Constellations Star Themed Vocal Play Explorations for Music Class

While learning about the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd," my students were amazed that music held such an important role in giving enslaved Americans a path to freedom. We looked at the way the "Drinking Gourd" or "Big Dipper" pointed to the North Star (Polaris) and had a great discussion about constellations in music class!

So let's take it a step further, and sing the stars! This set of vocal exploration cards is cross-curricular with science (astronomy). Students will see the images of the constellations. The teacher or student will point to a star to start, then trace the path connecting the stars to form the image of the constellation. The class sings the path, singing higher pitches for higher stars, and lower pitches for lower stars.

This is a .pdf document intended to be printed or projected. It includes 19 pages of constellations for your students to sing, including a slide that shows Ursa Major (Great Bear w/ Big Dipper) and Ursa Minor (Little Dipper) together to show the relationship of the two constellations that helped the American slaves find their path north.

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