After discussing the composer and what the piece was written about, we use a listening map while listening to the river begins (this piece is broken down into 4 sections; The River Begins, The Hunt, The Country Wedding, and The Rapids). Then we discuss the piece and how we could use movement to represent the start of the river.
Most of my classes decide that they will need to divide into two groups so that they can represent the two streams that come together to form the river but this particular 3rd grade classes interpretation was very cool.
They decided instead of having 2 meandering streams, that they wanted to focus their movements to match the increasing dynamic levels that they thought represented the growing streams. So, they opted to start in a seated position and use their upper bodies to represent the moving water.
As the dynamic changed (got louder), they used their bodies to show the change.
When the cellos enter to signify the merging streams and the start of the river they moved forward and together to create a river flowing around the room.