Curated OER
Music of the Civil Rights Era, 1954-1968
Students experience the aesthetics of music and learn about freedom songs that motivated the Civil Rights activists. In this music history lesson, students learn how music can motivate and move listeners. Students then describe how...
Curated OER
Using Effective, Evocative Writing as a Model
Students study an author's style to strengthen their own writing. They read an author's account of the resiliency of the Malian people and about their culture. They examine her focus on Malian women.
Anti-Defamation League
10 Ideas for Teaching Black History Month
Celebrate Black History Month with the help of 10 ideas that delve deep into the history, major events, contributions, famous African Americans, and sheds light on how scholars today can take a proactive stance on current civil rights...
Curated OER
Famous People and Cultural Diffusion
High schoolers use the internet to identify cultural traditions throughout the world. In groups, they examine each culture and determine the effect they had on life in the United States. They use this information to write a family...
Curated OER
Indiana Travel Guide
Fourth graders, after exploring and researching the state of Indiana, create a travel guide about the state of Indiana including its capital, major rivers, governors and two famous people from the state. They utilize a variety of art...
San Francisco Symphony
Biographical Slideshow
Biographies can be a fun topic for any history project. Learners choose one famous person that lived between 1865 and 1930 to research. They gather information, work on reading comprehension, and use what they find to create slide shows...
Curated OER
Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Pictures of Royalty: The Imagined
Elizabeth Peyton is an artist who creates images of people (often famous) that she doesn't personally know. These images become part of her imagined community. Learners analyze her work, her community of imagined friends, and then create...
Curated OER
Understanding Primary and Secondary Sources
Students identify legends in Tennessee and U.S. history, and differentiate between primary and secondary sources. They list examples of primary and secondary sources, participate in a field trip to the Country Music Hall of Fame, and...
Curated OER
Music Appreciation:
Students list the four main families of musical instruments, name one instrument from each musical family, name three ways music is used in everyday life.
Curated OER
Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People
Fifth graders explore poems of African Americans. They research a famous African American, write a report, create a timeline of events in African American history, create a map of the New World, and research Molly Walsh. After...
Curated OER
Being Me in the Face of Adversity - Americans Who Stood Up for Their Beliefs
Young scholars identify important Americans from the colonial, revolutionary and slavery periods who are noted for standing up for their beliefs in the face of peer disapproval. They identify the importance of music in motivating and...
Sharp School
US Geography Landmark Commercial
Experience famous geographical landmarks around the United States right from the comfort of your very own classroom. Learners research national landmarks, such as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, and Niagara Falls, and then...
Curated OER
Sports Personalities in Advertising
During a series of four activities, class members examine and deconstruct advertising that features famous athletes. They determine target audiences, analyze ads, explore "emotional climate," and role play a meeting between a sports...
Curated OER
Country Singers Take Nashville
Students conduct research on a famous country music singer. In small groups, they conduct research, and construct and decorate a paper cutout of their selected country music singer.
Curated OER
Do You Really Know What Wealth Is?
Students examine what it means to have wealth-a concept that turns out to be philosophical as well as economic-and examine the importance of music. They examine the concepts of wealth in Mali and in the United States and consider the...
Curated OER
Using Effective, Evocative Writing as a Model
Students analyze the author's style to learn techniques for strengthening their own writing. They re-read "Music in the Fields" and highlight images that create vivid pictures in their minds-places where Young "shows, not tells" and...
Curated OER
The History of Scrabble
Learners discover the history and rules to the classic board game, Scrabble. In this spelling lesson, students complete a KWL chart on Scrabble and present their findings in an oral report. Learners work in pairs to reenact one of the...
Curated OER
Langston Hughes
Students identify similarities between Hughes' poetry and music (jazz and the blues).
Curated OER
Fashion: 20th Century to the Present
Students explore fashion through the 20th Century. They create a poster about their assigned era. Students teach their classmates about the fashion of the assigned period. They describe the fashion trends, current events, popular music...
Curated OER
Celebrating Heroes That Surround Us
Students investigate the concept of a hero. They write in journals to find definitions and create hero symbols. Also students conduct research to create a banner of quotations made by famous heroes who fall under the definition generated...
Curated OER
Jackie Steals Home
Students read articles relating to Jackie Robinson's breaking of the racial barrier in professional baseball. This leads to a deeper exploration of racism in the United States. They use a variety of worksheets imbedded in this plan to...
Curated OER
Meet Antonin Dvorak
High schoolers engage in a lesson that is related to the history of Antonin Dvorak. They conduct research using a variety of resources. Students listen and identify some of the basic elements of music. The lesson includes background...
Curated OER
A (PURIM) Feast for the Mind
Students hold a dinner party and invite some of the people in Persia and get to know them better.
Curated OER
Jam Sessions
Young scholars examine the connection between sense of humor and jazz improvisation by identifying the musical instruments imitated by comedian Bill Cosby. They listen to another recording by Clark Terry and write what they think he...