Curated OER
Singing a round
Kids use their hands, bodies, and voices to explore the musical concept of a round. They say vegetable words while stomping and clapping out a rhythm in unison and then in a round. They then sing a round while maintaining a steady beat....
Curated OER
Feelin' Swing, Part 2
Upper elementary schoolers listen to and reproduce the rythm of Mary Lou William's musical piece, "Scratchin' in the Gravel." The swing song was written at a time that women did not play jazz. She broke the rules by playing and writing...
Curated OER
Movement
Students experiment and explore a variety of instruments and movements. They play rhythms on instruments, spell words using their bodies, act out the movements of a song, role-play machine parts as a group, pantomime an activity, and...
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
Note Names and Note Values - An Interactive Smart Board Lesson
Using the Note Names and Values SMART notebook file, review the whole, half, quarter and eighth note with young scholars. Students sing "Apple Tree Song." They add body percussion, and then instruments. Young scholars use the SMART apple...
Curated OER
Halloween Songs
Students perform a dance (La Raspa) from a different culture while maintaining a steady beat, sing "Halloween Night" with accurate pitch and good breath support, and imitate a body percussion part for the song "Monster Mash" in this...
Curated OER
Musical Activities for Early Childhood Inclusion
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...
American Museum of Natural History
Sounds of the Silk Road
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.
Curated OER
Round and Dance Music
Third graders recognize a round in singing groups and apply to choreography movements. In this rounds lesson, 3rd graders memorize movements with songs at specific places. Students perform a three part round.
Smithsonian Institution
The Sounds of an Island: Jamaican Music for the Classroom
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.
Curated OER
Kindergarten Music Time
Little ones are led through a series of rhythmic songs and chants while they march, clap, and use their tummies as percussive instruments. They work on singing in pitch, chunking, and keeping a steady beat.
Curated OER
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Students respond to movement cues in the rhyme "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear", perform steady beat patterns on body percussion, and sing sol-mi patterns in a chant in this Kindergarten music lesson. Emphasis is on meeting State and National...
Curated OER
There Ya Go, Bobby McFerrin, Creativity ans Jazz
Students examine the percussion sounds used to create percussive sounds and identify the instruments that Bobby McFerrin imitates in his scat vocals. A scat version of the musical piece "So What" is improvised in this lesson.
Curated OER
Dancing the Colors of Birds
Students explore colors through storytelling and dance. In this visual arts lesson, students view the painting "Bird and Cornstalk Rug" and identify three colors. Students express how the colors make them feel through the rhythm of...
Curated OER
Summertime - Miles Davis
Students examine the George Gershwin opera, "Porgy and Bess." The rhythms to some of the musical pieces are mimicked and identified as belonging to the music of jazz.
Curated OER
America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)
Students perform a song using correct rhythms, accurate pitches, and dynamic phrasing. They perform an accompaniment to "America" on Orff instruments.
Curated OER
Rhythm - "Yankee Doodle Dandy"
First graders practice rhythm and beat. In this music activity, 1st graders sing and clap to the song "Yankee Doodle Dandy". They find the rhythm of the music and practice making rhythm with other instruments.
Curated OER
Rhythm and Nature
Second graders listen to song "Listen to the Water," discuss nature sounds and importance of water to life, perform quarter and eighth notes from notation, play instruments in rhythm patterns of quarter and eighth notes, and write rhythm...
Curated OER
Hispanic Rhythmic Patterns and Drums
Students imitate rhythmic patterns created by the teacher or taken from the drum performance of "Oshossi." They study and perform some of the layered and interlocking rhythms of the drum ensembles of Brazil, Haiti, Cuba, Suriname, and...
Curated OER
Folk Games
Students listen to the poem, "De Cunjah Man" and discover how and why this language came into existence. They are introduced to the idea that songs are a way of expressing human feelings and name a song that makes them feel happy or sad.
Curated OER
Great Big House
Third graders sing and play the song "Great Big House" in the Orff style using soprano and alto glockenspiels, bass xylophones, bass marimbas, triangles, woodblocks, and the singing voice. The lesson includes step-by-step teacher...
Curated OER
Comet And Rain Timbres
Second graders engage in a lesson that uses folk instruments in an accompaniment while listening to a song about a comet. They make a cross-curricular connection to Halley's Comet. Students discuss the qualities of a singer-songwriter.
Curated OER
Bam, Chi, Chi, Bam
Pupils create a class poem based on the song, Bam, Chi, Chi, Bam. The class participates in a brief discussion of the music of Jamaica and the feelings conveyed by this music. After listening to the song, students create a poem to add...
Curated OER
Elementary Music Plan
Hey Macarena! Third graders keep time while they sing a Latin Folk Song. To practice keeping a steady rhythm and singing in pitch, the class sings the Folk Song together and in a round while keeping a beat. They then learn to do the...