Curated OER
Music from a Place Called Half Moon
Students read the novel, Music from a Place Called Half Moon. They are assigned chapters to analyze for literary elements and to assign titles to the book chapters.
Curated OER
Persuasive and Emotive Language Lesson Plan
Young scholars explore persuasive language. In this emotive language lesson, students consider the use of language that incites readers as they participate in reading and writing activities that require them to describe a tourist...
Curated OER
Discovering the Element of Color in Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale: A Comparison of Tone Color and Art Color
Students experience several different tone colors in the song and also add layers of color to their copy of "The Owl" to compare and contrast how an artist would create the element of color.
Curated OER
Woody Guthrie: Life and Art
Woody Guthrie will capture the imagination of even your most reluctant learners. Using his work, your class will develop their skills in non-fiction reading comprehension, interpreting primary source material, and use of multiple forms...
Manchester University
Alliteration
Kids create cool clauses selecting a single starting sound. Ah, alliteration.
Curated OER
The Poetics of Hip Hop
The Bard, Nikki Giovanni, Mos Def? “Sonnet 18,” Ego Tripping,” and “Black on Both Sides”? Sure! It’s the poetics. Class members compare the lyrics, rhythm, and rhyme in classic poetry to hip-hop in a richly detailed resource that...
Poetry Class
Eccentricity and Sound
What do Lady Gaga and Dame Edith Sitwell have in common? As they examine Sitwell's poetry, class members learn that the similarities are far more than their unique appearance.
Louisiana Department of Education
Unit: Hamlet
Encourage readers to determine if Hamlet's madness is actually divinest sense. Class members analyze the words of the play before studying related texts, including T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," scenes from...
Curated OER
A Positive Spin
Study word choice and connotation in advertising. Readers examine campaign ads, both negative and positive, from the 2006 mid-term election before discussing an article and analyze a campaign of any candidate they choose. Finally,...
Creative Competitions, Inc.
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: Fantastic Fairy Tale
Learning about literature can be so much fun; it can also be made more accessible through projects and dramatic play. As they explore theme, character, and setting, the class gets creative and makes a dramatic recreation of a classic...
National Endowment for the Humanities
John Steinbeck’s "The Grapes of Wrath": The Inner Chapters
Here’s a must-have resource for anyone using The Grapes of Wrath. Everything from guiding questions to background information, from photographs to documentary films, from activities to assessments is included in a richly detailed packet...
Curated OER
Music
First graders identify ways in which math and language arts relate to their music. After being read a book, they sing a song about who took the cookies from the cookie jar. They recognize repeated patterns in the melody and rhythm and...
Curated OER
Low and High with Ives
First graders read the Poem "The Elephant" by Shel Silverstein and create a descriptive web in the shape of an animal. In this cross curricular music lesson plan, 1st graders recite a poem with rhythm, then listen to the song...
Curated OER
What is Timbre?
Students analyze the differences in similar songs. In this music appreciation lesson, students discover the meaning of timbre and how it can drastically change similar pieces of music. Students sing two pieces of music with...
Curated OER
Dance: Discovering the Culture of Gullah
It's wonderful to see a lesson 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...
Curated OER
Learning the Blues
Learners take a virtual field trip to Memphis, Tennessee in their study of the blues, its characterisitics, founding fathers, and histororical influence on modern music. They compose blues lyrics that reflect present-day attitudes and...
Curated OER
Experiencing "Romeo and Juliet"
Ninth graders read and analyze the William Shakespeare play "Romeo and Juliet" and compare it to the 1996 modern version of the play and the movie "West Side Story." They write an essay comparing and contrasting the three versions.
Curated OER
Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Pictures of Royalty: The Imagined
Elizabeth Peyton is an artist who creates images of people (often famous) that she doesn't personally know. These images become part of her imagined community. Learners analyze her work, her community of imagined friends, and then create...
Curated OER
How Music Motivates
Learners form conclusions regarding the motivational effects of music on the mind during the Civil Rights era. In this Civil Rights movement activity, students describe how music motivates, describe the motivational role in freedom songs...
Curated OER
Patriotic Arts: Influencing Canadians At War
Students study how war has shaped Canadian life, patriotism, propaganda, and music. They research primary source documents, novels, videos, and songs before celebrating Remembrance Day.
Curated OER
Singing: Mi, So, La
Little ones learn the tones mi, so, and la by singing an answer to a sung question. They play a name game to identify beat, then discuss songs with no beat. If there is time during this musical instruction lesson, they dance about the...
North Carolina Standard Curriculum
Rhythm Counting
Understanding time signatures and rhythm counting are two very important parts of playing an instrument well. Here are three basic lessons rolled into one that prompt upper graders to play their instruments with care. They'll practice...
Curated OER
Learning through The Duke
Students study Duke Ellington's contributions to the field of jazz. They write poetry using language that was popular in the 1920's. They listen to a piece of Duke Ellington jazz and respond with at painting.
Curated OER
Rooster's Night Out
Mitch Weiss and Martha Hamilton's Rooster's Night Out, a retelling of a classic Cuba folktale, launches a cross-curricular study of Cuban cultural traditions. Class members draw the characters from the book, participate in math and...