Curated OER
Play Me a Story - Sorcerer's Apprentice
Students explore the story taht accompanies the musical composition, The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Using the 5W-how questions, they explain what is happening in the story as they listen to the musical.
Curated OER
Chinese Calligraphy
Students explore Chinese culture and Chinese calligraphy. In this Chinese calligraphy lesson, students create paintings using Chinese techniques. Students describe the differences in Chinese art and other culture's art. Students listen...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan for Danse by Claude Debussy
Students study the life and music of Claude Debussy. They listen to and compare the orchestration and compositional technique of the Debussy composition, 'Danse.' They compare a piano arrangement to an orchestrated version.
Curated OER
A Journey Through The Seasons
Second graders demonstrate creative movement, singing in canon or rounds, and playing instruments while taking "a musical journey through the seasons" in this second grade General Music lesson. Songs and discussion questions are...
Curated OER
Singing In Canon
Third graders analyze and discuss the four seasons and how each can be represented in song form. This lesson is intended for the third grade Music classroom but could be adapted for any elementary grade. State and National Standards...
Curated OER
A Little Kandinsky For All
Learners create abstract compositions based on the later works of Wassily Kandinsky using the primary colors in this early elementary Art lesson. The lesson emphasizes the use of color, lines, and shapes to create the abstract works of...
Curated OER
Classroom Singing
Students sing a song performing rhythms accurately with a steady beat, pitches accurately with excellent intonation, and a clear, focused tone in this music instructional activity for the high school Choir class. The instructional...
Curated OER
In My Dream
Students listen to various selections of music and discuss the use of form in musical compositions. They choreograph and perform movements to correspond with identified forms.
Curated OER
What I Did On My Summer Vacation
Students improvise then compose and notate melodies with appropriate accompaniments that are inspired by events that transpired during their summer vacations. Requires a networked keyboard lab.
Curated OER
Singing The Blues with Garage Band
Young scholars demonstrate writing lyrics for a twelve-bar blues pattern by writing two verses of a blues song and then recording themselves singing over a stock blues pattern using Apple's Garage Band. Requires a networked keyboard lab.
Curated OER
Learning through The Duke
Students study Duke Ellington's contributions to the field of jazz. They write poetry using language that was popular in the 1920's. They listen to a piece of Duke Ellington jazz and respond with at painting.
Curated OER
Jazz Forms and Improvisation
Young scholars listen to an original recording of Louis Armstrong and discuss instrumentation. They identify an AABA song form as they listen. They list similarities between the following: traditional meets modern and small group vs. big...
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Black and Blue: Jazz in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
Students analyze the impact of jazz on the novel, "Invisible Man," by Ralph Ellison. They read and discuss excerpts of the novel, write an essay on the influence of jazz on Ralph Ellison as a writer, and view video excerpts on jazz...
Curated OER
A Round and A Round
Young scholars practice singing rounds in daily warm-ups for 2 weeks prior to beginning this composition lesson. Students incorporate movement to the rhythm of each syllable, discuss syllables of words and their relationship to note...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan for "Oriental Festmarch" from Aladdin
Students investigate the song of the "Oriental Festmarch" while listening to the march. They conduct research about the genre of the march in music. They answer some key questions in order to create the context for the lesson.
Curated OER
Underground Lives
Pupils analyze two Robert Harris prints for clues regarding subject's social, family, and belief systems, evaluate reasons and methods for preserving ancient stories, create visual representations of past and future of Harris' subject,...
San Francisco Symphony
Washington Portrait
Fifth and second graders pair up to create mini dance scenes based on the image Washington Crossing the Delaware. Second graders create the movements while their fifth grade partners play the musical accompaniment. Leadership skills,...
San Francisco Symphony
Quilt Making and Copland's Rodeo
Kids make quilts as they learn about pioneer life and the concept of tempo. The Aaron Copland piece, Rodeo is used to convey rhythm and tempo in music. As the children discuss tempo and rhythm, they also discuss what life was like for...
Curated OER
Vocabulary and Concept Development
Considering a lesson on Greek and Latin roots and affixes? The Latin roots bas and pos, and the Greek root bas are the focus on a colorful, animated presentation that will engage your learners and provide guided and independent practice...
Curated OER
Swing Your Partner!
This was written for ESOL learners, but could work for any elementary class. Learners read about the American dance style known as Square Dancing. They explore its use in literature, write a friendly letter about it, and then use their...
Museum of Tolerance
Cultural Research Activity
Class members explore cultural diversity through a variety of texts that showcase the importance of traditions. Then, they interview their family members to research their own cultural background and write their findings on quilt pieces....
Curated OER
H1 Classic Presents: Paul McCartney: Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, Lesson 2
Students are introduced to the various songwriting techniques of Paul McCartney. They explore and compare the basic melodic, harmonic, and lyrical tendencies of the different types of pop music.
Curated OER
Musical & Linguistic Lesson Plan
Tenth graders study songs and music of the US Civil War period. They use technology to compose a song that highlights an event or concept from the war.
Curated OER
200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Students define the term "exoticism" and identify musical elements used by 19th and 20th century composers and modern pop icons to convey exoticism.