The Kennedy Center
Fairy Tale Variations
Here are two great lessons that work together and are inspired by the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods. Young writers and actors will retell the story of "The Frog Prince"Â through games, improvisational script writing, and song....
Curated OER
Jazz: Expression through Improvisation
Students watch a video on improvisation. They improvise original melodies over given chord progressions. They develop criteria to evaluate the merits of improvisational performances and apply the criteria in their personal listening and...
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This Land is Your Land - Travel Posters
Eleventh graders compile a list of places in the United States where they have either traveled or where their relatives or friends live. They collect travel posters, brochures, postcards, and maps from their region of the United States.
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The Swiss Family Robinson Teacher's Notes
Guide young readers through the classic novel The Swiss Family Robinson with this collection of activities and worksheets. From basic spelling and grammar practice, to reading comprehension skills, this resource will enhance children's...
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Theatre: Exploratory Techniques
Using various exploratory techniques, young actors work as an ensemble company to devise, perform and evaluate a piece of theatre for assessment. This outline provides an objective and a list of games and activities that stimulate skills...
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Theatre Lesson Plan
Second graders complete pantomime and improvisational theatre activities. For this theatre lesson, 2nd graders play a 'sound ball' game and recreate sounds as they toss the ball. Students discuss projection for an actor and practice the...
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Tickling the Brain
Students improvise scenes which relate to the plot of Much Ado About Nothing.
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Drama in the Refuge
Students write and perform dramatic presentations about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. They select formats from puppets, plays, improvisational skits, or screened silhouette.
Skyscraper Museum
Building a Skyscraper
Creating buildings that reach hundreds of feet into the sky is no easy task. The third instructional activity in this series begins with four activities that engage young architects in exploring the major challenges that are faced when...
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Using Visual Art to Create Scenes
High schoolers review scene structure and the elements beginning, middle and end. They view a piece of art to stimulate an idea for a improvised scene. Students work in small groups, create and then perform their scenes for the rest of...
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"All About Me"
Students perform creative movement to music, sing and improvise using the Solfege syllables do, me, so, and la, and recognize beat vs. no beat in this lesson for the Kindergarten General Music class. Emphasis is on a song called "All...
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All About Me - 2
Students recognize beat vs. no beat, sing and improvise on do, me, so, and la, and perform creative movement to music in this Kindergarten Music activity. Emphasis is placed upon the Wiggy Wiggy Wiggles CD and creative movement exercises.
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Theatre: Persuasive Explorers
Students act like a famous explorer. In this explorer lesson, students research an explorer and act out persuasive arguments in which that explorer might be involved.
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Street People
Students research homelessness including how people end up living on the streets and other related issues such as government response and charity. Using their research, students engage in improvisation, role-plays and monologues on the...
SoundTree
When The Saints Go Marching In: A Lesson for Middle School Keyboard Lab Students
After listening to a variety of interpretations of "When the Saints Go Marching In," partners compose and then perform their own renditions of this classic before joining a full-class jam session.
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Make a Book Into a Movie
Turn your high schoolers into casting directors with this lesson, which focuses on turning a class novel into a movie. Choosing the cast for a movie based on a class reading, as well as designing a poster for the movie, helps young...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Abundant Area
Explore the relationship between perimeter and area. Learners input the area and perimeter for shapes on the Shape Explorer website, solve problems using geoboards, complete a worksheet, create a PowerPoint presentation, and take an...
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Louis Armstrong Hot Five
Students investigate the history and development of jazz by studying the Louis Armstrong Hot Five. They listen to music and define how Armstrong strengthened the concept of the solo as a part of jazz. They complete guided listening lessons.
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Creating Plays from Children's Stories
Students explain how individual elements (e.g., plot, theme, character, conflict, etc.) comprise the structure of a play. They write an original one-act play with developed characters, specific setting, conflict, and resolution.
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Romare Bearden's The Dove - A Meeting of Vision and Sound
Students explore African american culture of the late 1950's and 60's through various primary sources including literature, music, art and others. They then prepare and conduct a mock interview and present with the class.
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DO YOU REMEMBER?
High schoolers explore where a melody and melody fragments enter different voice parts, and adjusts dynamically to enable the listener to perceive these events. Each student uses a rubric to make critical evaluations of the performances.
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Greek Theatre Styles
Seventh graders are introduced to the different styles of Greek theatres. As a class they discuss the level of sophistication in different areas and the purpose of the theater. To end the instructional activity, they practice the...
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Cave Formation Age Estimation
Young scholars investigate growth rates of flowstone formations. They view a virtual field trip and discuss how flowstones form. They observe the cave fieldtrip and predict the growth rate for a cave formation. They graph growth rates...
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Clay Tiles: Family Mosaics
Second graders design and create a clay tile to represent their families. They research and discuss similarities and differences among families of different cultures, create a tile to represent their own and then compile the tiles in a...