Unit Plan
Washington University in St. Louis

Teaching Jazz as American Culture

For Students 6th - 12th
Jazz and the City, Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement, Jazz and Gender, Jazz and Literature, Jazz and the Arts, Jazz and Film. Here's a packet of unit plans organized around themes that reflect American culture. Each unit examines how...
Unit Plan
Broadway GPS

ALADDIN: Broadway's New Musical Comedy

For Parents 5th - 9th Standards
Aladdin, Disney's Broadway musical comedy, is a magic carpet ride. Prepare your class for a field trip to the show with a study guide that is a treasure trove of activities, cultural connections, and background information.
Unit Plan
San Francisco Symphony

Prehistoric Music

For Teachers 6th - 8th
What was music like during the Stone Age? Learners listen to a CD entitled, Art of Primitive Sound as they consider the culture of people in the Stone Age. They use objects found in nature to create instruments, and then...
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Exploring Borderlands

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
What motivated Europeans to explore the New World, and what effects did their exploration have on Native American populations? The second installment of a 16-part American Passages series prompts pupils to watch a video and read several...
Unit Plan
Curated OER

Investigating Our Place in the World

For Teachers K
Students study the concept of geography in a year long unit. In this geography unit, students participate in different activities that explain the spatial sense of the world, the physical landmasses and bodies of water, geographic...
Unit Plan
Orange Public Schools

Stagecraft

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The house lights dim, the curtain parts, lights slowly come up, revealing the stage. Before the actors appear, before a word is spoken, the audience is drawn in by the lighting, by the colors, by lines of the set, by the props, and...
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Egalitarian America

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
What does a true American represent? Scholars investigate the equal rights era of the 1960s and 1970s in the 20th installment of a 22-part series on American history. Using photographic, magazine, written, and video evidence, groups...
Unit Plan
General Motors Corporation

Jazz

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Over the history of the world, music has been at the heart of some of the greatest social and political movements. Scholars discover their musical roots as they dive into the sounds and emotions of renowned jazz players. They see how...
Unit Plan
Curated OER

The Best of Baroque

For Teachers 6th
Students study about listening strategies, as well as the culture, music and two prominent composers of the Baroque period, namely J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel. They demonstrate their understanding of the content through several assessments.
Unit Plan
San Francisco Symphony

Heritage Song

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learning how to compare and contrast is a core skill. Learners compare two music selections that showcase a specific heritage. They draw and discuss how each song and the composers of each song used their personal heritage as...
Unit Plan
San Francisco Symphony

Admirable Armonica Admirers

For Teachers 1st - 6th
What do Ben Franklin and Wolfgang Mozart have in common? Find out about the musical invention, the armonica or glassy-chord. Learners will read about how Ben Franklin invented this new instrument and how Wolfgang Mozart came to play it....
Unit Plan
New York City Department of Education

Myself and Others

For Teachers K
Self reflection is an important skill to reinforce in our children, and it's especially helpful to help them realize who they are in the context of their environment. A collection of lessons about self image and community encourage...
Unit Plan
Curated OER

Cells: Structures and Processes

For Teachers 5th
Students explore the basic unit of life, the cell in this nine lessons unit. The cell structure of animal and plant cell functions and how they affect our world are probed in this unit.
Unit Plan
Curated OER

Illuminations of the Middle Ages

For Teachers 4th
Students investigate medieval music, art, and manuscripts. They research the materials and equipment used by illuminators, examine images of manuscripts, and illuminate their own initials in a medieval style.
Unit Plan
Curated OER

Exploring the Continents Through the Arts

For Teachers K
Students examine the continents and explore geographic components in the fifteen lessons of this unit. The location of the continents, the equator, the four major oceans, and the music, food, literature, dance, and drama from each of the...
Unit Plan
Curated OER

Teddy Bear Project

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students take home an Australian Teddy Bear home and draw pictures, photograph, write or verbalize stories of what the bear did at their home. They make a book that is sent to their partner class.
Unit Plan
Curated OER

The Vikings of Scandinavia

For Teachers 3rd
Students become familiar with who the Vikings were and what they accomplished. In this Vikings lesson, students locate the Scandinavian countries. Students will record information about the Vikings in a Viking notebook. Students will...
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Exploring the World of Music

For Students 9th - 10th
This 12-video series examines elements of music such as melody, harmony, rhythm, and texture, and how they are used in a wide variety of music genres in cultures around the world.
Unit Plan
TES Global

Tes: Teaching Shakespeare: The Tudors Their Music

For Teachers 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This resource focuses on the music of the Tudor era including harpsichords and drums. Students listen to various pieces of music and try to copy them.
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: An Interview With Vusi Mahlasela

For Students 9th - 10th
Here, Vusi Mahlasela talks about music, its social impact, and his hopes for how we relate to each other in this challenging world. [6:29]