Curated OER
Water
Third graders study different bodies of water and how they fit into the water cycle. They explain that materials exist in different states (solid, liquid and gas) and change from one to another, that there are systems, order, and...
Curated OER
Producing Beats
Turn your classroom into a music studio as groups work together to determine why music sounds different when performed live versus a recording. After listening to some different music, each group picks a poem, creates a recording, and...
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Your Song
Young scholars create instruments to demonstrate their understanding of how the science of vibrations is used to create sounds.
Curated OER
Musical Role Models
Students identify instruments and their sounds and use them to model their own orchestra. After choosing an instrument to investigate further, they research to become familiar with the sound of the instrument, how the sound is created,...
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Sounds You See, Hear, and Feel
Students explore and create sound wave vibrations using musical instruments and common objects. They compare/contrast and describe actions that cause sound wave vibrations that can be seen, heard, and felt.
Curated OER
Musical Instruments - Woodwinds
Students assemble and examine typical European orchestral woodwind instruments, determine how the instruments change pitch, identify common orchestral woodwind instruments by sound, and research a non-Euro-centric woodwind instrument in...
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9 Easy to Make Musical Instruments for Kids
Students create various musical instruments out of everyday and recycled items.
Curated OER
Music- Found-Object Orchestra
Students construct simple musical instruments. In this music lesson, students read the text Max Found Two Sticks and construct their own instruments from classroom materials.
Curated OER
Music from the Silk Roads
Students explore different types of musical instruments. In this musical instrument lesson, students create a replica of a sheng. Students utilize this instrument to understand different types of breathing used in different sounds....
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Melodies and Math: Creating Music with Non-Traditional Instruments
Review the 4/4 and 2/4 time signatures in music with a helpful music theory lesson plan. Young musicians experiment with electronic sounds and create their own musical performance using instruments made from materials found in the...
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The Science of Sound and Musical Instruments
Students identify the components of sound. They describe the relationship between pitch and frequency and explain the terms sympathetic vibrations and resonance.
They perform simple experiments about the world of sound and explain the...
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Create a Composition
Students select an instrument and create a musical composition. In this musical composition lesson, students invent an original piece of music that is 16 measures long. Students hum and record their pieces.
Curated OER
Environment: Sounds of the Natural World
Second graders describe and imitate sounds from the natural environment including rain and snow. After listing materials that could be used to make rainsticks, they create their own instruments from cardboard tubes,beans, and sand. To...
Curated OER
Elementary Lesson Plan - Instruments
Fourth graders identify two different types of mallets, discuss how percussion instruments are played, recognize that there are many types of mallets that produce different sounds on percussion instruments, and work in small groups to...
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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.
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Changing Sounds
Young scholars identify how the pitch of an instrument can be altered. They complete a worksheet by labeling several images in order of pitch and then fill a bottle with water to create a sound that matches a pitch on a drawn card.
Let's Drum!
Let's Drum!
Here's a group of exercises designed to introduce a group or class to the rhythm, as well as the basic sounds of a drum, bass and tone. Individuals investigate different types of drums and form drum circles to practice traditional rhythms.
Curated OER
Creating Opera
Students study the how music enhances drama in opera. They work in small groups to develop a short story that would be enhanced with music, costumes and props. They perform their operas for classmates and others.
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...
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How They Get Building Materials Out of the Ground
Learners experience a virtual quarry. In this science musical lesson plan, students understand how materials are quarried and manufactured from rocks, musically interpret a quarrying sequence with untuned musical instruments, and...
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Baa, Ram, Ewe....Sheep Tales
Students compare real and make believe animal behaviors by drawing and comparing them. In this real and make believe animals lesson plan, students compare the animal behaviors, express how colors create a mood in artwork, and investigate...
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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...
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Creating a Song
Students work cooperatively to compose a twenty measure song using the computer program GarageBand. Guidelines for the student compositions are available and include instrumentation and specific length.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Rainforest Music
Fifth graders examine musical instruments used by the indigenous people of the rainforest, and analyze how music is used in their daily lives. They create a model, using natural materials, of a musical instrument used by indigenous...