Each of the three dance lessons included here will get your class moving. The first lesson allows learners to explore how music and movement differ in meaning depending on cultural context. Lesson two gives them an opportunity to create...

Ninth graders examine mariachi music and its different musical forms.  In this music history lesson, 9th graders compare and contrast mariachi music from its beginnings to the present.  Students research different aspects of...

Students discover the United Nations through the use of musical examples and performance. This two day instructional activity requires two forty-five minute sections and delivers information about different cultures around the world. ...

Students assess the impact of music to portray emotions and tell stories. Examples are taken from the life of Rosa Parks and a piece of band music called "A Movement for Rosa". Evaluation is accomplished through in-class participation...

Combine your lesson on patriotism with a lesson on comparing and contrasting. Focusing on The Star Spangled Banner, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and The Old Folks at Home, this lesson prompts learners to compare and contrast each song...

Students identify and interpret the styles and elements of music in three major folk regions of Louisiana within specific traditional music genres. Then they hear the diversity of music in the state and identify the major genres of...

Fourth graders analyze the song "Home on the Range" and identify its meaning and setting.  For this timeline and retelling lesson, 4th graders use dictionaries to find definitions of unfamiliar words, create a timeline and retell...

Music can help us to access memories and events in a meaningful way, and Francis Scott Key used specific words to convey what he had seen and felt when writing what would become America's national anthem. Help your class connect to...

Fourth graders study Baroque composers. In this music lesson plan, rotate trough three stations, collecting information on particular Baroque composers. Worksheets, information cards, and procedure included.

Students evaluate in class performance of music previously prepared by the ensemble. The rubric and assessment criteria are adaptable to any orchestra setting which allows the teacher to choose music to be assessed. Critical thinking...

Third graders analyze and discuss the four seasons and how each can be represented in song form. This instructional activity is intended for the third grade Music classroom but could be adapted for any elementary grade. State and...

Students study changes that occur in geological and historical time. They place themselves in relationship to the universe, the world, Canada, and Saskatchewan.

First graders recognize patriotic songs of America. In this historical music lesson, 1st graders discuss the historical background of the song "Yankee Doodle" and repeat the lyrics after the instructor. Students read the lyrics to the...

Young scholars examine pop culture of the 1980s.  In this historical time period lesson plan, students view a Smurfs cartoon from the 1980s and discuss its similarities and differences to cartoons today.  Young scholars work in...

Students, after analyzing a satiric song written during the Prohibition era, illustrate how humor can be utilized as a political tool by writing satiric lyrics on a current political issue at the front of the news world today. They...

Young scholars use a traditional German Folksong to increase vocabulary. They use a traditional German folksong to identify a historical time period and explain the meaning of Die Lorelei.

Fourth graders realize the significance in the Negro spirituals concerning the Underground Railroad. They choose a position, either for helping slaves or ignoring the slaves. They describe, in a paragraph, their position.

Young scholars identify simple pictographs and ideographs from Chinese writing. They create their own images, and combine characters to communicate ideas to one another, introducing basic foundations of how elements of the Chinese...

Students demonstrate dances of colonial America. In this colonial American lesson, students learn forms of colonial social dancing including the Juba and Virginia Reel. Students examine the history of the 2 dances as well.