Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Balancing Mobiles

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this lesson plan, students will apply mathematical, science, and engineering concepts to experiment with balancing levers. They will learn to classify types of levers to design and build a simplified mobile. Students will explore...
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Lesson: Navajo Weaving

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Intergrating dance into your social studies lesson on the Navajo culture will give your learners a glimpse into another way of life. They will use their knowledge of loom weaving, Native Americans, and creative dance to express these...
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Exploring Weather Conditions in Paintings

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Enrich your science activity with watercolors! This lesson plan contains assessment criteria, links to more information, and step-by-step ideas to cultivate your young scholars' knowledge about weather conditions.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Lesson: A Listening Doll

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
In this lesson plan, students explore the tradition of Pueblo "Listening dolls" and create their own version of this historical tradition. Also contains a rubric, extensions, and books to use as references.
Interactive
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Perfect Pitch

For Students 9th - 10th
Perfect Pitch is an interactive learning environment that lets you form orchestras and create your own orchestral arrangements of music from the baroque, classical, romantic, and modern periods. Clever game design, including a...
Unit Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Blues Journey

For Students 9th - 10th
Trace the history of the blues in America through the play, Blues Journey, based on the book by Walter Dean Myers. You can see video clips of the stage play, listen to blues radio shows, and learn about different types of blues music.
Interactive
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Arts Edge: City Dionysia: The Ancient Roots of Modern Theater

For Students 9th - 10th
Media-rich site explains the development of theater practice in ancient Greece and compares Greek dramatic forms and purposes with contemporary theater practices. Learners can then write and stage their own original plays to demonstrate...
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Arts Edge: Nureyev: The Unconquerable Will

For Students 9th - 10th
Lesson on creative expression and dance in light of the social, cultural, and political climate in Russia.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Chinese Calligraphy & Ink Painting

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore Chinese culture while creating unique pieces of calligraphy with watercolor paint. This two-part lesson plan includes an assessment rubric and a list of sources to use as a reference.
Handout
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Arts Edge: City Dionysia: The Theaters

For Students 9th - 10th
Three-part resource on Greek theater that includes an overview, a roll-over diagram that highlights and defines key architectural elements of ancient Greek theaters, and examples of the influence of ancient Greek architecture on...
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Lift Every Voice and Sing

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Explore and analyze "Lift Every Voice and Sing" , a poem by James Weldon Johnson, which was set to music and is considered the "Black National Anthem."
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Writing Myths

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
With this lesson plan students can examine creation myths, then write their own unique story. Provides plenty of links to more information, an assessment rubric, and thirteen extension ideas!
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Lesson: You Too Can Haiku

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Here's a creative lesson for students to examine various haikus, and Japanese culture, then write their own haiku poem, and illustrate it using watercolors! Provides plenty of links to more information, a thorough explanation of the...
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Brass Instruments and Pitch

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Students will enjoy making their own brass instrument with this interesting lesson plan. Objectives include what factors affect the pitch of brass instruments and what determines pitch.
Unit Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Migrant Workers Through the Lens of Dorothea Lange

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Using song lyrics and Dorothea Lange's photographs, students will explore the hardships migrant workers faced during the Great Depression.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: A World of Myths

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Students investigate how people throughout history have used myths to understand natural occurrences.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Arts Edge: Navajo Weaving

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
After studying Navajo weaving and listening to the story "Ten Little Rabbits," students create their own interpretive dances. Contains an assessment checklist and extensions ideas.
Handout
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Arts Edge: Drop Me Off in Harlem

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of biographies, video and audio clips, and photos offer a look at the people, locations, and themes of the Harlem Renaissance.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: All Around the Baseball Field

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Here's a lesson plan that combines art, music, movement, critical thinking, math, and baseball. The plan gives complete instructions, printable resources and web links, assessment, and application of national standards.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Making Rain

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Your students will enjoy making their own rainstick while learning about poetry and expressing their feelings about rain. This three-part lesson gives step-by-step instructions, as well as an assessment rubric.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Chinese Instruments

For Teachers K - 1st
Help your young scholars identify and classify Western instruments and traditional Chinese instruments.
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Lesson Plan: Monsters

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Following a reading of the epic poem Beowulf and the contemporary text inspired by it, Grendel, students create their own monster. Lesson plans provide assessment criteria, extension ideas, and a list of resources.
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Teachers: On Stage at the Kennedy Center: The 2001 Mark Twain Prize

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This Teacher Resource from the Kennedy Center helps students examine where and how humorists derive the material presented to their audiences. Activities encourage students to analyze elements of humor and the style of entertainers, and...
Handout
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Benny Goodman

For Students 9th - 10th
A biography from the John F. Kennedy Center on jazz legend Benny Goodman discusses his foray into jazz music with his band and the legacy he left with his music.