Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and his Orchestra

Posted by Maureen Diallo

Within our Language Arts curriculum, first grade has recently focused on people from our past. We fell in love with the story, Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra by Andrea Davis Pinkey. The first graders explored Duke Ellington’s music through this beautifully written, award-wining story, that showcased his life and legacy as a revolutionary Jazz pianist and composer. Duke Ellington’s contributions to jazz music are regarded as some of the most influential of the 20th century. Not only did we wrap ourselves in the amazing sounds of his music, we pictured what his music would look like in color, art, and design.  With inspiration from the illustrations of Brian Pinkney, and the sounds of The Duke himself, the first graders were able to create their own Duke Ellington-inspired drawings to accompany their fact-filled writing pieces.

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