Unit Plan
National Center for Families Learning

The Summer Fun Summer Learning Music Unit

For Teachers 1st - 8th Standards
Take note. Soul music. Gospel music. Country music. Summer comes alive with the sounds of music as program participants learn about various genres of music, create instruments, and write and perform songs about the facts and traditions...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

My Many Colored Days

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Young scholars explore feelings.  In this mental health cross-curriculum lesson, students listen to My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss and discuss their own moods and feelings.  Young scholars sing related songs, write about...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Number Song

For Teachers K
Students sing a song (to the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas) that helps reinforce their counting skills.
Lesson Plan
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Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross, Moanin,' Payin' Your Dues

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the musical styles of call and response and the blues while delving into the difficult lives of many jazz musicians. Travelling in the South was challenging for black musicians during this time and the difficulties are...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rockin’ the World: Rock and Roll and Social Protest in 20th Century America

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students explore protest songs. In this interdisciplinary instructional activity, students examine issues-based music by summarizing lyrics and revealing inferences, generalizations, conclusions, and points of view found in the songs.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Composers

For Students 8th - 10th
For this music worksheet, students use the appropriate reference and respond to 4 fill in the blank questions about composers and famous song titles.
Lesson Plan
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Rabbits Rhymes and Finger Plays

For Teachers Pre-K - K
Students sing songs about bunnies and pick out the rhyming words. In this rhyming lesson plan, students develop an understanding of rhyming words at the end of each verse of a song or poem.
Lesson Plan
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Act 3: New York Introduction 1924-1925, Louis Armstrong

For Teachers 4th - 11th
Learners listen to and examine jazz recordings and listen for features (breaks and obbligato) that are typical of jazz music. In groups, they make up a short blues song of their own.
Lesson Plan
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Regional Songs in the Southern American Experience

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students write a song about transportation in 100 years after comparing and discussing "Proud Mary" and "The Midnight Special".
Worksheet
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Blues and Folk Music Workshop

For Students 6th - 7th
In these informational texts worksheets, students read the detailed flyer for the Blues and Folk Music Workshop. Students then answer 8 multiple choice questions about the text.
Lesson Plan
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A Guide Through the Culture of the Blues

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the history of blues music and discover how it relates to the music of today. As a class, they listen to the drum songs of Africa and compare it to the use of drums in pop music today. Using the internet, they research...
Lesson Plan
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Songs that Bring Us Together - Lesson 5

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Young scholars compose song as a classroom effort. They write a one-paragraph essay about "message" songs in 100 years and include three ideas for topics along with the style of music (such as folk, rock, blues, rap, etc.) that would match.
Interactive
Curated OER

ESL Song Activity

For Students 4th - 7th
In this ESL song instructional activity, students listen to a recording of "One & One" by Robert Miles, then fill in blanks to complete the lyrics.
Lesson Plan
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VH1 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll Lesson 3

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students examine female artists who perform in the genres of rhythm & blues, jazz, soul, and hip-hop/rap. They compose lyrics and melody in one of these genres.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Yellow Submarine

For Students 4th - 5th
In this music activity, learners answer 10 questions about the cartoon Yellow Submarine. Students also answer 10 additional questions about the Beatles and the instruments played in the song.
Lesson Plan
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Folk Music

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explore Folk Music in Iowa. For this folk music lesson, students discuss different types of folk music and how it relates to life in Iowa. They take the tune of a song and write their own lyrics to describe their life. 
Lesson Plan
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Improvising in the Birthplace of Jazz

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students recognize significant developments in New Orleans jazz music. They improvise blues licks using notes from a minor pentatonic scale.
Lesson Plan
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Red, White, and Blue Notes

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore the history of major American music genres. Then, through mock radio shows, students examine the distinguishing features of each genre and how each has changed throughout the years.
Worksheet
Special needs in Music

Music Work Sheet (Special Ed)

For Students K - 12th
Music is beneficial for all learners. Help your learners with special needs learn about different styles of music, as well as the ways that music is represented on paper, with 30 different worksheets. 
Lesson Plan
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Tradition through storytelling and music

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students discover how storytelling can shape a person's tradition.Students examine different methods of storytelling such as music, biographies, and African folktales. They then demonstrate their knowledge of storytelling by writing...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Language Arts, Social Studies, African Americans, The Blues, To Kill A Mockingbird

For Teachers Pre-K - 6th
African American history during the Jim Crow era includes encounters with poverty, racism, disrespect, and protest. Harper Lee develops all four of these themes in her famous 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. To help students understand...
Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Homeschooling Chronicles: Summertime Blues

For Teachers 1st - 6th
Homeschoolers may feel the onset of the summer time blues, but there are great ways to make learning fun.
Lesson Plan
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Lesson: Looking Closer: The Artwork of Wangechi Mutu

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Social issues of gender and media stereotypes, begins with a multi-sensory experience. Learners view the painting Backlash Blues and make critical comments based on what they see. They then read the Langston Hughes poem and listen to the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Kindergarten Music Lesson

For Teachers K
Singing, clapping, moving up and down with the melody, it all sounds like a great music lesson. Kinder-musicians sing three different songs to practice memory, speaking, and movement skills. They'll move to the melody, build memory with...