Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Halls are Alive with the Sound of Music

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students discuss physical places in which had good or bad acoustics. After reading an article, they discover the relationship between the physics of sound and concert hall acoustics. They calculate the speed of sound and compare their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Middle Passage

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders explore slavery conditions by viewing a video clip on the Internet. In this slave ship lesson, 5th graders discuss the transportation of black men and women from Africa to the United States in the 1700's and how poor the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Berlioz the Bear

For Teachers K - 1st
Young children read the story, Berlioz the Bear and complete various reading and writing activities. They learn about fiction and non-fiction, and complete graphing and writing activities for the story. Youngsters draw the bear and use...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sound and Hearing

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students discover how sound is produced by objects and picked up and heard by humans. Using musical instruments, they identify how the quality can affect the loudness, pitch and tone of the sound. They develop their own instrument or a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gregorian Chant

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students sing the Gregorian Chant which is church music that was chanted in the Middle Ages. In this chanting lesson plan, students participate in the chant and learn it's history.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Letter Aa Practice

For Students 1st - 2nd
In this printing and vowel practice activity, students trace the lowercase and uppercase letter Aa. Students then study the images and write the words with 'a' as the middle vowel. Students then write 'a' into the missing blank to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Three Little Pigs

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students analyze storytelling by reading a classic children's tale.  In this reading comprehension lesson, students read The Three Little Pigs, discuss their predictions and practice using the vocabulary from the story....
Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Animating Poetry: Reading Poems about the Natural World

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Students complete poetry analysis activities. In this poetry analysis instructional activity, students consider the use of imagery and sound devices in poetry. Students translate poetry into another art, read a diverse selection of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

There Ya Go, Bobby McFerrin, Creativity ans Jazz

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the percussion sounds used to create percussive sounds and identify the instruments that Bobby McFerrin imitates in his scat vocals. A scat version of the musical piece "So What" is improvised in this instructional...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Beethoven: The Sound and The Fury

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Pupils view a documentary on Beethoven. His immortal compositions have survived for generations and are as much a part of the modern world as they were almost two centuries ago. After viewing, students discuss Beethoven and compare him...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fats Waller, Handful of Keys

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Playing piano is great fun and playing jazz is even better. Kids watch a video of Fats Waller playing the song, "Handful of Keys," they then use either a piano key print out or Orff instruments to practice his signature stride piano...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Musical Mountain

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students listen to low, middle, and high pitches of music and identify if they are low, middle, or high. In this musical pitch lesson plan, students visually see low, middle, and high pitches on a mountain.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Describing Paintings: Calm or Stormy

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Young writers use nouns, verbs, and adjectives to describe details in two paintings. One depicts a sunny landscape, and the other shows a cloudier view. They write a narrative inspired by the paintings, paying attention to transitional...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Web Designs: A Story Comes Alive

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students work cooperatively to choose a theme, write a story, and produce a web site to display this story in this middle-level activity on the career of a web designer. This excellent activity ends with an organized, web site launch party.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

KEYBOARDS

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders become familiar with appearance and characteristic sound of piano, identify piano as part of percussion family, find middle C on the keyboard, observe scale, chord, and "broken" chord, and listen to a well-known classical...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Indian Ragas

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Learners explore Indian ragas and learn the differences between an Indian raga and the Western scale. They sing the familiar song "America," first in the Western major scale and then in two Indian ragas (bhairavi and purvi) on a neutral...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

And Then What Happened?

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students analyze paintings by using verbs, adjectives, and nouns. In this visual arts instructional activity, students view a painting of a storm and a calm sky. Students use various verbs and adjectives to discuss the characteristics of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Music Styles: Blues - Lesson 2

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students describe some of the distinguishing characteristics of blues music. They compare and analyze two versions of the same 12-bar blues song. They read and identify notation symbols for rhythm and tempo.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I Am A Musician- Musician as Listener

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students listen for sounds as they complete another activity. Hearing a triangle, they raise their hand once they hear it. They discover that to be part of an ensemble they must listen to themselves and others around them. They discuss...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Musical Concept

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders practice musical forms to be able to recognize similar and different sections to a song. They review that music has a beginning, middle and an end and discover this process through the "Viennese Musical Clock" that...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fifth Grade Music: Lesson 3 - Unison and Harmony

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders sing the syllables and pitches of the C major scale, and sing Do - Re - Mi in two-part harmony. They discuss the definition for round and canon, and contrast gamelan music of the Spice Islands with reggae from Jamaica.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

My Black Teddy

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students read "Bonnie the Black Bear"and discuss black bear facts. In teams, they research the internet about black bears. They create their own stories about black bears using three facts from the information they've researched.
Handout
Music Education

Learn About Instruments: Strings

For Students 3rd - 8th
Learn general information about various string instruments, including the viola and cello, and hear audio clips to hear what these instruments sound like when played.