A 12-piece primary source packet sets the tone for a study of the role women played in the origins, development, and impact of blues music. Legends like Bessie Smith, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Mamie Smith, and Ida Cox are featured, as are...

Get to know the meaning behind the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from the legendary 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Groups of two take the roles of performer and questioner. Performers sing lines of the song while questioners...

The third activity from the Amani Project has youths create a Mood Meter. The colorful meter, divided into red, yellow, blue, and green squares, lets participants indicate not only how they are feeling but also permits them to indicate...

Introduce your class to one of the most famous artists of the twentieth century. After reading a brief biography of Pablo Picasso, pupils create their own collages on the next page on the theme of music.

Students have a "Dad's Night". In this art lesson students bring an important male figure in their life to school for the evening. The pair plays musical chairs, makes a craft, and plays other games. The object is to provide special time...

It’s poetry T.I.M.E! Individuals use the T.I.M.E. format (T = Title, thought, and theme;  I = Imagery and figurative language; M = music and sound; E = emotion) to study a poet, collect poems that have a similar theme, and create a...

Students make simple muscial instruments. In this music lesson, students use buttons in small containers, bells on string, wax paper over a comb, or pan and spoon and then use these instruments to perform in a marching band.

In this activity, students will reflect on what strategies they have used-and with what degree of success-when confronted with frustration or difficulty in an assignment, project, or activity.

Learners follow five steps to compose an alliteration poem. They choose one consonant and brainstorm as many nouns, verbs, and adjectives they can think of to create rhyming sentences that come together in a poetic fashion. 

The good thing about building this rover is you get to eat it afterwards. Pairs determine rover parts they want to include in their design based upon their cost and usefulness. The teams design their rovers, build them from edible...

Using their knowledge of right triangles, pupils find out how far a ship is from a light house. Class members determine how far around the world a ship would be sailing at a constant speed.

Design and build a rover ... then eat it? This activity has groups of two design and build Mars rovers. The teams determine what instruments they want to include with their rover and plan a budget. They calculate the cost of the body of...

What makes human interaction different from interaction with computers? Learners consider the question as they build Turing tests to determine whether a computer thinks like a human. They begin by looking at current versions of Turing...

[Free Registration/Login Required] This PDF is the Program Notes from The New York Philharmonic's production of "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin. It provides information about Gershwin and his writing of the "jazz concerto." It is...

[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the winter blues and how to lift your spirits. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.