Curated OER
Create a Composition
Students select an instrument and create a musical composition. In this musical composition lesson, students invent an original piece of music that is 16 measures long. Students hum and record their pieces.
Curated OER
Fan(tom) of the Opera
Students explore the ways in which the worlds of popular music and opera can work together to complement the other. They work in small groups to analyze plot, characters, setting and themes of a popular opera using a summary of that...
Curated OER
Improvising in the Birthplace of Jazz
Learners recognize significant developments in New Orleans jazz music. They improvise blues licks using notes from a minor pentatonic scale.
Curated OER
Bean Bag Clean-up
Students view signs posted in corners of the gym. Each sign indicates a color and a locomotor skill. When they hear music, students pick up a bean bag, take it to its corresponding color while performing the specified locomotor skill....
Curated OER
Classroom Builder
Learners explore music theory by discussing a classic song. In this musical notation lesson, students listen to the song "My Favorite Things" and discuss and share their personal tastes with the class. Learners practice writing notes on...
Curated OER
100 Balls
Young scholars perform locomotor skills such as throwing balls while counting up to 100. In this 100th day of school physical education lesson, the students play a Hungry, Hungry Hippos game to perform the throwing technique. There are...
Curated OER
Conversation Lesson: Men and Women - Equal at Last?
Young scholars engage in a debate about equality between men and women as a way to work on their conversational skills. The format of the debate is imbedded in this plan.
Curated OER
African American Community and Culture
Fourth graders explore the rise of jazz music. In this Duke Ellington activity, 4th graders watch video segments regarding Ellington's life and showcasing a performance of Ellington and his band. Students discuss the...
Curated OER
Island Sinker
Students perform various locomotor skills while practicing cooperative teamwork. In this locomotor skill lesson, students move from "island" to "island" using the designated motor skill. Imaginative components such as escaping a "shark"...
Curated OER
Wild and Wacky Warmups
Students explore vocal music techniques. In this vocal music lesson, students follow a series of warmup exercises modeled by the teacher, then participate in specific breathing and vocalizing exercises.
Curated OER
Woodwind Instruments and Pitch
Young scholars explore musical pitch. In this cross curriculum musical instruments and "sound" physics lesson plan, students identify and describe common traits of woodwind instruments. Young scholars research "pitch" and what causes...
Curated OER
You've Got Rhythm
Students study the rhythm value of a half note, quarter note, whole note, and eighth note. They stamp a rhythm pattern and create a clay animation which demonstrates note value.
Curated OER
-Body in Motion - Axial and Locomotor
Students practice increasing their movement and dance vocabulary through axial motion and locomotor step skill-building. They work with a partner and create and perform short sequences utilizing the vocabulary their practicing. Each...
Curated OER
Sponge Bob Day!
Young scholars explore and practice a variety of motor skills. In this physical education movement lesson, students rotate between 6 stations. Each station provides a Sponge Bob related activity which requires the children to use fine...
Curated OER
Save the Music Concert: Part 2 Composition
Students examine why music is considered to be the "universal language" and study the expressive quality of a musical performance. They compose a melody using a computer and software which they perform on an instrument.
Curated OER
I See The Rhythm : The Study of Blues and Jazz
Students gain an appreciation for various types of music. Using the music of the past, they compare it with the music of today. In groups, they research periods in which blues and jazz were most popular and write their own piece of music...
Curated OER
Germanic Music - Christmas Carols
Students learn German Christmas carols. In this Christmas music lesson, students learn Christmas carols in either German or English. They study the background of the songs and learn about Germanic Christmas traditions.
Curated OER
Musical Alphabet-Skipping Up
Students will read a study sheet about skipping up from one note to another, and complete a worksheet, filling in blanks and writing a skip up from given letters. A grading rubric is included.
Curated OER
Sondheim: Voice of Cultural Change
High schoolers explore Stephen Sondheim's contributions to musical theatre in the context of the dramatic cultural shift that occurred in American life in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Music of African American History
High schoolers examine role spirituals have played in African American history and religion, examine Harriet Tubman's use of spirituals in her work, explore power of spirituals in Civil Rights Movement, and work with oral tradition,...
PBS
The Sixties: Dylan Plugs in and Sells Out
Before Woodstock, there was Newport. Get plugged in to the social changes of the 1960s with a lesson that looks at Bob Dylan's performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival as a symbol of the radical changes that marked the era.
Education Closet
West Side Shifts
Combine math, language arts, music, and dance with an activity focused on "America" from West Side Story. After listening to the song, learners compare the film to Romeo and Juliet, analyze the song's meter, design choreography, plan...
Jazz Academy
Let Freedom Swing
Three lessons in the Let Freedom Swing concert tour resource guide packed with information, materials, and activities that provide the context for any study of American history.
Curated OER
M.C. Bard: Hip-Hop and Shakespeare
What is poetry? Does hip-hop qualify as poetry? Do Shakespeare's monologues qualify as poetry? Class members grapple with these questions as they examine the poetic elements and themes presented in different texts. Groups of four study...