Today I am excited to be presenting at the second annual Connectivity Conference hosted by Susan Riley of educationcloset.com. Her site has many wonderful resources for teachers who want to begin or continue integrating the arts into their work. If you haven’t checked them out, please do so!

This year’s Arts Integration Connectivity Conference will be centered around how the arts interplay with the Common Core.

My presentation at today’s virtual conference is titled, Music and the Core and I will presenting from 12-1 EST. Here is the description:

Musical study parallels that of all other content areas. When we study music, we deepen our understanding of math, language, art, history, and so much more. Music is the core of so much of what we do and integrating the concepts and skills that musical study provides can be a critical step in a students’ understanding of the Common Core State Standards. Join Elizabeth Peterson as she discusses how music relates to and is embedded in CCSS. She will also offer practical ways to apply those ideas into your teaching.”

I will be sharing out resources and links throughout my hour chatting with Connectivity participants and I would like to list some of them here for easy access to all.

My presentation begins with one of my favorite topics: how music parallels all things! This, of course includes all aspects of life from ceremonies to broken hearts to historical perspectives to the Common Core subjects: Math and ELA. For a more elaborate post on that topic go here:

Inspired by the Common Core…Wait, What?

I state quite firmly in my preso that

Again this is discussed in further detail in the post cited above. (Those are my cute kids when they were younger, by the way!)

Here is a link to the Common Core Math Standards of Practice.

Here is a link to the Common Core Math Anchor Standards (math content).

This is the video I will be sharing during my presentation. It is of my class undergoing our project integrating music notation (note values) and fractions: Rhythmic Fractions.

Can’t see the video? Here is the LINK to Rhythmic Fractions.

This video is one I will reference. It is our popular video of my students performing their math dances. …so much fun…

Can’t see the video? Here’s the LINK to Math Dances.

I will also be discussing the many ways music parallels with the ELA Common Core State Standards. (Click the link to view them in their entirety.)

My biggest message here is that you can loosen the concept of “text” in the ELA CCSS and consider the possibilities of using MUSIC as TEXT to listen to, study, discuss and analyze just as you would a written text. Again you can reference the initial link I put at the top of this post

In addition, I would like to mention this post which gives an overview of how you can begin to discuss musical selections (be they Classical, Blues or Rock) with your students using the Clues in Music.

The Clues in Music

Inspired by Listening book

Possibly even better than that, I want to showcase my book that covers all things about listening to music in the classroom: Inspired by Listening is a resource book written for teachers who want to integrate music listening experiences into the work they do with students. I hope you consider checking it out!

Finally, we can’t have a true arts integration post or presentation without mention of what true arts integration is. You must stay true to the integrety of both the art form and the content area. And part of that is by making sure that you address (teach and assess) standards in both.

So, here are a couple of links that may be helpful: