JOYFUL NOISE!
BY DYAN BRANSTETTER
MAKING MUSIC WITH INSECT POETRY
Connecting language arts and music through poetry is
the most natural integration possible. Here, one
classroom teacher shares the beauty of creating a
“garden” of voices to learn about insects, performance,
and the depth of learning possible when exploring a
true musical nature.
Throughout my teaching career, I had been waiting for the
right class to develop a project for the book Joyful Noise:
Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleishman. When my grade
level began homogeneously grouping for Language Arts and
I was assigned the advanced learners, I knew my opportunity
had arrived. I love this book and the many ways it can be
integrated into science and the Arts. The illustratio