Lesson Plan
Curated OER

If Paintings Could Talk: Art and Language

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers learn about the artist Canaletto, play a vocabulary game, and create a landscape using collage technique. Background information on the artist is provided along with instructions for the game and vocabulary words to...
Lesson Plan
Classics for Kids

"Mars" from The Planets

For Teachers 5th - 6th Standards
Gustav Holst's The Planets provide young musicians an opportunity to examine how composers can create a suite: a collection of smaller pieces grouped to explore a single topic. After listening to "Jupiter," they examine "Mars" in...
Lesson Plan
Berklee College of Music

Create Your Own Afro-Latin Groove

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The backbone of Latin American music is the beat! Young musicians work on blending Afro-Latin rhythms and beat patterns before incorporating the major pentatonic, minor pentatonic, and blues scales in their own compositions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Teaching Improvisation to Young Students in a Music Technology Lab Using a Sequencer

For Teachers 4th - 7th
You'll need to be a little tech savvy to teach this music lesson. Pupils will attempt to play along with an accompaniment piece you've created using music software. They will be assessed on their performance and ability to identify and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Music

For Teachers K - 2nd
Budding musicians engage in an exciting instructional activity which has them make musical instruments out of ordinary household items. By using paper plates, plastic cups, rubber bands, storage containers, and wooden spoons they make a...
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Singing for Justice: Following the Musical Journey of “This Little Light of Mine”

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Scholars go on a musical journey to discover the origin, importance, and evolution of the song, "This Little Light of Mine". Class members boost their voice talents and clap to the beat while learning the lyrics in both English and Zulu....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Thomas Hart Benton: The Sources of Country Music

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students examine artwork by Thomas Hart Benton. In this interdisciplinary instructional activity, students analyze the painting The Sources of Country Music, listen to folk music, and examine how recording technology and the movies...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Write Your Own Rap

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders create a rap using basic AB form composition. Evaluation of performances are based on rubric formed during the first lesson by all students. This three to four day lesson culminates in student performances and evaluation.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Comparing Native American and American Folk Music

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Learners examine how aspects of Native American and American folk music are alike and different. They contrast both forms of music and engage in many activities to identify or explain how music fulfills a variety of purposes.
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Songs, Sounds and Stories from the Georgia Sea Islands

For Teachers K - 12th
American music is the result of the influence of many cultures, including the traditions brought by the African slaves. Young scholars study the polyrhythms, the call-and-response format, and the vocal improvisations of the Gullah...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Epic Improvisation

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....
Lesson Plan
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Museum of Tolerance

Music Evokes Memories and Emotions

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Dim the lights, take a deep breath, and press play to explore the emotions and memories that music elicits. Class members begin using relaxation techniques designed to create a positive listening experience. As music plays, learners...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Talking Stick

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Young scholars 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.  Young scholars design and create a talking...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Yellow Bird and Me

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Upper elementary artists create works which demonstrate an understanding of the many elements of theater and the visual arts. This four-day plan combines many wonderful aspects of visual, musical, and theatrical arts into one very...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I Spy Poetry

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Explore the components of rhythm and form through a reading of Jean Marzollo's I Spy books. After discussing Marzollo’s format, the class agrees upon a theme for a class book and topics that fit with that theme. Pupils write a poem,...
Lesson Plan
Simon & Schuster

Les Miserables Classroom Activities

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
Modern readers apply classic themes to Victor Hugo's masterpiece, Les Miserables. After they discuss tricky vocabulary and plot elements from the novel, class members compare Hugo's written work to a stage or film adaptation of the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Grand Canyon Suite

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Take a trip to the Grand Canyon! Lesson one explores how Ferde Grofe painted a musical landscape of America when he wrote the Grand Canyon Suite. Learners then examine art that shows the Grand Canyon in lesson two. Finally, lesson three...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rhythm and Improv, Jazz and Poetry

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Connect the ideas of jazz improvisation and art to writing poetry. Learners collaborate and write different lines of poetry, imitating the jazz styles of improvisation and freewriting. Take a close look at the poems "Tenebrae" by Yusef...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

19th & 20th Century Composers: Exoticism

For Teachers 8th - 12th
VH1 Music Studio has put out another great lesson that incorporates analysis, compare/contrast, and musical terminology. Kids will listen to the song "Habanera" considering the use of specific instruments in evoking a sense of location....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Movies That Rock": Moulin Rouge

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Upper graders explore musical film and the Bohemian lifestyle common in Europe during the turn of the century through the musical Moulin Rouge. After listening to (or viewing) songs from the movie, they discuss the Bohemian era and how...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Look in the Mythic Mirror: I've Got Rhythm!

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Learners explore the relationships between music, poetry, and visual art. Using the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, pupils develop an awareness of the compositional elements of the Classical style, and the aesthetic effects of those...
Lesson Plan
Lauren Kitchin

Singing in the Classroom

For Teachers K - 6th
Those new to the Kodály Method of music instruction, as well as experienced educations, will find everything they need in a resource designed to launch a five-week vocal music program. Packed with warm ups, games, activities, and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Blues, B.B. King, Muddy Waters

For Teachers 6th - 9th
B.B. King and Muddy Waters are two of the most famous blues performers of all time. In this music instructional activity, middle schoolers study the early careers and lasting musical contributions of both artists, each of whom carried...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jazz in America

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students participate in a class discussion about jazz music, compare improvisation with regular conversion, listen to various jazz musicians and compare and contrast their individual sounds.

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