Worksheet
Music Fun

Instruments to Trace Color and Label

For Students K - 8th
Handbells and castanets. Triangles and timpani. Trumpets and trombones. As part of their study of instruments, young musicians label, trace and color the parts of seven instruments. Also included in the resource packet are tracing...
Activity
Amani Project

Make an Instrument

For Students 3rd - 8th
Create a little harmony with Amani Project! Young musicians create their instruments using found or recycled objects. As an introduction, class members first experiment with sounds they can make with their bodies (clapping, stomping...
Lesson Plan
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California Department of Education

Instruments of Change: Making a Simple Stringed Instrument (CTE)

For Teachers 9th - 12th
What materials and skills does a person need to build a simple working instrument? With the first of four lessons from the Changing One's Tune: A Music Therapy STEM Integrated Project series, scholars learn about the basic structure of...
Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

Sounds of the Silk Road

For Students 6th - 12th
Young explorers may not be able to travel the Silk Road but they can listen to music that was played on instruments of the time and create their own songs with the help of an interesting interactive resource. 
Activity
Leading Learner

Using Music to Tell a Story or Describe a Scene

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
Young composers demonstrate their understanding of the stylistic features of descriptive music, including pitch, tempo, dynamics, rhythm, and timbre, by developing a melody and countermelody for a main character in a story. As part of...
Interactive
Physics Classroom

Name That Harmonic: Strings

For Students 9th - 12th
Don't string your class along! Physics scholars discover the fascinating forces behind the music of stringed instruments using an interactive. From a series covering sounds and waves, the interactive asks users to identify nodes and...
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

African American Music: Let’s Sing and Play Clapping Games

For Teachers K - 2nd
Two lessons focus on making a beat. Using popular African American music of its time, scholars listen and analyze the rhythm then recreate it with hands drums, and cups. 
Unit Plan
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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Nature Walk: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 2)

For Teachers 2nd Standards
Walking in nature is the theme of a unit designed to support English language development lessons. Scholars look, write, speak, and move to explore topics such as camping, woodland animals, instruments,...
Activity
PBS

Reading Adventure Pack: Music

For Parents K Standards
Music is the focus of the reading adventure pack. After reading, pupils complete hands-on activities. Scholars use household items to make shakers and cymbals. They listen to eclectic music by turning on the radio, borrowing music from...
Activity
Amani Project

Harmony Break! Finding Emotions With Music

For Parents 3rd - 8th
Gather the entire family (or class members) for a fun Harmony Break! A volunteer thinks of a color from their Mood Meter that they will express by singing, playing an instrument, or performing a dance. After the performance, the audience...
Lesson Plan
Concordia College Archives

History and Musical Aesthetics

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
What are the musical elements that characterize a school's fight song or its alma mater? Class members listen to examples of fight songs and alma maters from various schools, play a listening game, and then create a list of the...
Lesson Plan
Stanford University

Lesson Plan: The Children's Crusade and the Role of Youth in the African American Freedom Struggle

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Young people played significant roles in the Civil Rights movement. Class members examine the contributions of Barbara Johns, Claudette Colvin, Mary Louise Smith, and the children of Birmingham,...
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

Harriet Tubman: Retelling History Through Dance and Drama

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Scholars listen to several pieces of music in preparation for a discussion about how instruments and lyrics convey emotions. With Harriet Tubman as the focus, small groups create an original song or dance. A reflection piece concludes...
Activity
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Fun Music Company

Substitute Lesson Ideas For The Music Teacher

For Teachers K - 5th
Have to sub for a music class on short notice? Or have some extra time to play with? Never fear! Help is here in the form of 20 sure-fire music activities and worksheets tested and submitted by music teachers. A great resource to add to...
Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Thrilling Information: Music and Reading

For Teachers 2nd - 4th Standards
Here’s a cross-curricular program music activity that uses Peer Gynt to engage class members. Groups take one section of “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” choreograph their section of the tune to represent the story as they imagine it,...
Unit Plan
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K12 Reader

Punctuation Theater

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Break out the slide whistles, triangles, and tambourines. It's time for a punctuation lesson. This richly detailed plan is loaded with ideas and activities for using rhythm instruments to accent the punctuation in folk tales. A...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduction to Ludwig van Beethoven

For Teachers 2nd - 4th Standards
"Ode to la Tortilla" and "Ode to Joy"? Sure! Use Gary Soto's poem to introduce learners to the ode format. After examining the descriptive words Soto uses, class members study a poster of Ludwig van Beethoven, suggest words that describe...
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Violin" by Nikki Wallschlaeger

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Nikki Wallschlaeger's Violin is the featured poem in a lesson that uses music and multiple readings to delve deep into its analysis. After a writing warm-up, learners watch and listen to a video that showcases Regina Carter...
Interactive
Scholastic

Study Jams! Invertebrates

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Stringed instruments play as viewers explore ocean invertebrates through nine nicely flowing slides. The captions describe the eight phyla: cnidaria, flatworms, roundworms, segmented worms, mollusks, arthropods,and enchinoderms. During...
Activity
Curated OER

Musical Activities for Early Childhood Inclusion

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st Standards
Get your movers and shakers grooving to the beat with this series of musical activities designed to meet everyone's needs! Ten games, using an assortment of instruments, bring awareness to one's body, brain, and social interactions in a...
Lesson Plan
Concordia College Archives

Our School Song

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
Show your school spirit! Class members use instruments or sing along and employ what they have learned in the two previous lessons to perform their school's songs.
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

The Sounds of an Island: Jamaican Music for the Classroom

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Introduce young explorers to the music and history of Jamaican culture through game songs and dances. As a bonus, class members get to play simple songs transcribed for the recorder.
Lesson Plan
Concordia College Archives

Introduction and Student Inquiry

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
Introduce young musicians to the history of and different styles of music with an inquiry-based learning activity that asks them to play detectives to determine the similarities and differences among the sheet music found at a series of...
Lesson Plan
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California Department of Education

Consonance and Dissonance: Creating Intervals for Emotions (CTE)

For Teachers 9th - 12th
How are music and emotion related? Using lesson plan two of four from the Changing One's Tune: A Music Therapy STEM Integrated Project Series, scholars explore the connection between the two topics. They learn to recognize different...