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Duke Ellington and the Rise of Jazz in New York
Students consider how Duke Ellington impacted the rise of jazz music. In this jazz music activity, students listen to a lecture regarding the life and work of Ellington. Students also watch a video regarding Ellington and discuss music...
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The Sounds of Rain
Students create rainsticks. In this rainstick instructional activity, students use rainsticks as instruments to create the soothing sounds of rain. This instructional activity contains the directions to creating large and small rainsticks.
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Global Music Lesson Plans: Britten and Japan – Japan and the UK
Students explore the links between Japanese and British culture. In this Japanese music lesson, students listen to their instructor present a lecture regarding Gagaku music and then perform "Te Lucis Ante Terminum" with Japanese...
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Using Prior Knowledge from Personal Experiences-Understanding Duke Ellington
Students research the life of Duke Ellington. In this music history lesson, students draw comparisons between the early life experiences of Duke Ellington and themselves. Students work in small groups to compare Ellington's resistance...
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Lesson Plan for Granny Will Your Dog Bite and Other Mountain Rhymes
Sixth graders practice choral reading of poetry. In this creative literature lesson, 6th graders incorporate elements of performing arts into their choral readings of various poems. They discuss musical instruments, facial expressions,...
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Subject/Predicate Song
Students sing a song about the parts of a sentence. In this grammar lesson, students sing a song that defines both the subject and the predicate and how they make a sentence together.
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Under the Sea
Students culminate a science and language arts unit by participating in a performance. In this performance instructional activity, students make costumes and scenery before performing a play entitled, "The Mystery of the Missing Jewel...
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Understanding Story Elements-Who, What, Where
Students create a rap using story details. In this creative writing lesson plan, students examine the use of rap lyrics to list important details of stories. They view a video example, and use their notes to create their own raps based...
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Point of View - Sharing a Perspective on Music
Students share their perspective about music. In this music perspective lesson, students complete a music notes handout and watch a segment of a band playing the "St. Louis Blues." Students write a critique of the music they just heard...
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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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Once I Was a Baby Trout
Students sing a song about the trout life cycle. In this trout life cycle lesson plan, students learn trout vocabulary and make motions while singing this song.
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Music and Lyrics
Eighth graders analyze lyrics from songs from a variety of genres. In this musical analysis lesson, 8th graders write an essay about their life plans in which they discuss the lyrics of U2's song, "One." They tell how the writings of Dr....
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Character Motivation-Duke
Learners explore a character's motivation in a text. For this characterization lesson, students view a video about Duke Ellington. Learners discuss motivations for Duke Ellington and write sentences explaining Ellington's changes.
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There Are So Many Stars
Students explore the night sky. In this astronomy lesson, students discover a song about the stars in the sky and participate in a flannel board activity pertaining to the song.
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The Sound of Music and Passage to Freedom
Seventh graders examine music examples to investigate a conflict in history about Hitler's invasions during WWII. In this music analysis lesson, 7th graders discuss vocabulary and the history for the Holocaust and Hitler's invasions....
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Carnival of the Animals
Learners listen to music to study the various sounds instruments make and feelings they incur. In this music analysis lesson, students listen to musical extracts from 'The Carnival of Animals' describe the music. Learners learn about the...
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Activities Using Music From Saint-Saens & Moussorgsky
Student create a fish and listen to music while imagining their fish are swimming. In this music lesson, students identify instruments played and move their fish to the movement. Students work with kangaroos and elephants to music as...
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My Farm
Learners explore repetition in music. In this music lesson plan, students discover the lyrics of a folk song from Argentina about farm animals. Learners read about farms and the animals found on farms prior to learning the song in high...
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My Favorite Things
Fourth graders listen to the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music. In this singing lesson, 4th graders discuss the words of the song and also find where the note goes upward. Students write down what their favorite things are.
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Crawford Grill: Opening the Doors of Opportunity
Analyze the role the Crawford Grill played in the history of Jazz music. Budding historians research interviews and video clips to learn about the Crawford Grill in Pennsylvania and black music history. The lesson culminates when...
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The Sound of Music: Do-Re-Mi
Seventh graders create a simple melody using the Solfedge syllables. In this melody lesson, 7th graders watch the movie The Sound of Music and focus on the "Do Re Mi" clip. Students examine solfege syllables and create a melody using the...
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The Orchestra: Exploring the Instruments
Students explore the instruments of the orchestra. In this music appreciation lesson, students discover the four families of instruments and research each of them using selected Internet sources.
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Irish Dancing: The Walls of Limerick
Students practice their dancing skills. In this Irish dancing lesson, students follow the provided instructions to dance with a partner in a group to the tune "The Walls of Limerick."
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Eckstine, Stayhorn, and the Dorseys: Masters of Swing
Students explore the history of swing music. In this music history lesson, students research the Dorsey Brothers, Billy Eckstine, and William Strayhorn to learn about swing music. Students define swing, develop a timeline of events in...