer
look at the brass and
woodwind families.

Be familiar with
instruments in the
string family—
violin, viola, cello,
double bass—and
listen to….
Camille SaintSaëns, from
Carnival of the
Animals: “The
Swan” (cello) and
“Elephants” (doubl
e bass)

Richard Rodgers,
“March of the
Siamese Children”
from The King and
I

Antonio Vivaldi,
The Four Seasons
(see below,
Composers and
Their Music)

Camille SaintSaëns, Carnival of
the Animals

Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Grade 2

:

Be familiar with:
Sergei Prokofiev,
Peter and the
Wolf.

Be familiar with
instruments in the
percussion family—
for example, drums
(timpani,
snare), xylophone,
wood block,
maracas, cymbals,
triangle,
tambourine—and
listen to…..

Note: If you have
recordings or other
resources, also
introduce African
drumming and Latin
American music
with percussion.

Carlos Chavez,
Toccata for
Percussion, third
movement.

Page   6

 Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
Arts Education – Music
Kindergarten

Grade 1

Grade 2
Recognize that the
piano and organ
are keyboard
instruments, and
listen to a variety
of
keyboard music,
including:

See also below,
Composers
and Their Music, Bach,
Toccata and Fugue in
D
minor (organ).

Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, Rondo Alla
turca from Piano
Sonata K. 331
Ludwig van
Beethoven, Für
Elise
Felix Mendelssohn,
from Songs without
Words, “Spring
Song”
COMPOSERS

COMPOSERS &
THEIR MUSIC

Know that a
composer is
someone who
writes music.

Teachers: Provide
brief, childfriendly
biographical
profiles of the
following
composers, and
listen to
representative
works:

Page   7

 Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
Arts Education – Music
Kindergarten

Grade 1
Be familiar with
Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart as a
composer who
wrote what
is known as
classical music,
and listen to the
Allegro (first
movement) from A
Little Night Music
(Eine kleine
Nachtmusik).

Grade 2
Antonio Vivaldi,
The Four Seasons
Johann Sebastian
Bach, Minuet in G
major (collected
by Bach in the
Anna Magdalena
Notebook); Jesu,
Joy of Man’s
Desiring; Toccata
and Fugue in D
minor
Ludwig van
Beethoven,
Symphony No. 6
(“Pastoral”): first
movement and
from final
movement,
“Thunderstorm” to
end of symphony

MUSIC CAN TELL A
STORY

Page   8

 Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
Arts Education – Music
Kindergarten

Grade 1

Grade 2

Narrative in
OPERA
Understand that
opera combines
music, singing, and
acting.
Listen to selections
from
Humperdinck’s
Hansel and Gretel:
“Brother, Come
Dance with Me,” “I
Am the Little
Sandman,”
“Children’s
Prayer.”
Narrative in
INSTRUMENTAL
MUSIC
Listen to Paul
Dukas, The
Sorcerer’s
Apprentice.
Narrative in
BALLET
Understand that
ballet combines
music and
movement, often
to tell a story.
Listen to
Tchaikovsky’s
Nutcracker Suite.

Note: If resources are
available, read aloud to
students the story
behind
Tchaikovsky’s
Nutcracker,
and either attend a
performance or show
scenes from the ballet,
which is available on
videotape. You
may also wish to
introduce
children to the Suite
from
Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping
Beauty, in relation to
the
story in Language Arts
1,
“Sleeping Beauty.”

AMERICAN
MUSICAL
TRADITIONS

Page   9

 Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
Arts Education – Music
Kindergarten

Grade 1

Grade 2

JAZZ

Understand that
jazz is a kind of
music that
developed in
America, with
African and
African American
roots, and that
jazz musicians
improvise.
Recognize Louis
Armstrong as a
great early jazz
musician.

SONGS

Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Page   10

 Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
Arts Education – Music
Kindergarten
Teachers: See also
Language Arts,
Mother Goose
poems. A number
of the poems may
be sung to
familiar melodies:
The Bear Went
Over the Mountain
Bingo
The Farmer in the
Dell
Go In and Out the
Window
Go Tell Aunt Rhody
Here We Go Round
the Mulberry Bush
The Hokey Pokey
Hush Little Baby
If You’re Happy
and You Know It
Jingle Bells
John Jacob
Jingleheimer
Schmidt
Kumbaya (also Kum
Ba Ya)
London Bridge
Old MacDonald Had a
Farm
Row, Row, Row Your
Boat
This Old Man
Twinkle Twinkle
Little Star
The Wheels on the
Bus

Teachers: You
may wish to
supplement the
songs listed above
with songs from
the Core
Knowledge
Preschool
Sequence, as
follows:
A Tisket, A Tasket
Are You Sleeping?
Blue-Tail Fly (Jimmie
Crack Corn)
Do Your Ears Hang
Low?
Did You Ever See a
Lassie?

Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Grade 1
Teachers: You
may also wish to
teach children the
song “Brother,
Come Dance with
Me” in connection
with their
introduction to
the opera Hansel
and Gretel. And
you may wish to
teach the poem
“Thanksgiving
Day” (“Over the
river and through
the wood”) as a
song (see
Language Arts 1:
Poetry).
America the
Beautiful
Billy Boy
Dry Bones
For He’s a Jolly
Good Fellow
Frère Jacques
La Cucaracha
Make New Friends
Michael, Row the
Boat Ashore
Oh, Dear, What Can
the Matter Be?
Oh, John the
Rabbit
Oh! Susanna
On Top of Old
Smokey
She’ll Be Comin’
’Round the
Mountain
Skip to My Lou
Take Me Out to the
Ball Game
There’s a Hole in
the Bucket
When the Saints Go
Marching In
Yankee Doodle

Grade 2
Buffalo Gals
Casey Jones
(chorus only)
Clementine
Dixie
Do-Re-Mi
The Erie Canal
Follow the Drinking
Gourd
Good Bye Old Paint
Home on the Range
I’ve Been Working
on the Railroad
John Henry
Old Dan Tucker
The Star-Spangled
Banner
Swing Low, Sweet
Chariot
This Land Is Your
Land
When Johnny
Comes Marching
Home

See also Language Arts
2: American tall tales, re
“Casey Jones,” and
“John
Henry.”

See also American
History
2: Civil War, re “Dixie,”
“Follow the Drinking
Gourd,” and “When
Johnny Comes
Marching Home.”

See also American
History
2: War of 1812, re “The
Star-Spangled Banner.”

Page   11

 Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
Arts Education – Music
Kindergarten

CKF DOMAIN
ALIGNMENT CHECK

Grade 1

Grade 2

Explicit Knowledge

Conceptual
Understanding

Perceptual
Understanding

Explicit Knowledge

Conceptual
Understanding

Perceptual
Understanding

Explicit Knowledge

Conceptual
Understanding

Perceptual
Understanding

Students will
know:

In order to
understand:

And do:

Students will
know:

In order to
understand:

And do:

Students will know:

In order to
understand:

And do:

Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Page   12

 Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
Arts Education – Music
Kindergarten
Legend:

CKLA:
→Nursery Rhymes
Core Knowledge
and Fables
→The Human
Language Arts (CKLA)
Body: Five Senses
Core Knowledge History →Stories
→Plants
& Geography (CKHG)
→Farms
→“Native
Core Knowledge
Science (CKSci)
Americans” (Indig
enous Canadians)
→Kings and Queens
→Seasons and
Weather
→Columbus and
the Pilgrims
→Colonial Towns
and Townspeople
→Taking Care of
the Earth
→“Presidents and
American
Symbols” (Canadi
an content)
CKHG:
→Let’s Explore Our
World
→“Native
Americans” (Indig
enous Canadians)
→Exploring and
Moving to [North]
America
→“Mount
Rushmore
Presidents” (Cana
dian content)
CKSci:
→Pushes and Pulls
→Needs of Plants
and Animals
→Changing
Environments
→Weather Patterns

Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Grade 1
CKLA:
→ Fables and
Stories
→ The Human
Body
→ Different
Lands,
Similar
Stories
→ Early World
Civilizations
→ Early
American
Civilizations
→ Astronomy
→ The History
of the Earth
→ Animals and
Habitats
→ Fairy Tales
→ A New
Nation –
American
Independen
ce
→ [Canadian]
Frontier
Explorers
CKHG:

→ Continents
, Countries
and Maps
→ Mesopotam
ia
→ Ancient
Egypt
→ Three
World
Religions
→ Early
Civilization
s of the
Americas
→ The
Culture of
Mexico
→ Early
Explorers
and
Settlers

Grade 2
CKLA:

→ Fairy Tales
and Tall
Tales
→ Early Asian
Civilization
s
→ The
Ancient
Greek
Civilization
→ Greek
Myths

→ The War of
1812
→ Cycles in
Nature
→ Westward
Expansion
→ Insects
→ The U.S.
Civil War
→ The Human
Body –
Building
Blocks and
Nutrition
→ Immigration
→ Fighting for
a Cause
CKHG:

→ Ancient
India
→ Ancient
China
→ The
Culture of
Japan
→ Ancient
Greece
→ Geography
of the
Americas
→ Making of
the
Constitutio
n
→ The War of
1812
Page   13

 Arts Education Kindergarten to Grade 4 Curriculum
Arts Education – Music
Kindergarten

Grade 1

Grade 2

Competency(ies)
Literacy
Numeracy

Education
K–4 Curriculum   April 2020
Classification: Arts
Protected
A

Page   14