SoundTree
When The Saints Go Marching In: A Lesson for Middle School Keyboard Lab Students
After listening to a variety of interpretations of "When the Saints Go Marching In," partners compose and then perform their own renditions of this classic before joining a full-class jam session.
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Elementary Music Plan
Hey Macarena! Third graders keep time while they sing a Latin Folk Song. To practice keeping a steady rhythm and singing in pitch, the class sings the Folk Song together and in a round while keeping a beat. They then learn to do the...
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Kindergarten Music Time
Little ones are led through a series of rhythmic songs and chants while they march, clap, and use their tummies as percussive instruments. They work on singing in pitch, chunking, and keeping a steady beat.
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Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum
Henry David Thoreau and Linda Ronstadt? Ann Tyler and Pete Townshend? Joyce Carol Oates and Pearl Jam? This richly detailed plan pairs classic literature with contemporary music and asks learners to analyze how the theme of conformity is...
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Music and Emotion
Young scholars identify the various emotions created by different types of music. They Identify role of music in creating various emotions for film and television . They observe and practice various ways of playing percussion...
Classics for Kids
"Mars" from The Planets
Gustav Holst's The Planets provide young musicians an opportunity to examine how composers can create a suite: a collection of smaller pieces grouped to explore a single topic. After listening to "Jupiter," they examine "Mars" in detail,...
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The Ants Go Marching
Integrate art, math, life science, music, and fun in this beginning addition and subtraction activity. Children kinesthetically represent adding and subtracting numbers to 10; they stand up one at a time as you count forward and sit down...
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Celebrate Music In Our Schools Month
Learners celebrate music for a month with a creative project.
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Reinforcing Alphabet Names/Sounds
Getting comfortable with the sounds associated with each letter is crucial in a young learner's path to becoming literate. This lesson provides a terrific way to reinforce this skill in an engaging and fun manner. It's a game that the...
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Jazz and Math: Rhythmic Innovations
Students compare and contrast the rhythms of marches and jazz. They watch an excerpt about Buddy Bolden from the PBS Ken Burns Jazz documentary, compare/contrast march and jazz rhythms, complete a worksheet, and notate and perform jazz...
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Great Balls of Fire - I Got Locomotor Skills
Teach and review elementary locomotor skills. Use "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis to get youngsters up and grooving to the beat! The dance steps are described in rich detail and you will have the class jumping, skipping,...
National Endowment for the Humanities
John Steinbeck’s "The Grapes of Wrath": The Inner Chapters
Here’s a must-have resource for anyone using The Grapes of Wrath. Everything from guiding questions to background information, from photographs to documentary films, from activities to assessments is included in a richly detailed packet...
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The Heart of Human Experience: Cultura Azteca
First graders explore Aztec culture to gain understanding of relationship between music, recreation, and culture. Seven lessons on one page.
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Metallic Sounds
Students differentiate between metallic and non-metallic sounds. In this music lesson, students listen to the audio clip of "March" and march in time with the music. Students identify the metallic sounds in the music piece. Students...
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Playing With Your Food
Students discover about the form and function of traditional musical instruments, then use this knowledge to create non-traditional instruments that replicate the sounds of traditional instruments. They use vegetables to create their...
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Red, White, and Blue Notes
Learners explore the history of major American music genres. Then, through mock radio shows, students examine the distinguishing features of each genre and how each has changed throughout the years.
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Dance: Personal Soundtracks
Students create a musical autobiography. In this fine arts lesson, students explore the emotions that music can express by listening to and discussing a variety of music. Students construct a personal timeline and a collection of music...
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Celebrating Halloween With the Purple People Eaters
Get youngsters moving by teaching them some basic dance moves. This dance can be done in a circle, a line, or scattered around the gym. There are four movement combinations that are taught to the song "Purple People Eater" by Sheb...
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Not Just the Facts
Encourage your learners to explore the differences between hard news and news analysis. They outline a complex news analysis about the upcoming presidential election, then endeavor to write an analysis of the same topic, using local...
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Surfin' USA Lummi Stick Routine
"Let's go surfin' now, everybody's learning how, come on and safari with me." One of the Beach Boys more famous songs that is bound to get your class up and moving. This dance has basic dance steps and the added dimension of using Lummi...
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I Served in the American Civil War
Students research soldier's lives in the American Civil War. They create a video about a soldier's life
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Rhythm Nation
Young scholars read a New York Times article to help them develop an understanding of the history, development, and social influence of various types of world music through the creation of music museum exhibits.
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Woody Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home
Students examine the music of Woody Guthrie and how the political and economic climate influenced his work. They read and discuss online articles, define key vocabulary words, take a Political Orientation Survey, and write a position...
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Strike Up the Band
Students create song lyrics celebrating the history of labor unions serving the entertainment industry, then create posters illustrating the importance of each union to the industry they represent.