Curated OER
Orchestra: Focus on Rhythm and Arranging
High school orchestra is a great place to play music, like The Star Spangled Banner. Upper graders create new rhythms to the old song and perform them with the class. They rehearse their updated versions of the song using their...
Curated OER
Great Balls of Fire - I Got Locomotor Skills
Teach and review elementary locomotor skills. Use "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis to get youngsters up and grooving to the beat! The dance steps are described in rich detail and you will have the class jumping, skipping,...
Curated OER
Audio Aesop: Listen to the Lesson!
Aesop's Fables are the focus of this language arts lesson plan. Young philosophers study and discuss the morals found in the most famous of Aesop's Fables. They write an original fable that teaches a common moral. A "Fable Listening...
Curated OER
Poetry In Song
Investigate poetry and song lyrics with your class. They will identify poetic elements in their favorite modern music. Then they will play their song choice aloud for their classmates.
Curated OER
Dancing the Colors of Birds
Students explore colors through storytelling and dance. In this visual arts lesson, students view the painting "Bird and Cornstalk Rug" and identify three colors. Students express how the colors make them feel through the rhythm of...
Curated OER
Is Perception Reality? Writing Paradoxes in Poetry
Explore the paradox of the universe - or, at least, of popular music - with this lesson. Using the songs "Inaudible Melodies" by Jack Johnson and "She" by Green Day, your class will complete a graphic organizer to help them understand...
Curated OER
Bud, Not Buddy: Guided Imagery Exercise
Develop readers’ awareness of the visual power of language with a guided imagery exercise. Set the stage and create the mood with dim lights, soft music and potpourri. Then read the provided section of Bud, Not Buddy. Next, invite...
Curated OER
The Harlem Renaissance
Did you know that the Harlem Renaissance was also known as the New Negro Movement? This presentation is fully of interesting facts and pictures to help your class understand the literary movement and how these changes also affected music...
Curated OER
Rhythm Jam
Groups create, memorize, and perform for the class a 4 beats per measure rhythm pattern using percussion instruments including xylophones, rhythm sticks, and drums. The pattern is recorded on the worksheet provided in the resource.
English Grammar
Gerund or Infinitive – Fill in the Correct Form
Middle schoolers love listening to music, and they also love to listen to music. So what's the difference? Spell out the nuanced ways to use gerunds and infinitives with a 50-question grammar exercise. Given short sentences and verbs,...
Portland Public Schools
Teaching Tone to Teenagers
Tone is a tough topic to teach to teenagers. But never, fear, help is here in the form of a unit plan that takes advantage of their interest in music to set the stage for a series of activities that lead them to understand how setting,...
University of Virginia
The Songs in Uncle Tom's Cabin
Experience Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin in an innovative, musical way. A list of audio links leads class members to spirituals from the novel, such as "Die in the Field," "The Wings in the Morning," and "Blow Ye the...
Curated OER
A Season for Chapters
Art, music, poetry, and the beauty of the seasons is what you'll find in this very nice unit idea. You can use any of the suggested books and activities to engage your second graders in an exploration of the changes that take place...
Curated OER
The Play's the Thing
Young scholars describe to a partner theater experiences they have had in their lives that were memorable, and analyze why. They study about one director's original artistic choices for staging Shakespeare by reading and discussing...
Curated OER
Appalachia
Students investigate the benefits of dance and participate in dances. For this dance lesson, students investigate a number of dances such as square dancing and clogging that are native to Appalachia. They use math concepts to determine...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Poems vs. Lyrics
Combine your pupils' love of music with their growing knowledge of poetry! First, have them bring in their favorite songs for a discussion on word choice and literary devices. Then, use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Rhyme or No Rhyme
Scholars listen to a rhyming song, clap when they hear a rhyme, and shake their heads when they don't. They then draw a pair of objects that rhyme.
Fairfax Public Schools
Walter Dean Myers
If you are reading works by Walter Dean Myers in your class, this resource might be worth a look. Included here are activities and discussion questions for Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, Somewhere in the Darkness, Scorpions, Fallen...
Curated OER
Food Rhythms
Kids note the rhythm of 12 words and then list each word in the appropriate box on a learning exercise.
Nosapo
Getting to Know Each Other
How do you do? Guide learners through the basics of conversational English with an extensive set of discussion questions. Class members ask partners more about themselves, including their favorite hobbies, music, and time of day, as well...
Curated OER
Silk Dragons - Activity 1
Students investigate and discuss Japanese art and culture through an online video and a KWL chart. This lesson is an introduction to Japanese art with two supplemental lessons provided for further activities.
Curated OER
History of Ponce de Leon in Florida
Based in sound Educational Theory, this lesson uses art to convey the story of Ponce de Leon. Mild to moderately disabled students hear the story of the Fountain of Youth, examine a paining of Ponce de Leon, and act out a scene as Ponce...
Curated OER
Learning to Resist: Watercolor
Consider wax resist drawings as a way to bridge art and science. Learners view, discuss, and practice drawing insects or animals using waxy crayons. They pay attention to the creature's features as they create images with watercolor and...
Curated OER
Picturing America: Images and Words of Hope from Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes
A carefully crafted three-day instructional activity integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The...