Curated OER
Figurative Language
What is figurative language, and why do we use it? Introduce your high schoolers to some examples and discuss the importance of including this element in your writing. After studying a text and searching for examples, writers will...
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Exploring Personal Responsibility
Third graders examine themselves to evaluate their own levels of personal and social responsibility. They read the lyrics to 'The Man in the Mirror' and compose journal entries about personal responsibility.
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James Taylor--
Here's a fun activity to help ELL learners identify verbs. The lyrics to "You've Got a Friend" by James Taylor are written out with several of the verbs missing. Learners listen to the song and fill in the missing verbs.
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Sing Me a Story!
Sixth graders explore lyrics, phrases, and the beats in each phrase. They select a nursery rhyme, set it to a simple tune they already know, and match the tune with the same number of beats per phrase with a poem with the identical...
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Sing the Blues
Students explore examples of this musical form, then write their own lyrics for a blues song.
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SATIRE AND POLITICS
Students, after analyzing a satiric song written during the Prohibition era, illustrate how humor can be utilized as a political tool by writing satiric lyrics on a current political issue at the front of the news world today. They...
Curated OER
The Cold War in Popular Music
Students analyze pop culture songs to identify cold war themes and chart. They comprehend and explain why the Cold War took place and ended and assess its significance as a 20th century event. Students conduct a song analysis of the...
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Understanding Past and Present Labor Injustice through Music
Students explore early 19th century labor conditions through the use of period songs. In this tolerance lesson, students listen to period songs and respond. Students write their own song that protests unfair and dangerous working...
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Disco - Voices of a New Generation
Students analyze lyrics of selected Disco songs for content, theme and vocabulary. They write an extended response citing specific lyrics in response to three general themes.
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The Star-Spangled Banner
Students explore the Star-Spangled Banner. In this civics instructional activity, students read the lyrics of the song as well as a handout that details its creation. Students respond to discussion questions from the handout.
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The Star Spangled Banner
Fourth graders investigate the importance of The Star Spangled Banner after listening to a teacher explanation of how Francis Scott Key wrote the song. They talk about the battle during the War of 1812 that led to the writing of the...
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National Anthems of the World
Students compare and contrast music and lyrics of national anthems from around the world. They listen to their national anthem and other countries' anthems and compare the music. Working in groups, they write an anthem for their class or...
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Rhythm and Rhyme
Youngsters listen to poetry and music to understand that words are made of sounds. In this rhythm and rhyme lesson, students create songbooks of healthy eating songs. They will also act out pantomimes and dance to the music....
British Counsil
Sport
From traditional sports like football and basketball to more unique or extreme sports like windsurfing, caving, or bungee jumping, your youngsters will surely get a thorough introduction to the world of sports with this lesson plan!
Curated OER
A Call for Change
"Come gather round people, wherever you roam..." Bring the voice of Bob Dylan to your class with this lesson plan, which takes Dylan's song "The Times They Are A-Changing" and analyzes both the message and voice in the lyrics. Your class...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
“Double Double Speak Speak”
Bilateral suborbital hematoma? Call an audible? 404? Have fun with “the twittering or warbling of birds,” or as 14th century French speakers would say, have fun with “jargon.” Groups match specialized jargon with plain speech, decode...
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...
Concordia College Archives
History and Musical Aesthetics
What are the musical elements that characterize a school's fight song or its alma mater? Class members listen to examples of fight songs and alma maters from various schools, play a listening game, and then create a list of the...
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M.C. Bard: Hip-Hop and Shakespeare
What is poetry? Does hip-hop qualify as poetry? Do Shakespeare's monologues qualify as poetry? Class members grapple with these questions as they examine the poetic elements and themes presented in different texts. Groups of four study...
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Learning Through Musical Theater
You don't have to be Richard Rodgers or Oscar Hammerstein to do produce a musical in your classroom.
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Focus on Form
Young musicians discuss musical form found in the song, The Star Spangled Banner. They review their parts for the song then practice playing it as a group. Cross-curricular activity suggestions are included.
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Broccoli
Students sing a song and figure out the rhythm notation for pharases while describing the benefits of broccoli. They compose a four-measure pattern using the rhythms of these phrases. They play the rhythm patterns with the recording.
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Say It Loud!: A Celebration Of Black Music In America
Students listen to and discuss the characteristics of Motown music. They recognize Motown music by its titles.
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Oh, Say Can You See...
Students explore the meaning behind "The Star-Spangled Banner." In this music lesson, students sing the first verse of the national anthem and watch several performances of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Students define several vocabulary...