Curated OER
Music To My Ears: The District of Columbia Quarter
Students practice identifying different genres of music by creating posters. Â In this music appreciation lesson, students research Duke Ellington and complete worksheets based on his style of music, Jazz. Â Students collaborate in small...
Curated OER
Turn Down Music to Save Hearing
Learners participate in a informal survey of their listening habits, then read a news article about the possibility of portable music players harming kids hearing. In this current events lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a...
Berklee College of Music
Create Your Own Afro-Latin Groove
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.
Curated OER
A Musical Holiday Gift
Pupils record a CD of their musical talents and package it for gift giving. They make the CD for either a holiday or end of the year activity.
Curated OER
Signin' the Blues with Rock, Rap 'n Roll
Sixth graders listen to recordings and study jazz and the blues music. They identify the instrumentation and explore the 12-bar blues progression. After experimenting with different sound, 6th graders create their own arrangement, with...
Curated OER
Parts of a Computer
Students, after identifying the parts of a computer, and categorizing the parts by functions (input, output, process, and storage), explore how all the parts of a computer work together. They compare/contrast the differences between...
Curated OER
Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago - Chicago Blues
Watching Great Performances’ Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago launches an investigation into and discussion of how the electric guitar and guitarists have changed the sound of the blues over time. An engaging way to...
Keynotes Education
The Recorder - B
Make some beautiful music with a lesson about playing the recorder! After learning some of the basic fingering positions and notes, have kids practice their skills with two easy songs.
Beauty and Joy of Computing
Building Your Own Blocks
Isn't building with blocks an activity for toddlers? The third lab of a five-part unit teaches young computer scientists how to create their own block instructions for programming. They use these blocks to create geometric figures, spell...
Curated OER
The Magic Opera
Introduce your young learners to opera by dressing up as Mozart and recounting some of the fascinating details of his life and music. After exploring the Metropolitan Opera's site for kids, the class listens to a reading of Kyra...
Teach Engineering
Acoustic Mirrors
Investigate sound waves with acoustic mirrors. Using audio software, groups make recordings of musical instruments, both with and without acoustic mirrors. They compare the recordings to see the effect of acoustic mirrors on sound waves.
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Curated OER
Let the Good Times Roll! with Louisiana Music
Seventh graders examine the role of the different types of music originating in Louisiana. Using the information they gathered, they create a PowerPoint presentation about an artist who plays Louisiana music. They compare and contrast...
Curated OER
Organ Music
Middle and high schoolers solve a riddle about the appendix, and explore the paradox surrounding this organ. They research other human body organs to create a paper model of the human body, and write riddles highlighting identifying...
Curated OER
Images of America--Analyzing Music Videos
Students compare the message of a songs lyrics to the images chosen to include in a video of that song, and search for deeper meaning in the choices.
Curated OER
Let the Music Play
Learners create auditory presentations on festivals and celebrations around the world. They begin by reading about how the New Orleans high school marching bands have overcome many obstacles to keep their music traditions alive. Then...
Curated OER
Music Theory Fun and Games
Music theory lessons don't have to be dull. Concepts can be taught through motivating games and physical activities.
Curated OER
Driving Music
Students experience both playing a musical instrument and driving a car. The two experiences tied together by one engineer. The score appears as a road, with twists and turns representing the composer's suggested shifts in mood. This...
Curated OER
Singing the Blues with Garageband
Music composition can be easy with a little software assistance. The class uses Garageband to listen to, write, sing, and record a blues song. They listen to the song provided through the software, write their own lyrics to the song,...
Curated OER
Symphonic Poetry
Students interpret the themes in Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, create a 6-line poem based on the themes in the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, and define musical terms related to the study of programmatic music in...
Curated OER
Using Poetry As Inspiration for Composition
A reading of Robert Frost’s "The Road Not Taken" launches an interdisciplinary study of the connection between the meters of a poem and a melody. After identifying the number of beats in each line of the poem, young musicians use...
Curated OER
Exploring the Musical Shape of Student Names in a One-Computer Classroom
Students demonstrate musical direction while singing alone and with others while reading music. They discuss and demonstrate shapes that describe the music and compare that to melodic direction. Students make music out of the letters...
Curated OER
Computer Graphing Calculator Explorations
Students explore the graphing calculator feature on the Macintosh computer to explore some "parent" functions and their translations, combinations, and composites.
Curated OER
Cultural Music Festival
Students participate in planning a multi-cultural community event. In this cultural music lesson, parents, community members, and teachers provide time, music, advertisement, and refreshments to create a community multi-cultural music...
Curated OER
American Music Genres
Students research and listen to a variety of American music genres and create a written comparison between three of the styles.