Montague Township School District
Music Curriculum Guide
Grade 5
2025-2026
Jody Taylor
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Description
The Grade 5 General Music curriculum is built on four ongoing artistic processes: creating, performing, responding, and connecting. Students develop musical literacy and fluency across the full year by composing and improvising rhythmic and melodic patterns, singing and playing instruments with proper technique, responding to and interpreting diverse musical selections, and making meaningful connections between music and their personal experiences. The curriculum emphasizes a diverse repertoire of musical works and backgrounds of composers and performers, with particular attention to musicians with disabilities, social issues such as spirituals and protest songs, and varied cultural and historical perspectives.
Big Ideas
- Creative ideas emerge from a variety of sources and are refined through feedback, persistence, and application of criteria.
- Musical performance requires technical skill, knowledge of repertoire, and the ability to convey expressive intent through interpretation.
- Musical response is informed by analysis of structure, context, and the expressive choices made by creators and performers.
- Musicians connect their interests, experiences, and knowledge across disciplines to deepen their understanding and expression.
Essential Questions
- How do musicians generate, develop, and improve creative ideas?
- How do performers select repertoire and communicate expressive intent to audiences?
- How do individuals respond to and evaluate music using established criteria?
- How do musicians make meaningful connections between music and their personal experiences, other arts, and daily life?
Music - Connecting
Music - Creating
Music - Performing
Music - Responding
Students apply mathematical thinking through rhythm patterns, counting, and structural analysis of musical compositions.
Students explore scientific inquiry and design thinking when investigating sound, acoustics, and the physics of musical instruments.
Students develop literacy skills through reading and interpreting musical notation, writing about musical choices, discussing artistic intent, and analyzing text in songs and compositions.
Students examine how music reflects cultural, historical, and social contexts, including the contributions of diverse musicians and composers from various backgrounds and communities.
Students develop mind-body awareness through musical performance, breath control, posture, and the health benefits of musical engagement and expression.
Students encounter and perform music in different languages and explore diverse global musical traditions and cultural expressions.
Students are assessed across creating, performing, responding, and connecting units through formative, summative, alternative, and benchmark assessments. Assessment methods include group work, projects, discussions, question and answer exchanges, teacher observation, and skill testing. Students demonstrate learning through performance tasks such as improvising and composing blues-style pieces, performing in concerts with appropriate technique and expression, watching and responding to concert performances, and creating compositions that reflect personal interests and social issues. Teachers apply established criteria and feedback throughout the year to help students refine their work and show growth over time.
| Unit | Formative | Summative | Benchmark | Alternative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01Creating | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| 02Performing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 03Responding | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| 04Connecting | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Coverage | 4/4 | 4/4 | 2/2 | 4/4 |
| Unit | IEP | 504 | MLL | At-Risk | Gifted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01Creating | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 02Performing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 03Responding | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 04Connecting | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Coverage | 4/4 | 4/4 | 4/4 | 4/4 | 4/4 |