Curated OER
Dancing Hands, Abstract Drawings
Young scholars discover African musical rhythms by performing Ancestral Spirit Dances. In this musical lesson, students research Willis "Bing" Davis and the abstract work he created. Young scholars listen to Yoruba drum music and...
Curated OER
Spatial Relationships: an Over/Under Dance
Students explore the relationships of space through movement. Two perform movement improvisation based on over/under. The activity improves hand-eye coordination, cooperation, and communication skills. The timing of the dance also...
Curated OER
Tempo Contrasts in partner Dances
Students explore the differences in tempo through movement. In groups, students create an original dance phrase and illustrate both fast and slow movement. They share their observations and evaluate each dance according to originality...
Curated OER
The Story of Sitting Bull
Students complete activities with the book The Story of Sitting Bull by Jeffrey A. Rucker. In this literature instructional activity, students review new vocabulary and practice finding capital letters. They read the story, answer...
Curated OER
The Nutcracker
First graders define a ballet as a story told through dance. They listen to melodies and demonstrate beat and accent through body movement. They watch the ballet.
Curated OER
Butterflies Fly!
Chopin was a lovely composer who played the piano masterfully. Third graders are introduced to Chopin, his piano sounds, triple meter, music patterns, movement, and the waltz. They listen to his music while hearing the story Butterflies...
Curated OER
Ballet and Classical Music
Fourth graders explore ballet. In this dance and music humanities instructional activity, 4th graders practice ballet positions and play a card game using French ballet vocabulary. Students count beats in rhythm patterns and listen to...
Hampton-Brown
From "First Crossing"
Young scholars look closely at four tales taken from the collection of short stories, First Crossing edited by Donald R. Galloby. While examining the life of four teenagers and the lives they lead as U.S. immigrants, your enthusiastic...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Moving to the Poems of Angel Island
A poem carved on Angel Island's walls is the guiding text of a lesson that challenges scholars to put movement into a written piece of art. After warm up-activities, learners play a game of "Pass the Clap" and "Pass the Line," in which...
Curated OER
Telling Our Own Stories
Explore online profiles and social media with your middle and high school classes. Use blogs to inspire your class to craft a well-written, thoughtful response to a prompt you give. A few example prompts are given.
University of Northern Iowa
Additional Folklife Information
Use a packet packed with ideas for how to celebrate the traditions of your country, state, community, and pupils's families. Suggestions for how to draw on oral and material traditions, customs, beliefs, music, and stories all find a...
Curated OER
Chinese New Year Song and Dance
Young scholars identify phrases within a song. In this Chinese New Year lesson students listen to a story about Chinese New Year and "Song of the Dragon". Young scholars each write a phrase from the song on a slip of paper and as a class...
Curated OER
Story Starters
Students orally tell different types of stories using the assistance of props. For more advanced students, stories may be told according to a specific genre, or the story may have to include a given condition, setting, situation or theme.
Curated OER
Big Dipper Story Wheel
Students research a Canadian Indian Tale. In this constellation lesson, students hear the story "Never-Ending Bear Hunt" which describes the constellations from the Native American perspective. They create their own constellation wheel...
Curated OER
Our Side of the Story: African Americans Share Their Experiences of Slavery
Seventh graders listen to a variety of folktales sharing experiences of slavery. As a class, they compare and contrast reading a story and telling a story. They participate in a role play activity to discover the journey of a slave and...
Curated OER
The Jellybeans and the Big Dance
Enchant your youngsters by reading them The Jellybeans and the Big Dance, by Laura Numeroff and Nate Evans. Ask them to name objects that begin with the letter J like jellybeans. Give each of them some jellybeans to sort by color. They...
Curated OER
Expressions of Anti-Racism through Painting: The Puerto Rican Community from West Side Story to Connecticut
Students create a graffiti wall using their own name or personal symbol. They examine their own understanding of the film as a source of inspiration and listen to the music from the soundtrack as an effective motivation. They make...
Curated OER
The First Fire : A Cherokee Animal Tale
Fourth graders discover movement through the telling of "The First Fire", a Cherokee tale. Small groups are given sections of the story to tell by creating dances. Music (live and recorded) adds to the final performance and assessment.
Curated OER
The Harlem Renaissance Births a Black Culture
Students examine the men and women who were a part of the Harlem Renaissance. Individually, they recreate their favorite pieces of art from the time period and create their own original works after reading poem from the movement. In...
Smithsonian Institution
The Sounds of an Island: Jamaican Music for the Classroom
Introduce young explorers to the music and history of Jamaican culture through game songs and dances. As a bonus, class members get to play simple songs transcribed for the recorder.
K5 Learning
The Bonfire in the Sea
Ever wonder why fish disappear from the surface of the water in cold weather? Fifth graders read a fun story about the magical fish tribe and their underwater bonfire before answering four comprehension questions.
Curated OER
Australian Aboriginal Art and Storytelling
Young explorers investigate Australian Aboriginal culture by listening to traditional Dreamtime stories and examining dot paintings created by Aboriginal artists. In addition, they locate the country on maps, discuss the geography of...
Curated OER
Sequencing
Are you looking for a way to teach sequence of events in your narrative writing unit? Bring this instructional activity to your middle school class, as it prompts young writers to create a narrative sequence map of events that have...
Orange County Department of Education
Dancing Rainbows: A Pueblo Boy's Story
Third graders identify the main ideas illustrated in the story "Dancing Rainbows." They identify details from the story that show respect toward self and others. Students write a paragraph to illustrate how the Tewa Indians show respect....