Students explore their experiences and reflect on how one person can make a difference in our world. In this service learning lesson, students analyze themes in music related to encouragement. Students perform a service learning project...

Young scholars discover the ideas of enlightenment by reading historical poetry. In this philosophical lesson, students read poems by Sir Walter Scott and Sergeant Joyce Kilmer while discussing the themes of the writing with classmates....

Students read a work of fiction and investigate literary values and structure of the work. They demonstrate understanding of the family values, cultural and historical context of the novel;

No one is too young to create a masterpiece. Elementary artists delve into the topic of social justice with original artwork. Scholars keep journals to reflect on their experiences before putting paintbrush to paper. Final artwork is...

Students watch Charlie Chaplin films and discuss film elements. They select a story written by Edgar Allen Poe to write and produce a movie of. They film scenes, edit, and create a final iMovie project.

"Ye who believe...List to a Tale of Love in Acadie." Longfellow's epic poem, "Evangeline," launches a study of tragic heroines, epic poetry, the expulsion of the Acadians from Canada, and their subsequent migration to Louisiana. The...

Students examine the lives of the Aboriginal peoples of Saskatchewan. For this talking stick lesson, students discover dance, art, music, and traditions of the First Nations people.  Students design and create a talking stick to...

Art, music, poetry, and the beauty of the seasons is what you'll find in this very nice unit idea. You can use any of the suggested books and activities to engage your second graders in an exploration of the changes that take place...

Based in sound Educational Theory, this lesson uses art to convey the story of Ponce de Leon. Mild to moderately disabled students hear the story of the Fountain of Youth, examine a paining of Ponce de Leon, and act out a scene as Ponce...

A video leads off this activity on fables, introducing the class to this important form of traditional storytelling. The group defines fable and hears an explanation of the origin of this type of folk tale. They summarize the story they...

Fifth graders view the play, The Ant and the Grasshopper. They define Aristotle's six elements of a play. At the end of the instructional activity, 5th graders be asked to participate in the play by acting like busy ants. This...

Explore expressive reading through the read-aloud Summertime: From Porgy and Bess. Readers will make predictions about the text and listen to the song Summertime. They will also identify how the story relates to the song lyrics.

This is one of those great ideas I totally love. Youngsters with visual impairments practice counting and left-to -right sequencing by counting out a set number of edible objects from the left and putting them in a bag on the right. They...

Explore the idea of democratic poetry. Upper graders read Walt Whitman, examining daguerreotypes, and compare Whitman to Langston Hughes. They describe aspects of Whitman's I Hear America Singing to Langston Hughes' Let America Be...

Interest your class with the idea of exquisite paintings and the forgeries created from them. This is a reading task; English language learners or native speakers read the text and answer the six questions that follow. Questions focus on...

Young scholars investigate the history of patriotic music and practice singing the tunes with classmates.  In this U.S. History lesson plan, students examine lyrics of the traditional song "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and discuss the...

Students identify the characteristics of a hero. In this character development and writing lesson, students listen to music with a hero theme and discuss the common traits of heroes. Students explore individuals and charitable...

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...

Students explore role of music in storytelling by watching and discussing effect music has on perception of scene from movie, and using Sibelius program to compose single excerpt of music, considering dynamics, timbre, and articulation,...

Learners explore the work of Stephen Sondheim. In this musical theater lesson, students examine the musicals Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park with George. Learners identify and anaylze linear and...

Students research the history and contributions of Jazz in their local environments. They then design and create a wide variety of presentations to share with the class using as many mediums as possible.

Students analyze the origins of jazz music by examining work songs, spirituals, blues, and gospel songs as well as works of poetry from African American artists. They create their own poems from either the narrative, dramatic, or lyric...

While reading A River Runs Through It, have your high schoolers work on their final project, a multi-genre research paper. There are 10 clear steps for completion but not much additional help. For early high schoolers (or...

After learning the main ideas of the Decadent movement, students work in small groups to read and translate poems by the French poet Charles Baudelaire using basic etymology skills. They then read the accurate English translations to see...