Jazz Academy
Let Freedom Swing
Three lessons in the Let Freedom Swing concert tour resource guide packed with information, materials, and activities that provide the context for any study of American history.
Library of Congress
Marco Paul's Travels on the Erie Canal: An Educational Voyage
Following the book, Marco Paul's Travels on the Erie Canal, readers complete an activity for each chapter, take part in discussions, and respond to several questions. To show what they know, scholars create an alphabet book using primary...
Anti-Defamation League
10 Ideas for Teaching Black History Month
Celebrate Black History Month with the help of 10 ideas that delve deep into the history, major events, contributions, famous African Americans, and sheds light on how scholars today can take a proactive stance on current civil rights...
Curated OER
Going Up and Down
Second graders listen to and compare music to gain understanding of melodic direction in song, discuss types of movement in song, sing song while moving to it, and create movements that show pitches of melody moving upward, downward, or...
Curated OER
Allen Ginsberg: Poetry and Politics
Students explore the poetry of Allen Ginsberg. They read and analyze poems by Allen Ginsberg, conduct Internet research, collect examples of art of the 60s, and create a presentation.
Curated OER
Move to the Numbers
Students practice number recognition. In this math and music lesson plan, students work in teams to identify numbers through music and movement.
Curated OER
Patterns in Dance and Math
Students analyze how repeated body movements and shapes can represent and extend patterns. In this pattern analysis lesson, students discuss patterns in dance, math, and everyday living. Students demonstrate a dance using a sequence of...
Curated OER
Dance and Math
Second graders examine human body movements by measuring the choreography of a dance. In this physical education lesson, 2nd graders participate in a creative dance which is based on specific movements of each limb, which students...
Curated OER
Dance: Discovering the Culture of Gullah
It's wonderful to see a lesson that incorporates art, movement, and writing. These three forms of creative expression are explored as learners dance to music from the Gullah people of West Africa. They analyze several paintings, listen...
Curated OER
Great Gatsby's Jazz
As Nick wanders the grounds of Gatsby's mansion, he observes the behaviors of the rowdy guests and listens to the music pouring over the lawn. Bring the music of the jazz age into the classroom with Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues,"...
National Woman's History Museum
Songs of Protest: Seneca Falls to Vietnam
Long before the songs of the 1960's Peace Movement, long before the songs of the Civil Rights Movement, and even before the songs of the Abolition Movement, were the songs of the Suffrage Movement. To understand the power of protest...
Curated OER
Roger Robot
Read the story of Roger Robot included in the instructional activity and have kids move creatively by interpreting how a robot might move. Read a part of the story, then stop and let the class act it out. Read some more, and let them...
Curated OER
Israel
The class creates and performs a movement performance of the creation story found in the Jewish tradition. This lesson begins with the research of Israeli culture and culminates in a performance of the narrated creation story....
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Moving to the Poems of Angel Island
A poem carved on Angel Island's walls is the guiding text of a instructional activity that challenges scholars to put movement into a written piece of art. After warm up-activities, learners play a game of "Pass the Clap" and "Pass the...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Music of African American History
High schoolers examine role spirituals have played in African American history and religion, examine Harriet Tubman's use of spirituals in her work, explore power of spirituals in Civil Rights Movement, and work with oral tradition,...
PBS
Hidden Messages in Spirituals
Slaves laboring in the cotton fields of the old South singing joyously may have convinced overseers that their workforce was happy and content, but in truth, these spirituals contained secret codes. After viewing a short video about...
Louisiana Department of Education
Gulliver’s Travels
Gulliver's Travels tells the story of a man who goes on voyages and encounters strange people. A unit plan introduces readers to the classic text, as well as excerpts from other examples of sarcasm and satire, such as "A Modest...
Curated OER
Rhythmic Pattern and Movement
Young scholars practice repeating rhythmic patterns in unison. Next, students work in groups to practice an alternate rhythmic pattern to Row, Row, Row Your Boat. They create their own rhythmic patterns for the song.
Curated OER
Do As I Do
Lead your class in practicing gross motor body movements. Put on some background music and lead them through hops, skips, jumps, leaps, and running in place. Think of animal movements and have them move like an elephant or slither like a...
Curated OER
The Ants Go Marching
Integrate art, math, life science, music, and fun in this beginning addition and subtraction activity. Children kinesthetically represent adding and subtracting numbers to 10; they stand up one at a time as you count forward and sit down...
Curated OER
Animal Movement
Students participate in a movement to music activity. In this awareness of movement lesson, students hear music and move like animals they hear described in the music. Students make disciplined movements and make sounds...
Curated OER
The Harlem Renaissance Movement and its Music
Harlem Renaissance lesson plans can bring the music, poetry, and literature of this time period alive.
VH1
Lessons for Hight School Music Classes: Lesson 2
Art and music have been vehicles for statements of civil unrest for hundreds of years. Upper graders critically analyze several pop songs or music movements from the 1980s that exemplify politically charged motives. They...
Curated OER
Mirror Exercise
Kids get up and act! To promote inventiveness, timing, and clowning, they pair up and act as though they are looking in a mirror. Child A does a move while child B attempts to mimic it as closely as possible. This is a fun activity that...