MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Magical Musical Tour: Using Lyrics to Teach Literary Elements
Language arts learners don't need a lecture about poetry; they listen to poetry every day on the radio! Apply skills from literary analysis to famous songs and beautiful lyrics with a lesson about literary devices. As class...
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Character Traits in Fables
Combining art, music, dance, and reading comprehension, this lesson is geared to reach all ability levels. After reading a variety of fables and discussing story elements and character traits, class members select a moral to use as the...
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Creating a Landscape Through Art, Music, Dance, and Poetry
A brightly-colored David Hockney landscape painting inspires poetry, dance, music, and paper sculpture in this multi-faceted activity. After brainstorming words inspired by the painting, the whole class collaborates on a cinquain poem,...
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Australian Aboriginal Art and Storytelling
Young explorers investigate Australian Aboriginal culture by listening to traditional Dreamtime stories and examining dot paintings created by Aboriginal artists. In addition, they locate the country on maps, discuss the geography of...
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Applying Music to Literature
Kids explore music, history, culture, and literature in a multi-faceted lesson plan. They discuss how both historical and cultural contexts shape music, art, and literature, and then apply these concepts as they engage in a listening...
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Teaching About Tolerance Through Music
Explore the importance of tolerance with a music-themed lesson plan. Learners listen to the music of Peter, Paul, and Mary, and discern the underlying messages before discussing the painful effects of ridicule, disrespect, and bullying.
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Introduce Vocabulary: Rap a Tap Tap (Dillon)
Explore the dancing prodigy and Depression-era African-American icon Bill Robinson as scholars learn new vocabulary words in context. As you read Leo Dillon's Rap a Tap Tap they listen for six new words: clatter, greet, passion, pause,...
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Lesson: A Garden Party of My Own
Kids look at a beautiful work of art to practice grammar, make connections from life to art, and sketching. They identify all the parts of grammar they see in the image, discuss what they see and do on a picnic, and then draw an imaged...
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Composing Music
Students explore music appreciation by reading sheet music. In this musical score analysis lesson plan, students utilize their individual instruments to play the song "Peter and the Wolf." Students listen to an online version of the song...
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Composing Music
Students explore music appreciation by creating their own music pieces in class. In this music composition lesson plan, students collaborate in small groups with their instruments and compose a short song which they will play for class....
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Audio Aesop: Listen to the Lesson!
Aesop's Fables are the focus of this language arts lesson. 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 Library"...
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Musical Mystery Words
Students study the letter names for the treble clef and create words using the letters that represent the lines and spaces on the staff.
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I Spy Poetry
Explore the components of rhythm and form through a reading of Jean Marzollo's I Spy books. After discussing Marzollo’s format, the class agrees upon a theme for a class book and topics that fit with that theme. Pupils write a poem,...
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Musical Sounds
Students investigate music appreciation by completing worksheets. In this musical arts lesson plan, students complete worksheets in which they identify different musical instruments, the sounds they make and the family of instruments...
ESL Holiday Lessons
Kwanzaa
Teach English language learners about the week-long holiday of Kwanzaa that is celebrated around the world during December. It includes holiday-themed reading comprehension passages, phrase matching, fill-in-the-blanks, and journaling...
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What Does Art Sound Like?
Help your charges investigate visual art by identifying sounds that are associated with the images. They view art galleries online and discuss which sounds would be present if the image was a real life situation. Additionally, they...
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Playing Music
In this music vocabulary worksheet, students use a word bank of 6 words (sing, clap, play, tap, listen, dance) to fill in 6 sentences.
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Butterflies Fly!
Chopin was a lovely composer who played the piano masterfully. Third graders are introduced to Chopin, his piano sounds, triple meter, music patterns, movement, and the waltz. They listen to his music while hearing the story Butterflies...
National Park Service
The Poet's Toolbox
If you need a lesson for your poetry unit, use two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ("Rain in Summer" and "The Slave in the Dismal Swamp") and a resource on Elements of Poetry. The lesson plan guides you through activities on...
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Third Grade Language
In this language arts worksheet, 3rd graders answer multiple choice questions about types of sentences, subjects, compound words, predicates, and more. Students complete 25 questions.
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Holiday Poetry and Music
Students discuss Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and family traditions. After brainstorming how holidays are celebrated, students write a poem about a chosen holiday and create their own hand-made instrument. They share their poems...
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Boombox Classroom: Music and Language
In this music and speech worksheet, students find similarities between language and music. Students also tell about their own language. Students also may write the 7 music letters.
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Music To My Ears: The District of Columbia Quarter
Students practice identifying different genres of music by creating posters. In this music appreciation lesson, students research Duke Ellington and complete worksheets based on his style of music, Jazz. Students collaborate in small...
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The Magic Opera
Introduce your young learners to opera by dressing up as Mozart and recounting some of the fascinating details of his life and music. After exploring the Metropolitan Opera's site for kids, the class listens to a reading of Kyra...