Curated OER
America, A Home for Every Culture
Students investigate the many cultures that are represented in America. In this American culture instructional activity, students look at the food, languages, music, and traditions that immigrants have contributed to the face of America....
Curated OER
Elvis
For this excellent music and history lesson, 1st graders watch movies and listen to music sung by Elvis Presley, then draw and write as if they were a famous singer. This entertaining and inventive lesson has a terrific assessment...
Curated OER
Jews and Blues
Students examine how American Jews affect music and entertainment. They identify problems between immigrants and their children. They relate the Jewish American issue to those of African Americans.
National Humanities Center
Teaching The Great Gatsby: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar
The 41 slides in a professional development seminar model how to use close reading techniques to examine the many layers of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In addition to passages from the novel, slides provide biographical...
Curated OER
Ella Fitzgerald: Something to Live For
Students examine the basic characteristics of jazz, and its relationship to African-American culture and history. They listen to examples of jazz, conduct research, and create a 20th century timeline of music and historical events.
Curated OER
Langston Hughes and the Blues
Learners explore the connections between Langson Hughes and blues music. For this African American culture lesson, students compare and contrast blues music with poetry and short stories by Langston Hughes.
Curated OER
Right About Now… and Then
Students discuss significant figures in music history and read an article about the Smithsonian's Hip-Hop exhibit. In groups, they develop and curate an exhibition of hip-hop music and history using artifacts that represent relevant...
Curated OER
The Great Migration
Students explore how migration to Harlem created a new life for African Americans. In this cross curricular lesson, students illustrate maps showing the migration, paint murals representing African American life in the South and...
Curated OER
Inventors & Trailblazers
Students are introduced to a groups of African American inventors. In groups, they research the role of each person in improving different industries. They also examine the barriers African Americans faced from the Civil War to the...
Smithsonian Institution
The Vocal Blues: Created in the Deep South of the U.S.
Bring the sounds of the deep South vocal blues to the classroom with a Smithsonian Folkways lesson. In preparation, scholars listen to and count the 12 bar blues patterns in several works and identify the I, II, IV, and V chords as well...
Curated OER
Ragtime: 1880-1920
Build an understanding of the social, economic, and cultural changes that were incited by the American Industrial Revolution. Learners will research the historical context of the Ragtime Era, and compose an oral presentation in the...
Curated OER
Te Ata Fisher: The Award-Winning Chickasaw Storyteller
Storytelling is a time-honored way to keep a culture alive. Introduce middle schoolers to Te Ata Fisher, the famous Chickasaw storyteller who shared her stories, songs, and dances across the United States and Europe. Young historians...
PBS
Hidden Messages in Spirituals
Slaves laboring in the cotton fields of the old South singing joyously may have convinced overseers that their workforce was happy and content, but in truth, these spirituals contained secret codes. After viewing a short video about...
National Park Service
Lesson 4: Escape
Some enslaved people decided to run for their liberation. Using lyrics of songs they sang, young historians look at these anthems of freedom. An assessment asks them to write the story of escape from the perspective of an enslaved...
ABCya
Thanksgiving Crossword Puzzle
Solve an eight-question crossword puzzle all about Thanksgiving. Players click on rows and columns, read a question, and answer using the given letters. Hints are provided at a point cost.
Curated OER
The United States and the World
Journey through highlights of the late 19th and early 20th century with your history class. Topics covered are the highlights of Theodore Roosevelt's presidency, the Spanish American War, the building of the Panama Canal, and World War...
Curated OER
Jazz Talk
Students analyze the origins of jazz music by examining work songs, spirituals, blues, and gospel songs as well as works of poetry from African American artists. They create their own poems from either the narrative, dramatic, or lyric...
Curated OER
Jazz it Up!
Students research the history and contributions of Jazz in their local environments. They then design and create a wide variety of presentations to share with the class using as many mediums as possible.
Curated OER
History of Aaron Copland
Third graders study the history of Aaron Copland, the famous American composer. They dance to the song Hoe-Down composed by Aaron Copland.
Curated OER
Call and Response Singing
Learners investigate call and response singing. In this fine arts and U.S. history lesson, students listen to several call and response songs that were sung by African-American slaves during the period before the Civil War. ...
Curated OER
Language Arts, Music, Poetry: Blues Style
This lesson focuses on how the blues both operates as poetry and informs the poetry of many prominent African American poets. Students consider the poetic devices and recurring themes in blues lyrics and the significance of the poetry of...
Curated OER
Willie Nelson: All Together Now!
Students recite Willie Nelson's lyrics in one voice and then analyze their tone and vocabulary usage. They research Willie Nelson's history and dramatize the song: "On the Road Again."
Curated OER
American Culture in a Musical Setting
Learners discover the significance of similarities and contrasts of three separate cultures of the United States through music. They take out maps and trace the expedition of the Spanish along the coasts of Mexico and North and South...
Curated OER
History, African Americans, The Blues
This lesson plan enables teachers to use blues music to explore the history of African Americans in the 20th century. By studying the content of blues songs, students can learn about the experiences and struggles of the working-class...
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