Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Producing Beats

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Turn your classroom into a music studio as groups work together to determine why music sounds different when performed live versus a recording. After listening to some different music, each group picks a poem, creates a recording, and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Developing Writing Skills Through Japanese Folk Music

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students listen to Japanese folk songs to get inspired to create a writing piece about Japan.  In this writing lesson, students use primary and secondary sources to add information about Japan. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Adapting a Musical

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students transform literature into musical productions. For this integrated arts lesson, students discuss how musicals are written and produced. Students then select literature they are familiar with to adapt into musical productions.
Lesson Plan
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Musical Sounds

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
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...
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Curated OER

Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Henry David Thoreau and Linda Ronstadt? Ann Tyler and Pete Townshend? Joyce Carol Oates and Pearl Jam? This richly detailed plan pairs classic literature with contemporary music and asks learners to analyze how the theme of conformity is...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Name That Tune

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Integrating technology and music can be a snap with lessons like this one! Kids in a junior high band class took to the Internet to download and practice playing their instrument with a computer generated back up band. They practice...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Get Your Mojo Workin': Part 1 Writing Your Very Own Blues Tune!

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Upper graders listen to the blues. They discuss blues scale, read a description of the blues, and work together to write an original piece. A lesson like this ties into American history and African-American musical contributions very...
Lesson Plan
San Francisco Symphony

Music and Early Man

For Teachers 6th - 8th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Visual Aural Impressions

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students view a piece of impressionist art, listen to a piece of jazz music and then write a piece about the picture in the style of beat poets. They compare their writing and look for differences in their perceptions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dance: Discovering the Culture of Gullah

For Teachers 5th - 7th
It's wonderful to see a activity that incorporates art, movement, and writing. These three forms of creative expression are explored as learners dance to music from the Gullah people of West Africa. They analyze several paintings, listen...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rhythm and Improv, Jazz and Poetry

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Connect the ideas of jazz improvisation and art to writing poetry. Learners collaborate and write different lines of poetry, imitating the jazz styles of improvisation and freewriting. Take a close look at the poems "Tenebrae" by Yusef...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I Spy Poetry

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students identify and interpret the rhythm and form of the I Spy poem. They then integrate art, music, literature, technology, and writing with poetry. Students also write their own poem based on the picture they printed from the I Spy...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The 1980's Series - Music

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students examine artwork by Keith Haring, and listen to music popular in the 1980s that influenced him. They develop storyboards, and film music videos for their favorite song.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

VH1 Driven: Kanye West, Lesson 2

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students compose an original rap. They discuss the career and music of Kanye West, discuss their pre-writing worksheet, and write an original rap using a Final Draft Worksheet.
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Activity 5: Creative Writing/Expression About Child Labor

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners research child labor using Internet resources. They present the information in a creative writing piece and post it on Chalkboard.
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Understanding Human Rights Through Music And Poetry

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders discuss human rights. They brainstorm and listen to and read examples of music and poetry that deal with human rights and oppression. They choose one poem or song to analyze, looking for theme, oppression, and historical...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Virtual Museum of Musical Instruments

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students incorporate elements of photo composition and demonstrate how to upload digital pictures to the computer. They create their own instrument utilizing resources from home as well as specialized music hardware. They participate in...
Lesson Plan
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There Ya Go, Bobby McFerrin, Creativity ans Jazz

For Teachers 6th - 8th
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.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Storytellers: Pearl Jam, Lesson 1

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students examine the meaning of genre, and specifically investigate the musical genre of grunge. They view and discuss photos, watch the video, "VH1 Storytellers: Pearl Jam," answer discussion questions, and paraphrase the lyrics to a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Rhythms

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners combine elements of music with poetry.  In this creative writing lesson, students examine poems from a variety of authors with varying writing styles.  Learners explore the different elements of poetry, including tone,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sense of Place: No River Too Wide-Bridges

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders discover the history of their hometown Des Moines River.  In this U.S. Geography lesson plan students speak with Iowans that tell stories of the settlers and early villages near the Des Moines River.  Students...
Activity
Weekly Story Book

Folk Tales and Fables

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Pages and pages of engaging activities, worksheets, and writing projects on teaching folktales and fables await you! You don't want to miss this incredible resource that not only includes a wide range of topics and graphic...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sondheim: Secret Metaphors

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore the work of Stephen Sondheim. In this musical theater lesson, students examine the musicals Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park with George. Students identify and anaylze linear and...
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

10 Ideas for Teaching Black History Month

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
Celebrate Black History Month with the help of 10 ideas that delve deep into the history, major events, contributions, famous African Americans, and sheds light on how scholars today can take a proactive stance on current civil rights...