Be cool in KS2

Composed by Bob Chilcott, one of the leading names in adult and children’s choral music, this catchy, eco-friendly song represents a great starting point for cross-curricular work, and would equally make a wonderful performance item for a class assembly on the theme of the environment.

English

• Play the backing track and display the title Be cool. Brainstorm the word ‘cool’. Use dictionaries and thesauruses and ascertain that, as an adjective, ‘cool’ has several possible meanings – cold, unflappable, offhand or trendy, for example. Having heard the backing, which meaning do children think
  will be the focus for this song?
• Display the lyrics, play the performance track and ask children to respond to the themes raised. What is the song about? What are the implications of ‘cool’ and ‘green’? Establish that the song has an environmental theme and ask children to listen again, highlighting any topic related words, phrases and ideas. Ask children to transfer these to sticky notes and create a whole-class ideas board or phrase bank with ‘Be cool, be green’ at the centre, adding further topic words as they arise, such as:

• carbon footprint
• greenhouse effect
• acid rain
• climate change
• sustainability
• deforestation
• fossil fuels
• solar power
• wind power
• recycle
• reduce
• reuse.

• Once children have built up a bank of words and phrases, ask them to create their own texts. Older children could analyse the meter and rhyme structure, and compose and perform a new verse to the song; younger children could write shape poetry or word art (they would enjoy doing this online, using www.wordle.net).

Geography/Citizenship/Drama

Clearly, this song lends itself perfectly to a substantial project centred on the environment.

• Investigate and debate an environmental issue. There may be local matters – such as the building of new homes, a landfill site or a bypass – which are directly relevant or topical. Alternatively, explore issues from further afield, such as deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
• With the children, brainstorm different sides of the arguments, and promote impartiality at first.
• Ask children to research the topic and to ask others for their views.
• Use role-play to help children to understand their own viewpoint and that of others, before holding a formal debate, with more able participants perhaps adopting a position which is not necessarily their own.

Art/Citizenship

• Study, plan and create artwork and sculpture from recycled/reused materials.
• Look at the street art of Joshua Allen Harris, who creates inflatable plastic bag sculptures. The NDI Gallery also collects art from various artists using recycled materials.

RE/PSHE/SEAL/Citizenship

• Ask children to fold a piece of paper into four and draw themselves as a baby, aged five, aged 10 and aged 20. Ask them to brainstorm the benefits (in green) and drawbacks (in red) of growing older.
• Determine that with age come greater freedom and privileges, but also
  responsibilities and accountability.
• Examine how religious figures (eg. Desmond Tutu) have demonstrated a commitment to their beliefs. How have others shown an obligation to a particular cause (eg. Bob Geldof, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela)?
• What do we do already to help the environment (eg. switching off lights and recycling paper in school)? What other actions could we take, individually and collectively, to demonstrate a greater commitment and responsibility?

Music/PE

• Form a junk band, playing samba-style percussion music on recycled or ‘found’ instruments. These can be as unusual as you like, but should be robust enough to withstand the enthusiasm. For example:
  – plastic buckets played with palms
  – broom handles on the floor
  – lengths of plastic tubing (eg. drainpipe) played with metal spoons.
• Take a look at video clips of junk bands in performance for inspiration, such as www.weaponsofsound.com and www.echocity.co.uk.
• The resulting musical arrangements could form the underscore for some of the children’s own group dance routines, or (for a more truly cross-curricular project) integrate the movement into the musical performance, so that the players are also the dancers.

Music/Design Technology/Science/ICT

(Links to QCA Design Technology Unit 5A: Musical instruments – http://tinyurl.com/recycleinstrument.)

• Children will enjoy designing, creating and playing musical instruments from recycled materials. They could investigate how sound sources vibrate and how they can be manipulated to produce different effects.
• They could record their sounds and manipulate them using computer software, such as the free Audacity.)
• They could move on to look at how different types of instruments work, then focus on one particular method of sound production, designing their own instruments using resources they have collected at home and school. They might choose, for example, shakers, drums, scrapers or plucked strings.
• Ask children to think about what problems they will encounter in making their instruments and to consider how they might overcome these.
• They could evaluate their work and reflect on refinements that could be made to their own and others’ designs. Use the Nuffield Foundation’s website for an excellent comprehensive DT unit called 'What music would you like to make?' (follow ‘Key Stage 2’ and ‘Year 3’ links).

Maths/Citizenship

• Children could calculate their carbon footprint using an online calculator. They could rank their carbon footprints in order, from lowest to highest in kilograms, and go on to produce tallies and bar charts for their footprints within different ranges: less than 2,000kg, 2,000-2,500kg, etc. What changes could children make in order to reduce their carbon footprint by, say, 500kg?

Andy Brooke is a teacher, songwriter and freelance writer on music education. He has taught music to all age ranges from nursery to sixth form. He now combines the role of primary school music coordinator with that of SENCO.

Visit the Song Bank for more songs on an environment theme, eg. The conservation rap!, Do anything but throw it away, I turn on the tap/I walk to the stream, Recycle it!