Curated OER
Your Song
Young scholars create instruments to demonstrate their understanding of how the science of vibrations is used to create sounds.
Curated OER
Teaching Dynamics
Second graders discuss the sounds of rainstorms. In this rainstorm lesson, 2nd graders listen to the story Down Comes the Rain and they discuss the change in sounds they hear in a thunder storm. They use percussion instruments to create...
Curated OER
MUSICAL MYSTERIES
Students explore the orchestra and identify the sounds of common musical instruments.
Curated OER
Playing the Cardboard Dulcimer
Second graders create cardboard dulcimers. They discover that sound is produced by vibrating strings and analyze the pitch produced by changing the sizes and length of the strings of the instrument. They also discuss the history of the...
Curated OER
Sounds Like Science - Kazoo
Students discover that energy is needed to produce sound. They see that identifying where the energy comes from enables us to control the type of sound produced. They play the kazoo and manipulate the sound in a variety of ways.
K5 Learning
The Music Concert
Second graders read an informational text passage on music concerts and then answer questions based on what they read.
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Percussion Instruments and Pitch
Young scholars play string instruments to discover how the pitch changes on various string instruments. In this pitch lesson, students listen to video clips and play an online music game. Young scholars become familiar with music...
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Sounds Like Music
Students define and examine the connections between sound and music and how engineers design instruments. They listen to examples of musical instruments, view a demonstration of a tuning fork and bottles filled with varying amounts of...
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Sand or Rock? Finding Out From 1,000 km
Students observe how measurements are made with different instruments. In this remote sensing lesson students investigate the physical state of surfaces including the surfaces of the solar system.
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TE Activity: Build an Anemometer
Students determine what an anemometer is and how it measures wind speed. They decide on a place to put a wind turbine by using an anemometer. They examine the role that engineers play when using wind speed to determine a place for wind...
Curated OER
Wheels and Axles 1
Students investigate how and why wheels are used in different types of machines. They work in teams trying to move a heavy box with and without dowels and discuss which way is easier to move the box. Next, they conduct an experiment...
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Design Weather Instruments using LEGO Sensors
Students design and create a LEGO structure that will house and protect a temperature sensor. They leave the structure in a safe spot and check the temperature regularly and chart it. After the students have built their structures, the...
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The Season of Spring
Students perform a story from Greek mythology of how spring came to be. In this performing arts activity, students study the play of Persephone and use instruments and dance to put on a performance.
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Making a Rainstick
Students construct a rainstick. In this music instructional activity, students investigate the history of the rainstick by reading the book Bringing the Rain to the Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema. Students express their feelings about the...
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Archeologists For a Day
Students listen to a reading about fossils and go on a hunt for items with fossil characteristics. In this cross curricular fossil lesson, students will examine their fossil finds and create a graphic organizer. Students listen to...
San Francisco Symphony
Admirable Armonica Admirers
What do Ben Franklin and Wolfgang Mozart have in common? Find out about the musical invention, the armonica or glassy-chord. Learners will read about how Ben Franklin invented this new instrument and how Wolfgang Mozart came to play it....
PBS
Hands-On Engineering Challenges to Bolster Your Electricity, Sound, and Force Units
Need some activities to go along with your unit? A collection of hands-on activities from PBS offers opportunities to add to your electricity, sound, and force units. The electricity activities revolve around building a pinball-type...
Curated OER
Whispers of Angels: Buffalo and the Underground Railroad
What role did Buffalo, New York play in the Underground Railroad? Young historians investigate the Underground Railroad ties to Buffalo and western New York. They create a web site or multimedia presentation based on the research. If...
National First Ladies' Library
Synthesizing Music with the Technology Invention of the Modular Synthesizer
Students explore how to create synthesized music and discuss what they believe music would sound like without electronics. They explore a given website to determine how different types of instruments can be digitized. In groups, students...
Curated OER
Memorial Day
Students learn the significance of the song Taps and why it is played at a soldier's funeral. In this Taps lesson plan, students hear the song, discuss its importance, and try and play the tune using other instruments.
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Body Percussion: Hambone
Students explore body percussion. They practice playing quarter notes and eighth notes separately, then quarter and eighth notes at the same time by different groups. They practice this exercise at different tempos.
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Our Five Senses
Students identify their five senses and how the are used everyday. As a class, they develop a list of sounds they hear at a zoo and compare them with a list of sounds they hear at a park or school. They create an instrument on their...
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Experimenting with Sound
Students explore physical science by completing a worksheet. In this sound perception lesson, students collaborate in small groups to research sound properties on the Internet and in libraries. Students conduct a listening experiment by...
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Plants and Animals Depend Upon One Another
First graders study plants and animals and how they depend on one another. They also study that plants give energy to animals and provide oxygen needed for life. Finally, 1st graders give examples of the roles plants and animals play...