Seventh Grade

ArtsAlive! Seventh Grade is geared to ages 12–13 and aligns with select National Core Art Standards and Common Core English Language Arts Standards for seventh grade. The four Experiences mix and match different domains of the arts, including music, comedic theater, creative writing, performance, and the visual arts. The course’s theme is Practice and addresses the importance of planning and persistence when creative something new. Students build on their skills with the ukulele, work through the details of designing a diorama, learn step-by-step how to create a spoken word poem, and develop and rehearse a comedic monologue.

Experience 1: Music and Lyrics

In this Experience, students combine music, storytelling, and art to explore swing and blues music. First, they’re taught how to tune and care for a ukulele and explore strumming, chords, and chord progressions. Next, they’ll learn about several genres of music and be challenged to create a lead sheet and compose a blues song. They’ll connect to the emotions of their song by creating an original piece of art, and then they’ll follow the steps to fine tune, practice, and perform their original song.

Experience 2: Diorama

This Experience blends visual art with storytelling and theater. Students will learn about character development, practice drawing the human figure, and then build an original character out of clay. They’ll then learn about set design, storyboarding, and scene work so they can build a mini world for their character in the form of a diorama. There’s even a lesson on how to photograph and present their 3D project so they can showcase everything they’ve learned in this hands-on unit.

Experience 3: Spoken Word

The third Experience focuses on a cool art form that began in the 1920: spoken word poetry. Students will start by learning about the oral tradition, how spoken word art began with to jazz music, and how this performance style has influenced—and been influenced by—different communities and cultures. The lessons help students appreciate the connections between language, music, and performance, and students are supported as they write, hone, memorize, and perform an original spoken word piece.

Experience 4: Comedy Skit

The humorous last Experience is all about comedy. Students will trace comedy back to ancient Greek theater and then explore everything from improv and stand-up to comics and clowns. They’ll hone their creative writing skills by learning about irony, exaggeration, exposition, and character arcs and then write and edit a comedic monologue. Finally, they’ll learn how to present and record their performance and have an audience rolling in the aisles!