Lesson Plan
Education Closet

Equal Rhythms

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Engage young mathematicians in learning about fractions with this cross-curricular math and music lesson. After listening to and repeating different beat patterns, children realize that musical notes are just another way of representing...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Kindergarten Music Time

For Teachers K
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. 
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

African American Music: Let’s Sing and Play Clapping Games

For Teachers K - 2nd
Two lessons focus on making a beat. Using popular African American music of its time, scholars listen and analyze the rhythm then recreate it with hands drums, and cups. 
Lesson Plan5:53
TED-Ed

A-rhythm-etic. The Math Behind the Beats

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Your learners will dance in their seats as this talented drummer connects math to music in a short video clip. Clayton Cameron shows how math puts the "cool" in various genres of music, including jazz, hip-hop, pop,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rests, Pease Porrige Hot with Game:Music, Rhythm, Beats

For Teachers K - 1st
Students use the nursery rhyme "Pease Porridge Hot" to explore rhythm, beats and rests in music.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Michael Jackson's "Beat It" Dance

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Learn this 32-count line dance. There are four eight-counts that repeat throughout the song. The steps include walking forward, walking backward, pivots, grapevine, and some jumps. All in all this is a simple and quick dance to learn....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Band Beats

For Teachers 1st - 8th
Students discuss find out about the four types of musical instruments. They identify several instruments of each type. Students listen to a simple rhythmic music. They follow along with its notation. Students identify treble and bass...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Identifying the Beat

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders listen to various songs. In this musical properties lesson, 6th graders work in groups to identify musical selections, practice tapping the beat, review time signatures, and identify the meter of different songs.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Kodaly Beat Lesson

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Introduce rhythmic beat and melodic beat with a upbeat activity that asks young musicians to clap the beat to their favorite nursery rhyme. To introduce the rest beat, class members use small drums or other percussion instruments to play...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Elementary Music Plan

For Teachers 3rd
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...
Lesson Plan
Little Kids Rock

The Latin Rhythms of “Despacito”

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
When you hear the first few beats of "Despacito," the unrivaled Latin pop hit of 2017, you can't keep your feet from moving! A music analysis lesson plan examines the intoxicating hit by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee and introduces the...
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Jamaican Song, Dance, and Play: Experiences with Jamaican Musical Traditions

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young musicians experience song, dance, and play of the Jamaican culture. Scholars listen for and recreate beats, they play tunes, make up original dances, and play a game that challenges pupils to pass stones to a specific beat.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Transferring Rhythmic Patterns From Music to Movement

For Teachers K - 5th
Students identify and demonstrate movement elements in relation to musical notation. They clap to rhythms, beat on drums, match musical notes to speech patterns and use the rhythms of the their names to create a dance.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

SIGHT READING RHYTHM PATTERNS

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
The perception of rhythms by reading and the ability to auditorily discriminate these rhythm patterns by listening to them performed by the teacher is practiced here. your students will work to create an eight-beat long rhythm pattern.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ballet and Classical Music

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders explore ballet. In this dance and music humanities activity, 4th graders practice ballet positions and play a card game using French ballet vocabulary. Students count beats in rhythm patterns and listen to classical music...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

To The Beat

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
This activity is two-fold in that it addresses having youngsters get a feel for different rhythms in music and in practicing their underhand tossing skills. Gather all kinds of equipment to throw, such as: yarn balls, spider balls, and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Math, Fractions, and Music

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students discover the relationship between musical rhythms and fractions. They add musical notes together to produce fractions and create addition and subtraction problems with musical notes. Students complete worksheets and create their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Musical Accent Activity

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Budding instrumentalists take on the task of reading accent marks and playing them correctly. They practice playing the provided rhythm or beat, focusing on emphasizing notes that have accents over them. The handout included provides...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music Lesson Plan for Teaching Children with (Severe) Autism

For Teachers Pre-K - 12th
Here's a packet of music activities designed specifically for children with autism. Kids learn greeting, echo, and repertory songs, as well as rhythmic patterns to play rhythm instruments.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Singing: "I Mailed Myself to You"

For Teachers 1st
Keeping a steady beat, singing soft, loud, and in unison - sounds like music class to me! First graders practice these skills while listening to the song, "I Mailed Myself to You" for Valentine's Day. This is a simple and age appropriate...
Lesson Plan
Little Kids Rock

The Influence of Latin Music in Postwar New York City

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Music has often been called the international language that transcends cultures and regions. Scholars analyze the impact of Latin American music on New York City culture in the years following World War II. They research music, video,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Grade 2: Music/Valentine's Day

For Teachers 2nd
Play and sing a Valentine's song with your second graders. They'll follow along allow as you demonstrate how to sing and keep a steady beat on non-pitched percussive instruments. While the music lesson has a Valentine theme, that theme...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

To The Beat

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students to get a feel for different rhythms through throwing and catching. They are asked to throw to their partner keeping time with the beat of the music. The partner catch the ball and throw it back to their partner in rhythm.
Lesson Plan
Berklee College of Music

Create Your Own Afro-Latin Groove

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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.