Connecticut State Standards for Arts Education: Grade 2

CT.1. Dance: Elements And Skills: Students will identify and perform movement elements and dance skills.

1.1. Students demonstrate nonlocomotor movements (such as bend, twist, stretch, swing, sway).

1.2. Students demonstrate eight basic locomotor movements (walk, run, hop, jump, leap, gallop, slide and skip), traveling forward, backward, sideward, diagonally and turning.

1.3. Students demonstrate understanding of spatial concepts through, for example: shape-making at low, middle and high levels; defining and maintaining personal space; and demonstrating movements in straight and curved pathways.

1.4. Students demonstrate accuracy in moving to a musical beat and responding to changes in tempo.

1.5. Students identify and demonstrate basic dynamic contrasts (slow/quick, gentle/strong).

1.6. Students demonstrate kinesthetic awareness and concentration in performing movement skills.

1.7. Students demonstrate accuracy in memorizing and reproducing simple movement phrases.

1.8. Students observe and describe the movement elements (action, space, dynamics) in a brief movement study.

CT.2. Dance: Choreography: Students will understand choreographic principles, processes and structures.

2.1. Students use improvisation to discover and invent movement and to solve movement problems.

2.2. Students create a sequence or simple dance with a beginning, middle and end, both with and without a rhythmic accompaniment, and identify each of these sequence parts.

2.3. Students create a dance phrase, repeat it, and then vary it (making changes in the time, space, and/or force/energy).

2.4. Students demonstrate the ability to work effectively alone and with a partner.

2.5. Students demonstrate the following partner skills: copying, leading and following, mirroring.

2.6. Students improvise, create and perform simple dances based on concepts suggested by the teacher and their own feelings and ideas.

2.7. Students identify and describe the choreographic structure of their own dances in simple terms.

CT.3. Dance: Meaning: Students will understand how dance creates and communicates meaning.

3.1. Students observe and discuss how dance is different from other forms of human movement (such as sports, everyday gestures).

3.2. Students take an active role in a class discussion about interpretations of and reactions to dances that are either produced in class or viewed in the theatre or on video.

3.3. Students present their own dances to peers and discuss their meanings with confidence.

CT.4. Dance: Thinking Skills: Students will apply analytical and evaluative thinking skills in dance.

4.1. Students explore, discover and realize multiple solutions to a given movement problem, choose their favorite solution and discuss the reasons for their choice.

4.2. Students observe two dances and discuss how they are similar and different in terms of one of the elements of dance (such as space) by observing body shapes, levels, pathways.

4.3. Students demonstrate appropriate audience behavior in watching dance performances, and discuss their opinions about the dances with their peers in a supportive and constructive way.

CT.5. Dance: History And Cultures: Students will demonstrate an understanding of dance in various cultures and historical periods.

5.1. Students perform folk dances from various cultures with competence and confidence.

5.2. Students perform a dance from a resource in their own community, and describe the cultural and/or historical context (how and why this dance is/was performed).

5.3. Students answer questions about dance in a particular culture and time period (for example: In colonial America, why and in what settings did people dance? What did the dances look like?).

CT.6. Dance: Healthful Living: Students will make connections between dance and healthful living.

6.1. Students identify at least three personal goals to improve themselves as dancers.

6.2. Students describe the skeleton and how it works in simple terms.

6.3. Students explain how healthful practices (such as nutrition, safety) enhance their ability to dance, citing multiple examples.

CT.7. Dance: Connections: Students will make connections between dance, other disciplines and daily life.

7.1. Students create a dance project that reveals understanding of a concept or idea from another discipline (such as pattern in dance and science).

7.2. Students respond to a dance using another art form, and explain the connections between the dance and their response to it (for example, making a painting about a dance and describing the connections).

7.3. Students video record a simple dance (after collaborative planning in small groups) which successfully shows the concept or idea that drives the dance.

CT.1. Music: Vocal: Students will sing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of songs.

1.1. Students sing independently, on pitch and in rhythm, with appropriate timbre, diction and posture, and maintain a steady tempo.

1.2. Students sing expressively, with appropriate dynamics, phrasing and interpretation.

1.3. Students sing from memory a varied repertoire of songs representing genres and styles from diverse cultures.

1.4. Students sing ostinatos, partner songs and rounds.

1.5. Students sing in groups, blending vocal timbres, matching dynamic levels, and responding to the cues of a conductor.

CT.2. Music: Instrumental: Students will play, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of instrumental music.

2.1. Students perform on pitch, in rhythm, with appropriate dynamics and timbre, and maintain a steady tempo.

2.2. Students perform easy rhythmic, melodic and chordal patterns accurately and independently on rhythmic, melodic and harmonic classroom instruments.

2.3. Students perform expressively a varied repertoire of music representing diverse genres and styles.

2.4. Students echo short rhythms and melodic patterns.

2.5. Students perform in groups, blending instrumental timbres, matching dynamic levels, and responding to the cues of a conductor.

2.6. Students perform independent instrumental parts while other students sing or play contrasting parts.

CT.3. Music: Improvisation: Students will improvise melodies, variations and accompaniments.

3.1. Students improvise 'answers' in the same style to given rhythmic and melodic phrases.

3.2. Students improvise simple rhythmic and melodic ostinato accompaniments.

3.3. Students improvise simple rhythmic variations and simple melodic embellishments on familiar melodies.

3.4. Students improvise short songs and instrumental pieces, using a variety of sound sources, including traditional sounds, nontraditional sounds available in the classroom, body sounds, and sounds produced by electronic means.

CT.4. Music: Composition: Students will compose and arrange music.

4.1. Students create and arrange music to accompany readings or dramatizations.

4.2. Students create and arrange short songs and instrumental pieces within specified guidelines.

4.3. Students use a variety of sound sources when composing.

CT.5. Music: Notation: Students will read and notate music.

5.1. Students read whole, half, dotted half, quarter and eighth notes and rests in 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 meter signatures.

5.2. Students use a system (that is, syllables, numbers or letters) to read simple pitch notation in the treble clef in major keys.

5.3. Students identify symbols and traditional terms referring to dynamics, tempo and articulation and interpret them correctly when performing.

5.4. Students use standard symbols to notate meter, rhythm, pitch and dynamics in simple patterns presented by the teacher.

CT.6. Music: Analysis: Students will listen to, describe and analyze music.

6.1. Students identify simple music forms when presented.

6.2. Students demonstrate perceptual skills by moving in response to, by answering questions about, and by describing aural examples of music of various styles representing diverse cultures.

6.3. Students use appropriate terminology in explaining music, music notation, music instruments and voices, and music performances.

6.4. Students identify the sounds of a variety of instruments, including many orchestra and band instruments, and instruments from various cultures, as well as children's voices and male and female adult voices.

6.5. Students respond through purposeful movement to selected prominent music characteristics or to specific music events while listening to music.

CT.7. Music: Evaluation: Students will evaluate music and music performances.

7.1. Students devise criteria for evaluating performances and compositions.

7.2. Students explain, using appropriate music terminology, their personal preferences for specific musical works and styles.

CT.8. Music: Connections: Students will make connections between music, other disciplines and daily life.

8.1. Students identify similarities and differences in the meanings of common terms used in the various arts.

8.2. Students identify ways in which the principles and subject matter of music and other disciplines taught in the school are interrelated.

CT.9. Music: History and Cultures: Students will understand music in relation to history and culture.

9.1. Students identify by genre or style aural examples of music from various historical periods and cultures.

9.2. Students describe in simple terms how elements of music are used in music examples from various cultures of the world.

9.3. Students identify various uses of music in their daily experiences and describe characteristics that make certain music suitable for each use.

9.4. Students identify and describe roles of musicians in various music settings and cultures.

9.5. Students demonstrate audience behavior appropriate for the context and style of music performed.

CT.1. Theatre: Creating: Students will create theatre through improvising, writing and refining scripts.

1.1. Students collaborate to select inter-related characters, environments and situations for classroom dramatizations.

1.2. Students improvise dialogue to tell stories, and formalize improvisations by writing or recording the dialogue.

CT.2. Theatre: Acting: Students will act by developing, communicating and sustaining characters.

2.1. Students imagine and clearly describe characters, their relationships and their environments.

2.2. Students use variations of locomotor and nonlocomotor movement and vocal pitch, tempo and tone for different characters.

2.3. Students assume roles (based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature and history) in classroom dramatizations.

CT.3. Theatre: Technical Production: Students will design and produce the technical elements of theatre through artistic interpretation and execution.

3.1. Students design the playing space to communicate characters and action in specific locales.

3.2. Students collaborate to select and safely organize available materials that suggest scenery, properties, lighting, sound, costumes and makeup.

CT.4. Theatre: Directing: Students will direct by planning or interpreting works of theatre and by organizing and conducting rehearsals.

4.1. Students collaboratively plan and prepare improvisations and demonstrate various ways of staging classroom dramatizations.

CT.5. Theatre: Researching and Interpreting: Students will research, evaluate and apply cultural and historical information to make artistic choices.

5.1. Students communicate information to peers about people, events, time and place related to classroom dramatizations.

CT.6. Theatre: Connections: Students will make connections between theatre, other disciplines and daily life.

6.1. Students describe visual, aural, oral and kinetic elements in theatre, dance, music and visual arts.

6.2. Students compare how ideas and emotions are expressed in theatre, dance, music and visual arts.

6.3. Students select movement, music or visual elements to enhance the mood of a classroom dramatization.

6.4. Students identify connections between theatre and other disciplines in the curriculum.

6.5. Students identify various careers available to theatre artists.

CT.7. Theatre: Analysis, Criticism and Meaning: Students will analyze, critique and construct meanings from works of theatre.

7.1. Students identify and describe the visual, aural, oral and kinetic elements of classroom dramatizations and dramatic performances.

7.2. Students explain how the wants and needs of characters are similar to and different from their own.

7.3. Students articulate emotional responses to and explain personal preferences about whole dramatic performances as well as parts of those performances.

7.4. Students analyze classroom dramatizations and, using appropriate terminology, constructively suggest (1) alternative ideas for dramatizing roles, arranging environments and developing situations and (2) means of improving the collaborative processes of planning, playing, responding and evaluating.

CT.8. Theatre: History and Cultures: Students will demonstrate an understanding of context by analyzing and comparing theatre in various cultures and historical periods.

8.1. Students identify and compare similar characters and situations in stories and dramas from and about various cultures, create classroom dramatizations based on these stories and dramas, and discuss how theatre reflects life.

8.2. Students identify and compare the various cultural settings and reasons for creating dramas and attending theatre.

CT.1. Visual Arts: Media: Students will understand, select and apply media, techniques and processes.

1.1. Students differentiate between a variety of media, techniques and processes.

1.2. Students describe how different media, techniques and processes cause different effects and personal responses.

1.3. Students use different media, techniques and processes to communicate ideas, feelings, experiences and stories.

1.4. Students use art media and tools in a safe and responsible manner.

CT.2. Visual Arts: Elements and Principles: Students will understand and apply elements and organizational principles of art.

2.1. Students identify the different ways visual characteristics are used to convey ideas.

2.2. Students describe how different expressive features, and ways of organizing them, cause different responses.

2.3. Students use the elements of art and principles of design to communicate ideas.

CT.3. Visual Arts: Content: Students will consider, select and apply a range of subject matter, symbols and ideas.

3.1. Students discuss a variety of sources for art content.

3.2. Students select and use subject matter, symbols and ideas to communicate meaning.

CT.4. Visual Arts: History And Cultures: Students will understand the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.

4.1. Students recognize that the visual arts have a history and a variety of cultural purposes and meanings.

4.2. Students identify specific works of art as belonging to particular styles, cultures, times and places.

4.3. Students create art work that demonstrates understanding of how history or culture can influence visual art.

CT.5. Visual Arts: Analysis, Interpretation and Evaluation: Students will reflect upon, describe, analyze, interpret and evaluate their own and others' work.

5.1. Students identify various purposes for creating works of art.

5.2. Students describe visual characteristics of works of art using visual art terminology.

5.3. Students recognize that there are different responses to specific works of art.

5.4. Students describe their personal responses to specific works of art using visual art terminology.

5.5. Students identify possible improvements in the process of creating their own work.

CT.6. Visual Arts: Connections: Students will make connections between the visual arts, other disciplines and daily life.

6.1. Students identify connections between characteristics of the visual arts and other arts disciplines.

6.2. Students identify connections between the visual arts and other disciplines in the curriculum.

6.3. Students describe how the visual arts are combined with other arts in multimedia work.

6.4. Students demonstrate understanding of how the visual arts are used in the world around us.

6.5. Students recognize that works of visual art are produced by artisans and artists working in different cultures, times and places.