Curated OER
Grow a Musical Instrument
Music, culture, social studies, and plant growth all in one! Kids explore the various type of traditional African instruments that are made out of gourds. They then grow their own gourds and use them to create a wide variety of African...
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Music: Off the Wall & Onto the Stage - Composing
Kids explore Gullah music from Africa and then create original compositions based on what they've learned. They practice traditional melodies and rhythms then make some of their own, which they then perform for the class.
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Habari Gani: What is the News?
Display creative works of art after learning about Kwanzaa. Kindergartners hear stories about the history of Kwanzaa and its celebrations. They then create artwork, practice African dances and listen to African music.
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The Math Of African Music
Learners practice rhythms and fractions on African drums in this Music lesson mixing Math skills and music notation. The lesson also includes ideas for assessment and state and national benchmarks met.
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Lesson Plan: Musical Myths
Create musical myths in this West African tales lesson. Middle schoolers read myths from African Myths and Legends as well as West African Trickster Tales. They note when music could be used to enhance the tales, and then write their own...
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African Chants
Students perform African chants. In this geography skills lesson plan, students read about African chants and watch videos about them prior to performing them in groups with appropriate rhythm and cadence.
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Music in West Africa
Learners explore power and the symbols of power in West African music. They discuss the music of West Africa and compare it to African American music of today. In addition, they investigate musical instruments of Africa, identify the...
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Folk Music
Students explore Folk Music in Iowa. For this folk music lesson plan, students discuss different types of folk music and how it relates to life in Iowa. They take the tune of a song and write their own lyrics to describe their life.
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Jazz Dance and Music
Fourth graders write a poem. For this jazz music lesson, 4th graders learn about the basics of jazz dance and practice basic movements. Students learn common terminology and listen to several recordings of jazz music. Students create a...
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African Art: Ntan Drum
Students study African history, anthropology and culture using the lens of the art object, Ntan Drum. Lesson and instruction is differentiated for elementary, middle and high school students.
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Music of Puerto Rico
Seventh graders study about the musical rhythms and instruments of Puerto Rico. Then they construct their own instruments using recycled products. Students listen to different genres of music and define them. Students focus on the...
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Catch the Gullah Beat: Rhythm and Percussion
Students explore the Gullah culture. In this social studies lesson, students construct and play instruments similar to those of the Gullah people.
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Call and Response Singing
Students investigate call and response singing. In this fine arts and U.S. history instructional activity, students listen to several call and response songs that were sung by African-American slaves during the period before the Civil...
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Personal Clay Box
Students search for and sort ideas for content in their artwork, explore African art, and create and assemble a lidded box-like form from slabs of clay half way between soft and leather hard.
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History: An African American Cultural Celebration
Students prepare and organize a cultural celebration of African migration and immigration. Working in groups or individually, they research topics and present the information, including dance demonstrations, instrumental or vocal...
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Say It Loud!: A Celebration Of Black Music in America - Lesson 4
Young scholars choose a theme for a song. They compose a poem, and write music to go along with their poem. The instructor plays the musical accompaniment, and the class votes on the most appropriate rhythmic pattern.
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Baga Drum
Students examine a Baga Drum in order to explore the history of the Baga people of West Africa. In this art history lesson, students recognize figures used in Baga Drum design that represent aspects of Baga culture. They also design and...
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The Percussion Family
Second graders complete a unit to learn about the percussion family and African and Latin drumming. In this percussion lesson, 2nd graders complete 9 lessons to learn about the percussion family. Students learn to use shakers and sticks,...
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Jazz in America
Students explore jazz and its origins by focusing on the people in which Jazz came from.
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"Jazz is About Collaboration": Jim Crow Laws And Segregation
Students explore development of jazz music in the 1930s by forming imaginary jazz bands which tour several cities in Depression-era America. Jazz band members create imaginary identities for themselves, develop publicity for their tour,...
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A Monster's World
Study African American inventor Jan Ernst Matzeliger and create imaginary monsters using texture.
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Jazz In America
Students explore the Jazz Era in America not only by answering questions but listening to music as well.
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Jazz in America
Pupils learn where Jazz came from and why it is an important part of America's history.
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Rhythm Sticks
Second graders experience artistic perception of rhythm in music and see how to move their bodies and tap their sticks to the rhythm of a particular song.