First Stage
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Charlie Brown may not feel the Christmas spirit this year, but your elementary students can use the season to practice important cross-curricular skills! A set of worksheets and activities based on A Charlie Brown Christmas guide...
Curated OER
Rhythm and Art: Gesture Drawing
Students explore connections between non-verbal language and art. In this visual and auditory art lesson, students investigate the science of sound and principles of drawing. They then use various genres of music to directly apply that...
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Rhythm and Art: Rhythm Collage
High schoolers create a collage in response to musical rhythm. In this visual arts lesson plan, students will better understand the connection between visual arts and musical rhythm. High schoolers will follow the teacher's model of...
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Rhythm and Art: Gesture Drawing
Students make connection between music and art. In this integrated arts instructional activity, students complete gesture drawing activities as they listen to Cuban, flamenco, classical, jazz, and contemporary music.
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Scaling the Blues
Students identify musical characteristics of blues music and define the term 'scale.' They identify chromatic, major, pentatonic, and blues scales and label each key on a keyboard using letter names, sharps and flats.
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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.
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Harp Of Gold
Learners create "Harp" pictures using harp shapes, shoe box lids, paints, old sheet music, and inspiration from Harp music in this inter-disciplinary Art and Music instructional activity for the elementary classroom. Resource links are...
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Arts of the Gilded Age
Students study the art forms of the Gilded Age. In this integrated arts lesson, students research the art, music, dance, and drama of the historical era and then create their own personal projects that exemplify the time period.
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Choreography Project
Students produce a short choreography composition. Specific guidelines and choice of music are provided. The grade/evaluation takes place in the form of video documentation and a teacher-created rubric.
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Acoustical Science
Students explore musical instruments and the pitches and tones they make. In this acoustical science lesson, students create their own string instruments and explore how pitch is altered.
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Television Newscasts
When we watch news broadcasts on television, we receive a much more visual perspective than when we read the newspaper. How do sets, clothing, and music contribute to our understanding of the story? Compare American and Canadian news...
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A Media Literacy Unit on "Turn Beauty Inside Out"
Pupils become aware of the importance of distinguishing between inner and outer beauty. They explore how the media's opinion of beauty is biased and should be evaluated rather than just accepted. Each student also assesses how the...
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Say It With Dance From Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma"
Young scholars examine the history of the musical "Oklahoma". They choreograph their own segment from the Dream Ballet. They also gather information from listening to media reports.
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Teaching Rhythm and Pitch Reading
Pupils practice correct rhythms and pitches during this short lesson for the middle school instrumental class. Objectives vary depending on music used for the lesson. Students assessed through group playing in class.
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Days 13 and 14
How important are sound effects in films? In stage plays? In radio programs? To gain an understanding of the impact of these special effects, class members watch a short video spoof of the sound in a scene from Star...
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Lullabies From Around the World
Students investigate lullabies from Ghana, Poland, and India. In this music lesson plan, students learn several lullabies from several countries and find the rhythm and pulse within each song.
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Little Einsteins -- A Christmas Wish
Students watch a video of the series "Little Einstiens." After watching the video, they explain the characteristics of each character. They develop music to add to the video and listen to music of Beethoven. They examine a painting by...
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VH1 AIDS: A Pop Culture History Lesson 1
Students observe and discuss the relationships between music, media, and popular culture.
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Illustration # 1: Source of Illustration
Students play a game of imitating steady beats by mimicking the instructor. They use drums and repeat the game by echoing rhythmic patterns. The patterns may vary in degree of difficulty according to each individual's ability.
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Jazz it Up!
Students research the history and contributions of Jazz in their local environments. They then design and create a wide variety of presentations to share with the class using as many mediums as possible.
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Dancing Hands, Abstract Drawings
Students discover African musical rhythms by performing Ancestral Spirit Dances. In this musical lesson, students research Willis "Bing" Davis and the abstract work he created. Students listen to Yoruba drum music and...
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Famous Composers
In this music worksheet, students find the words that are associated with the naming of famous composers. The answers are found at the bottom of the page.
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Multimedia Storytelling
Experiment with multimedia storytelling. After watching a segment of American Family, first, middle and high schoolers tell a story about their families, clarifying the setting, characters, and script. They work on setting...
Film Foundation
The Day The Earth Stood Still: The Filmmaking Process
How are films made? As part of their study of film, middle schoolers investigate the pre-production, production, and post-production process and consider the role of the director, the screenwriter, production designer, cinematographer,...