Rap, Rap, and more Rap

Today, I wanted to get the students even more excited about music. I started the lesson off by reading a book called "The Roots of Rap." This book gave them a history of rap: where it started and where it has ended up. We then listened to "God's Plan" by Drake and I had the students point out repeated and rhyming words. This really helped them construct their raps later on in the lesson and connect to a song they were already familiar with. I reminded them of the story of Peer Gynt (from the previous weeks lesson) and rapped something that I had created that related to this lesson.

Peer Gynt was a little boy

Was walking through the woods with no special toy

Came upon a green, dark scary troll

Who had a very fluffy, hairy, hairy mole.

Peer Gynt was in a mountain

Came upon gold like a fountain

Tried to leave before he would fumble

Escaped in time before the mount would crumble.

The students were then instructed to create their own rap about a certain part of the Peer Gynt story. For example, one group was assigned the topic of trolls while another group was assigned to write a rap about the woods. Similarly, one group was given the topic of Peer Gynt himself, while another group was to create a rap about the gold in the mountain. After the students had created their raps, we took a volunteer from each group and retold the story of Peer Gynt in the Hall of the Mountain King by rapping to a beat.