American music is the result of the influence of many cultures, including the traditions brought by the African slaves. Young scholars study the polyrhythms, the call-and-response format, and the vocal improvisations of the Gullah...

Music composition can be easy with a little software assistance. The class uses Garageband to listen to, write, sing, and record a blues song. They listen to the song provided through the software, write their own lyrics to the song,...

Students complete a unit of 9 lessons to learn about realism in music during the time of the Underground Railroad. In this music realism lesson, students learn about coded lyrics in the slave songs. Students complete 9 lessons using...

Upper elementary schoolers listen to and reproduce the rythm of Mary Lou William's musical piece, "Scratchin' in the Gravel." The swing song was written at a time that women did not play jazz. She broke the rules by playing and writing...

Second graders write a dinosaur poem using information from a research activity. In this dinosaur poetry and music lesson, 2nd graders listen to the book Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp in music class. They work in small groups to...

Pupils analyze the lyrics, instruments, sounds and technology from the song "Vertigo" by U2. They view a video presenting interviews with the band and complete a stage design for the live playing of the song.

Middle and high schoolers are walking into a world rife with strong political viewpoints and vocal opinions. Help to prepare them for controversial discussions with a instructional activity in which they choose, research, and learn more...

Students examine the percussion sounds used to create percussive sounds and identify the instruments that Bobby McFerrin imitates in his scat vocals. A scat version of the musical piece "So What" is improvised in this lesson.

Learners examine culture and music of specified areas. They conduct research and design a booth for a chosen culture. With researched information, students decorate a poster, create an informational packet, and locate examples of music.

Students listen to Isaac Stern lead a musician through steps to self-evaluating a performance. They compare their instrumental performance with a live vocal performance.

Students analyze the genres of folk and country music and the importance of the singer/songwriter. They compose their own lyrics based on an inspiring event.

Students listen to the song :King of Pain" by the Police. They identify different instrumentation and different rhythmic accompaniments to the opening vocal phrase and explore the text in-depth, discussing the various poetic images of...

Students discuss how to critique a musical piece properly. After listening to different types of music, they identify the strengths and weaknesses of the piece. They also develop solutions to the problems in the music for further...

Students probe the musical style of scat singing with imitation instruments. While listening to the musical pieces, they identify when one singer finishes and another begins. The singing groups' styles are contrasted in this...

Students use appropriate terminology to describe the instrumentation and style of a musical example. They identify common elements between musical styles and vocal styles.

What is the difference between formal and informal letter writing? Who gets a formal letter? What about an informal letter? This reference page presents different introductions and phrases you might see in each type of letter, and then...

Sixth graders explore the animals that live on the prairie and identify differences between amphibians and reptiles and the adaptations each have made to live on the prairie.

Students engage in a debate about equality between men and women as a way to work on their conversational skills. The format of the debate is imbedded in this plan.

Students improve speaking confidence when using difficult question forms. This lesson plan focuses on helping students explain how to engage in this kind of social conversation. A worksheet imbedded in this plan provides practice.

Students practice identifying the comparative and superlative forms of language. The second phase of the lesson focuses on using the comparative and superlative forms actively in small group conversation.

Students solidify their knowledge of countable and uncountable nouns and their quantifiers. The lesson includes a number of overlooked or idiomatic expressions to help higher level students expand their knowledge.

Students engage in a lesson plan which is a straight forward, teacher centered, grammar lesson plan focusing on written and oral production of the target structure. After a lecture/demo, students work individually on an exercise imbedded...

Students name their favorite actors and actresses, and then use adjectives to describe them. They go through a list of actors and actresses and discuss the adjectives they used to decribe them. As an extension, they can write about a film.

Students practice conversation skills while also focusing on improving their command of refined character description. They use a worksheet imbedded in this plan that has them select adjectives that describe their best friend.