Curated OER
Ballet and Classical Music
Fourth graders explore ballet. In this dance and music humanities lesson, 4th graders practice ballet positions and play a card game using French ballet vocabulary. Students count beats in rhythm patterns and listen to classical music...
Curated OER
Turn Down Music to Save Hearing
Students participate in a informal survey of their listening habits, then read a news article about the possibility of portable music players harming kids hearing. In this current events instructional activity, the teacher introduces the...
Curated OER
Moog's Musical Revolution
Students explore history of technological advances in making, recording, and listening to music that have intrigued and inspired musicians and scientists for decades.
Curated OER
What's New?
Learners act as teams of product managers for personal electronics companies. Each team evaluate new electronic devices in different product categories (such as handheld devices and portable music devices), and create product...
Curated OER
Poetry/Music: Let It Snow!
Students create poems and sound compositions using instruments, sounds, and pictograph notation. After listening Debussy's Children's corner suite, they brainstorm a list of snow vocabulary words. Students write poems and in groups...
Curated OER
Black Music: Its Message and Meaning
Students develop an appreciation for modern black music from a historical, political and lyrical perspective. They examine the political and the historical surge of the civil rights movement of the 1960's and how this surge directly or...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Ella Fitzgerald: Something to Live For
Students examine the basic characteristics of jazz, and its relationship to African-American culture and history. They listen to examples of jazz, conduct research, and create a 20th century timeline of music and historical events.
Curated OER
Movin', Groovin', and Gettin' Strong
Children can do almost anything to music, so get them up and moving, working out and strengthening some major muscle groups. Using exercise bands provides some resistance, which makes the muscles work a little harder. With this lesson...
Curated OER
Imagery and Sound Devices: In Preparation for Reading Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine
Twelfth graders analyze Ray Bradbury's use of techniques and elements of fiction as well as nonfiction in the novel Dandelion Wine. In this novel analysis instructional activity, 12th graders analyze the sensory techniques in Dandelion...
Curated OER
Be An Incredible Songwriter
Students write songs about something incredible they have experienced or know about. They consider topics of events, dreams, ideas, feelings, or animals. They accompany themselves with small musical instruments while performing the songs...
Curated OER
The Letter Ff: Alphabet Theme
Students complete several cross-curricular activities to learn the letter Ff. In this letter recognition lesson, students complete activities that include geography, music, physical education, science, seasonal, space science, and online...
Curated OER
"Open Mic" - Giving Creative Expression To The Connection Between The Japanese American Internment, September 11, And Our Rights Today
Students explore the similarities of the Japanese-American experience in WWII and Arab-American experience in post-September 11 US policy. They create presentations on their reflections and express themselves through poetry, dance,...
Curated OER
Pens, Paper and ... Cellphones?
Students consider the benefits that so-called disruptive technology can have in the classroom, then design class activities that feature such technology prominently. They write essays responding (as students) to their classmates'...
ESL Writing
Paraphrase with Synonyms
What's another word for paraphrasing? Ask your pupils to put their minds to work in order to replace underlined words in a series of sentences with appropriate synonyms.
Curated OER
Letter of Complaint
Learners analyze this letter of complaint to the city council by answering nine short-answer questions. They examine author's purpose, word choice, claims, rhetorical questions, and general observations. There is a focus on constructive...
Great Schools
Letter of Complaint
If you've ever received bad service or disagreed with a company's decision, writing a letter of complaint might be a good skill to have. Review the format of a letter, author's purpose, and other aspects of persuasive writing with an...
Exploratorium
Sound Bite
Learners use their teeth for more than just eating. The activity shows class members how to send sound through their teeth by using an electric motor connected to a radio to generate vibrations. Biting on the motor transfers the...
Curated OER
Banking for Your Future
Students get a handle on their own personal finances. They discover how banks work, how to plan and stick to a budget, and other helpful tips on managing money. They study the Federal Reserve System, which oversees the nation's banks.
Curated OER
Jump Band Hokey Pokey
Add a new dimension to doing the Hokey Pokey by giving each group of four dancers a set of jump bands. There are dance moves for the two dancers holding the jump bands as well as for the dancers doing the Hokey Pokey. The goal is to...
Science Friday
Make a Model Eardrum to Detect Sound Waves
Make sound waves visible with an experiment that asks middle schoolers to build a model ear drum using plastic bottles, rubber bands, plastic wrap, and sand-like substances.
American Immigration Law Foundation
An Immigrant’s Experience
After interviewing an immigrant about their voyage to the United States and first impressions of the country, young learners create a fictional series of journal entries and design an iMovie depicting their interviewee's story.
Curated OER
For iPod Users, a Budding Problem
Students explore hearing loss in teens. In this health journalism lesson, students read the USA Today article titled "For iPod Users, a Budding Problem," respond to discussion questions regarding the article, and complete an activity...
Curated OER
Calling Plans
Students explore the consequences of allowing students to use cell phones and other electronic devices in schools. They draft school policy statements regulating the use of these devices.