Curated OER
Investigating Brass Instruments and Pitch
Students observe the sounds of different brass instruments in order to understand how to create different pitches. In this musical instructional activity, students create a "brass" instrument from everyday household objects. The students...
Curated OER
Instruments From Around the World
How much does the environment affect how and what man creates? Children explore the effect of the environment on primitive man as they research raw materials from a specific location. They use their findings to write a short essay about...
Curated OER
Meet the Instruments of the Orchestra
Students examine the characteristics of the four families of instruments. They read an eBook, unscramble instruments and categorize them in the correct families, take a quiz, and explore the San Francisco Symphony website.
Captain Planet Foundation
Predicting Whether the Weather is Good for the Garden
Can your class predict the weather? Show them how they can come close with a lesson about creating weather instruments, including weather vanes, barometers, wind socks, anemometers, and thermometers. Kids research weather patterns and...
Curated OER
Woodwind Instruments and Pitch
Students explore musical pitch. In this cross curriculum musical instruments and "sound" physics lesson, students identify and describe common traits of woodwind instruments. Students research "pitch" and what causes pitch fluctuation by...
Curated OER
Chinese Instruments
Students explore Chinese instruments. For this Chinese instrument music lesson, students listen to a performance by Liu Fang and describe the sounds they hear. Students classify western and Chinese instruments according to their...
Centers for Ocean Sciences
Ocean and Great Lakes Literacy: Principle 7
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take your class on an underwater adventure. The final installment in a seven-part series involving salt and freshwater bodies takes junior oceanographers below the surface in...
Curated OER
The Orchestra: Exploring the Instruments
Students explore the instruments of the orchestra. In this music appreciation lesson, students discover the four families of instruments and research each of them using selected Internet sources.
Curated OER
Exploring Quadratic Equations
By stretching and translating the parabola given and determining the effects on the equation, students explore finding the vertex and zeros of a parabola and relate them to the equation. Students also view the intercept form to determine...
Curated OER
Asian Rhythms
Learners experience another culture through a unit that explores instruments, spoken language, and calligraphy. Students experience the Asian culture first hand through a Taiko Drum Concert, as well as lunch at an Asian Buffet &...
Curated OER
Instrument families
Students brainstorm to list as many instruments as they can and try to guess which instrument family into which they fit. They research each instrument on a website and find the family, hear the sound and learn about each one.
Curated OER
Collect the Weather Lesson Plan
Students explore the weather. In this weather spreadsheet lesson, students keep track of weather patterns as they use instruments and resources to chart the data the collect in spreadsheet form.
Curated OER
Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago - Chicago Blues
Watching Great Performances’ Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago launches an investigation into and discussion of how the electric guitar and guitarists have changed the sound of the blues over time. An engaging way to...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Rainforest Music
Fifth graders examine musical instruments used by the indigenous people of the rainforest, and analyze how music is used in their daily lives. They create a model, using natural materials, of a musical instrument used by indigenous...
Curated OER
Musical Sounds
Students investigate music appreciation by completing worksheets. In this musical arts lesson, students complete worksheets in which they identify different musical instruments, the sounds they make and the family of instruments they...
Curated OER
Romantic and 20th Century Period Music
Upper graders explore the similarities, differences, and depth of pop music from the Romantic era and the 20th century. They listen to selections that exemplify the Baroque, Romantic, and 20th century periods, then create presentations...
Curated OER
Musical Instruments - Percussion
Learners 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
Chaucer's Wife of Bath
A thorough and well-designed resource for older students, this lesson focuses on Chaucer's character the Wife of Bath from his classic novel, The Canterbury Tales. As a way of understanding Chaucer's complex characterization and...
Curated OER
Role of Masks in African Cultures
Students explore ancient tradition and craft of mask making, examine role or function of masks in African culture, create instruments, and participate in class projects.
San Francisco Symphony
Music and Early Man
Creative projects are great ways to increase interest in topical research. Middle schoolers learning about primitive life styles in the Americas explore the importance of music to hunter gatherers. They research and create musical...
Curated OER
Jazz in America Lesson Plan 6
Students survey bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop. They explore how bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop reflected American culture and society in the 1940s and 1950s.
Curated OER
Jazz in America Lesson Plan 7
Students survey free jazz and fusion. They explore how free jazz and fusion reflected American culture and society in the 1960s and 1970s.
Curated OER
Parents And Alcohol: Who's To Blame
Learners explore the topic of underage drinking. They find a focus and write a news feature/analysis that reports on what the community is doing to prevent underage drinking and some assessment of the extent of the problem.
Curated OER
A Season for Chapters
Art, music, poetry, and the beauty of the seasons is what you'll find in this very nice unit idea. You can use any of the suggested books and activities to engage your second graders in an exploration of the changes that take place...