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
Musical Instruments to Play
Bring some music to your language arts lesson with a reading comprehension activity. Learners read an informational passage about different musical instruments before answering a series of comprehension and vocabulary questions.
Curated OER
Cultural Music Festival
Students participate in planning a multi-cultural community event. In this cultural music activity, parents, community members, and teachers provide time, music, advertisement, and refreshments to create a community multi-cultural music...
Curated OER
Music And War
In this music worksheet, students read 4 paragraphs of information about music and wars. Students learn the 4 main roles of music in wartime. Students answer 5 questions.
Curated OER
Feel the Beat of the Drums
These percussion instruments have a rich history and a variety of uses.
Curated OER
Yes We Can! Students with Autism & Down-Syndrome on the Drums!
To learn about various topics and improve their social skills, learners with special needs play along with music on drums and other sound objects. Teachers take digital pictures of the students participation and use them to make bulletin...
Curated OER
The Beat of Mexico
Students explore mariachi music and create their own rhythm instruments. They study the music of Mexico. They listen to a variety of music, then vote for the song they liked the best.
Curated OER
Boombox Classroom: Migration of Music
In this music worksheet, students complete two multiple choice questions about music moving from one culture to another. They write a sentence explaining why slavery is wrong. Students name types of music African-Americans brought with...
Dick Blick Art Materials
Percussive Pods
Combine the study of art, music, and history with an activity that asks kids to craft rattles out of slabs of clay.
Curated OER
Rhythm in Motion
Any age of elementary student can demonstrate their understanding of the connections of elements of art and music by creating their own slit song. You will investigate and study the Melanesian Slit Song with Kindergartners through Junior...
Curated OER
Taiko Drumming and Folktales - Activity 1
Students discuss how sound has been used throughout history and cultures, including present day in their own lives, through the study of Taiko Drums in this introductory lesson. Resource ideas are provided.
Curated OER
Musical Instruments - Percussion
Students research and analyze various percussion instruments from different countries and cultures in this Music lesson for the upper-elementary classroom. Emphasis is placed on internet research and hands-on drumming techniques from...
Curated OER
Baga Drum
Students examine a Baga Drum in order to explore the history of the Baga people of West Africa. In this art history lesson, students recognize figures used in Baga Drum design that represent aspects of Baga culture. They also design and...
ESL Holiday Lessons
Kwanzaa
Teach English language learners about the week-long holiday of Kwanzaa that is celebrated around the world during December. It includes holiday-themed reading comprehension passages, phrase matching, fill-in-the-blanks, and journaling...
Curated OER
Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People
Fifth graders explore poems of African Americans. They research a famous African American, write a report, create a timeline of events in African American history, create a map of the New World, and research Molly Walsh. After...
Curated OER
World Rhythms: Tabla
Students use various materials to build and play simple percussion based on a Silk Road design, and write step-by-step instructions for others about how to make and play instrument.
Curated OER
Where Blues And Jazz Started
In this music history activity, students will read five paragraphs about the history of blues and jazz music and respond to 10 short answer questions.
Apple
GarageBand
Imagine there's a recording studio on your smart phone or tablet. Its easy if you try this tool. Imagine all the instruments you can play. Imagine there's no charge. You may say it's a dream, but you can join this band with just a touch.
Curated OER
Ooooh, The Oud
Young scholars listen to a performance of the instrument, oud. After watching a video, they discover how many parts of the world it is used in and locate the countries on a map. They compare and contrast the oud with other instruments...
Curated OER
Making the Impossible, Possible
With budget cuts galore, skip the bake sales and create a project with Donors Choose.
Perkins School for the Blind
Familiar Sounds
To foster concept development and auditory discrimination skills, learners with visual impairments listen to identify a variety of common sounds. The teacher makes recordings of various sounds, including those found in the home, at the...
Curated OER
Gilberto Gil
In this famous person worksheet, students read a passage about Gilberto Gil and then complete a variety of in-class and homework activities to support comprehension, including partner interviews, spelling, cloze, synonym matches, and...
Curated OER
Experimenting with Sound
Students explore physical science by completing a worksheet. In this sound perception lesson, students collaborate in small groups to research sound properties on the Internet and in libraries. Students conduct a listening experiment by...
Curated OER
Where Am I? Map Activity
In this map activity activity, students determine which countries are shown on a set of 16 maps, then read facts about each country designed to help with a report on that country.