Students identify gifts found in folktales. For this folktale lesson, students read the Hindi folktale "The Drum" and discuss the value of gifts such as time, talent, treasure, etc. Students also create drum beats.

Students use the nursery rhyme "Pease Porridge Hot" to explore rhythm, beats and rests in music.

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...

Students develop a sense of pulse by listening to music with strong beats. In this music beats lesson, students listen to marching band music examples. Students then practice showing the beat while listening to the song.

Students describe the sounds, moods and styles of two different types of music. After reading an article, they discover how a journalist uses language to describe and give feelings to the music. They review a type of music of interest...

Students respond to the Indian folktale, The Drum. In this philanthropy lesson, students reflect upon the folktale and demonstrate ways one person can make a difference in the world. Students construct a Powerpoint presentation as a...

Learners explore the American dream. In this contemporary music lesson, students analyze the lyrics of songs by Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, and David Massengill. Learners create 3-D representations of the American dream and write...

In this music worksheet, students draw quarter notes and half notes. The instructional activity is dependent on classroom access to a musical instructional activity from Boombox classroom, found at the Sweet Bird Classics home page.

In this reading an interview transcript worksheet, students read the transcript from an interview with Daniel Levitin who was a psychologist interested in the effects of music on the human brain. Students then answer 10 true and false...

Students explore the rhythm of words. In this reading skills lesson, students read Bedtime at the Swamp and use rhythm instruments to find the cadence in the words of the story. Students listen for rhythm in other written text as they...

Have you every known someone that marches to the beat of a different drum? That is exactly what Pippi from Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking does! Scholars complete a worksheet packet as they read about Pippi's outrageous...

Students discover African musical rhythms by performing Ancestral Spirit Dances.  In this musical lesson, students research Willis "Bing" Davis and the abstract work he created.  Students listen to Yoruba drum music and...

Drill and practice phonemes, letter formations, written language, vowel correspondences, as well as consonant correspondences with youngsters. They will locate and identify the /b/ in written and spoken words from flash cards containing...

Students combine elements of music with poetry.  In this creative writing lesson, students examine poems from a variety of authors with varying writing styles.  Students explore the different elements of poetry, including tone,...

Students complete a craft activity using recyclable containers and read a story to a younger child. In this service lesson, students read the story 'The Drum' and do a service project retelling the story and making a drum from recyclable...

Students determine if Lincoln and Whitman ever met and write a dialogue between the two men. For this Whitman and Lincoln lesson, students read Whitman's poem "Beat! Beat! Drums!" and connect it to the events of Lincoln's presidency....

Students experience practicing sorting words and pictures to build letter and sound recognition. They identify /b/ in spoken words and learn how to write the graphemic representation of /b/. Each student also practices with the tongue...

A fun worksheet from Jolly Phonics is a great way to teach kids about the alphabet and blended sounds. The worksheet prompts kids to move and make sounds according to the letters, such as puffing out candles for the letter P, or...

Students read a book and engage in three different activities. In this activity about repetitive story patterns, students read a story, The Flea's Sneeze, and examine how the story has a rhythmic pattern of rhyming verse that sounds like...

Fourth graders read, "Beat the Story Drum," and compare and contrast two of the characters using a Venn Diagram.

Students develop a deeper understanding of the connection between improvisation and inspiration. They choose a partner and take out their original poems. With their partners, have them say the poem with a steady beat.

What makes a great poem sound so good? Learn the rhythmic secrets of poetry with an explanatory online lesson.

Break out the slide whistles, triangles, and tambourines. It's time for a punctuation lesson. This richly detailed plan is loaded with ideas and activities for using rhythm instruments to accent the punctuation in folk tales. A...