ReadWriteThink
Sonic Patterns: Exploring Poetic Techniques Through Close Reading
Robert Hayden's poem "Those Winter Sundays" serves as the anchor text in a five-part lesson that takes the mystery out of poetry analysis by modeling explicit strategies for pupils to employ to conduct a close reading of a poem. After...
Smithsonian Institution
The Birth of an Icon: Learning and Performing the Origins of the Drum Set and Early Jazz Drumming in New Orleans, Louisiana
Bass drum, snare drum, tom-toms, cymbals. Perched behind their drum sets, wielding their drum sticks and wire brushes, drummers lay the grove and are the heartbeat of a band's performance. A dynamic lesson introduces young musicians to...
Little Kids Rock
The Latin Rhythms of “Despacito”
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...
Curated OER
Music and Emotion
Students identify the various emotions created by different types of music. They Identify role of music in creating various emotions for film and television . They observe and practice various ways of playing percussion instruments. They...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Arabic Poetry: Guzzle a Ghazal!
Students research the evolution and cultural significance of the Arabic ghazal form of poetry. They, in groups, compose an original ghazal poem and read it aloud to the class.
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Meter and Rhyme (English II Reading)
Imagine an interactive that teaches young poets all the essential elements of poetry. This colorful resource does just that. Players are introduced to rhythm, meter, and rhyme schemes using famous poems. They practice marking the...
Utah Education Network (UEN)
8th Grade Poetry: Sonnet Poem
The third lesson of five in an eighth-grade poetry unit has young scholars comparing Shakespearean sonnets with Petrarchan sonnets. To begin, they examine the different structures of the two forms and their different rhyme schemes. After...
Institut Obert de Catalunya
20th Century Music: Jazz
A 67-page packet provides instructors with a complete course in the history of Jazz. Lessons look at the roots of jazz in early 20th century African American communities in the southern United States and continues to the New Orleans...
Poetry4kids
Rhythm in Poetry: You Can Scan, Man
A detailed lesson written for budding poets challenges them to scan poems to discover stressed and unstressed syllables. Dashes and slashes highlight the syllables to count the feet, which makes the rhythm of the poem. Questions test...
PBS
Discuss 22-year-old Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb”
Two poems by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman are spotlighted in a PBS lesson. Young scholars conduct a close reading and watch videos of Gorman reading her inaugural poem "The Hill We Climb" and "The Miracle of Morning." They...
John F. Kennedy Center
Harriet Tubman: Secret Messages Through Song
A lesson all about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad introduces scholars to African American spirituals. By way of reading, speaking, and listening, learners discover, analyze, and decode African American spirituals. They...
Smithsonian Institution
Jamaican Song, Dance, and Play: Experiences with Jamaican Musical Traditions
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.
Smithsonian Institution
African American Music: Let’s Sing and Play Clapping Games
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.
Smithsonian Institution
Braiding Rhythms: The Role of Bell Patterns in West African and Afro-Caribbean Music
Africans transported to the Caribbean as part of the transatlantic slave trade brought with them a rich tradition of music and dance. Four lessons teach young musicians the rumba clave rhythm, cascara rhythm, and the 6/8 bell patterns...
Poetry4kids
Rhythm in Poetry: Okie Dokie, Here’s the Trochee
Iambs and trochees may seem intimidating to some learners, but after reading a straightforward online lesson, they'll be masters of poetic feet! The lesson includes examples of trochaic poems from Edgar Allen Poe and William Blake.
Poetry4kids
Rhythm in Poetry: More Than Two Feet
Want to put some feet in your head? Check out an online lesson about spondees, dactyls, and anapests to bring new structure to your poetic forms.
Poetry4kids
Rhythm in Poetry: I Am the Iamb
It's fun to write a poem with iambs! Practice using iambs in all types of different poems with an online poetry lesson.
BBC
The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky
Over the course of six lessons, scholars try their hand at composing and dancing after a thorough examination of the famous ballet, The Nutcracker, by Tchaikovsky. Participants watch and discuss the performance of two dances, create and...
National Council of Teachers of English
Writing Poetry with Rebus and Rhyme
Young scholars write rhyming poems using rebus. With pictures instead of words, authors create original work about things they love.
Poetry4kids
Rhythm in Poetry: The Basics
What makes a great poem sound so good? Learn the rhythmic secrets of poetry with an explanatory online lesson.
Midwest Clinic
Latin Rhythms: Mystery Unraveled
There is an indescrible energy to Latin American music—but if you know your music theory, it's not so indescrible after all. A thorough packet provides definitions for terms like bolero, charanga, shekere, and tumbao before listing...
Kansas Music Educators Association
Games for the Elementary Music Classroom
Perfect for music specialists, classroom teachers, and substitutes, a packet of 18 games includes complete lessons as well as short activities for when you have some extra time at the end of class.
Johnson County Community College
Treasured Stories by Eric Carle
Explore the works of Eric Carle with a set of four lessons focused around the stories, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Young readers develop a storyboard,...
Concordia College Archives
History and Musical Aesthetics
What are the musical elements that characterize a school's fight song or its alma mater? Class members listen to examples of fight songs and alma maters from various schools, play a listening game, and then create a list of the...