Curated OER
Blues Improvisation
Students practice playing and improvising while playing the 12 bar blues. They practice compositional skills, evaluate and perform musical pieces focused on the blues.
Curated OER
Que Llueva! It's Raining, It's Pouring!
Students learn to sing a song in another language. In this music lesson, students learn a song about rain in English and Spanish. Students listen to the song Que Llueva in Spanish and It's Raining, It's Pouring in English, sign it...
Curated OER
Folktale Improvisation
Sixth graders present reader's theatre by improvising folktales from different countries. In groups, they produce an improvisation of a folktale story from an assigned reading of a folktale.
Curated OER
Using Visual Art to Create Scenes
Students 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 the...
Curated OER
The Name Game
Young scholars are introduced to a song in which they practice echoing. During the song, they sing a song in which they give their name and their classmates say their name back to the original person. They practice singing to each other...
Curated OER
Coming to America
Learners present tableaus showing scenes from The Memory Coat, a book about immigration. In this tableau lesson, students examine the cover of the book and make predictions about what is happening and who the people are. They create...
General Motors Corporation
Jazz
Over the history of the world, music has been at the heart of some of the greatest social and political movements. Scholars discover their musical roots as they dive into the sounds and emotions of renowned jazz players. They see how...
Curated OER
Lights, Camera, Action...Crossing the Delaware in 9 Scenes
How does reading a drama differ from reading a novel? Middle schoolers become playwrights and explore these differences. After viewing the A&E movie,"The Crossing," groups create stage directions, write dialogue, and design sets and...
Curated OER
William Grant Still: "Afro-American Symphony"
Students learn basic improvisation of a four beat measure through a game using a four quarter note pattern. NOTE: The idea in this lesson is to teach the student to create something on the spot.
Curated OER
A Light in the Storm
Examine the genre of historical fiction while reading A Light in the Storm. They extract events in chronological order to make a timeline. Then, they use information in the book important to the characters to create a presentation of an...
John F. Kennedy Center
Folktale Theatre
Introduce your middle schoolers to a performance and movement activity that uses their favorite stories from fairytales and folklore. They practice basic acting skills, create dialogues with a partner, and then as guided practice,...
Ken Taylor
The Stones: Guilty or Not Guilty?
Young drama pupils will perform a number of expressive speaking exercises as they consider the themes of responsibility, consequences, and justice in the very modern Australian play The Stones. With a lot of role playing and...
Curated OER
Kindergarten Music Time
Little ones are led through a series of rhythmic songs and chants while they march, clap, and use their tummies as percussive instruments. They work on singing in pitch, chunking, and keeping a steady beat.
Curated OER
Theater: Create a Script
Figurative language is the focus in the book Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia. After reading Peggy Parish's book, class members dramatize idioms from the text, using dramatic strategies such as characterization, exaggeration, and improvisation....
San Francisco Symphony
Washington Portrait
Fifth and second graders pair up to create mini dance scenes based on the image Washington Crossing the Delaware. Second graders create the movements while their fifth grade partners play the musical accompaniment. Leadership skills,...
Curated OER
Critical Listening: Music Vocabulary
The school band or orchestra analyzes their own performance after exploring musical terminology. They listen to a classical piece and describe it using only words. They look up musical terminology and then use those words to compare and...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - The New Home
Matilda finally gets her happy ending with a new home with Miss Honey. But first, Mr. Wormwood goes on trial for his wrong doings and bad car sales. Class members take on the role of a character in the trial and participate in a role...
Curated OER
Aristotle's Six Elements Of A Play
Fifth graders view the play, The Ant and the Grasshopper. They define Aristotle's six elements of a play. At the end of the lesson, 5th graders be asked to participate in the play by acting like busy ants. This lesson would tie in nicely...
Curated OER
Multicultural Music: Israel
Do a grapevine to the left, lift your hands in the air, and sing out, "Hey!" These are the steps second graders will do when they sing and dance the Israeli folk song, "Achshav.” They will explore the concept of multicultural music and...
Curated OER
Changing Energy: Landforms and Dance
Third graders choreograph a dance to represent the changes in nature. In this dance and nature lesson plan, 3rd graders use sharp quick movements to demonstrate changes.
Curated OER
My Way
Students culminate a humanities project by improvising music to accompany a video of a particular era in US history.
Curated OER
Planting a Garden Through Dance
Students create a dance study based on the growth cycle of a flower. They improvise movements that relate to each stage of growth. They create artwork on the growth cycle of a flower. They perform their dances for the whole class.
Curated OER
Tempo Contrasts in partner Dances
Students explore the differences in tempo through movement. In groups, students create an original dance phrase and illustrate both fast and slow movement. They share their observations and evaluate each dance according to originality...
Curated OER
Yes But Dialogue Game (3+)
Students work cooperatively to explore and practice dialogue improvisation.