Curated OER
Moving to Music
Students identify how they themselves use movement and dance and the many ways that people move and dance in various contexts. They observe and imitate folk movement and dance while decoding their skills and kinesthetic abilities. ...
Curated OER
Do As I Do
Lead your class in practicing gross motor body movements. Put on some background music and lead them through hops, skips, jumps, leaps, and running in place. Think of animal movements and have them move like an elephant or slither like a...
Curated OER
Scrambled Eggs Super!
Students study rhythm and rhyme. In this rhyming lesson, students read Scrambled Eggs Super! by Dr. Seuss. Students explore the rhythm of rhyming words found in the book. The students decorate eggs and place rhyming words inside to use...
Curated OER
Reinforcing Alphabet Names/Sounds
Getting comfortable with the sounds associated with each letter is crucial in a young learner's path to becoming literate. This lesson provides a terrific way to reinforce this skill in an engaging and fun manner. It's a game that the...
Curated OER
Using Rhythm to Teach Patterns and Directions
Introduce young learners to line dancing. Here are some simple movement patterns to teach them. First teach, repeat, and repeat again without music. Then when they have a pretty good grasp of the movement patterns, add music and practice...
Perkins School for the Blind
Taking Turns
For small children or learners with disabilities, learning to wait patiently and taking turns is very important. In pairs, two children with visual impairments take turns asking for, waiting for, and playing with a musical...
Curated OER
Mirror Exercise
Kids get up and act! To promote inventiveness, timing, and clowning, they pair up and act as though they are looking in a mirror. Child A does a move while child B attempts to mimic it as closely as possible. This is a fun activity that...
Curated OER
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....
Perkins School for the Blind
What Do I Hear?
Being able to give positive reinforcers to a child starts with knowing what the child likes. Intended for children with blindness, this lesson gives you a way to determine the types of music your learners like best. You are given a...
Curated OER
Movin', Groovin', and Gettin' Strong
Children can do almost anything to music, so get them up and moving, working out and strengthening some major muscle groups. Using exercise bands provides some resistance, which makes the muscles work a little harder. With this lesson...
Perkins School for the Blind
Learning to Express Myself
Expressing one's wants and needs is vital for learners of any age or ability level. Young children with visual impairments and intellectual disabilities practice asking for preferred items, foods, or activities in a structured manner....
Curated OER
Talk to Mom, Dad, Sister Worksheets
Help learners with special needs recognize the interests of their family members and build a foundation for conversation practice using worksheet activities and social prompts.
Curated OER
A Celebration of Africa
Students investigate early African civilizations. They create Kufi hats, musical instruments, pottery and African masks, sing songs, play African studenT games, and participate in a feast and tour of a museum where their artwork is...
Curated OER
Animals
Kids love songs! Listen to "La tortuga taruga" to interest the class. Then, read about animals. Finally, play a fun game! All learners gather in a circle, and music plays while pictures are passed around. When the music stops, each...
Curated OER
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,...
Curated OER
Publish a Book
Help your autistic learners to create a story and publish a book. They write simple stories, then turn their stories into books. A picture is drawn for each page of the book and the story is written below. Note: This is a good activity...
Curated OER
Fitness Dance
Get those youngsters moving! The activities put together to music are every day warm-up exercises. Jogging in place, jumping jacks, arm circles, and toe touches are a few of the movements presented to get children moving. Teach them the...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
The Golden Egg
Get ready for a musical story time! First your young musicians review musical dynamics as they listen to and discuss the pitch and sound of each instrument you play for them. Then they talk about special words (mostly verbs) in the book,...
Curated OER
PTO Meeting/Gym Show
A great idea to showcase the elementary school PE programs! A demonstration in front of the PTO and a way to get parents to come to the meeting because their child is performing. Highlight what your school is doing to promote healthy...
Curated OER
Beautiful Noise Poetry
"What a beautiful noise comin' up from the street; got a beautiful sound, it's got a beautiful beat..." Use Neil Diamond's "Beautiful Noise" to guide your class through a Six Trait writing activity, in which they write an original poem...
Curated OER
Maniac Magee Comprehension Questions
Supplement your Maniac Magee lesson plans with a packet of student materials. Included here is a variety of questions about the text. Pupils complete multiple choice and short-answer questions and choose from a variety of extension...
Curated OER
Dance Cards
Let little dancers choreograph a dance using steps they have learned in the unit. Write the names of the dance steps that have been taught on sets of index cards. Make sure that each set of cards you create has a mix of the dance steps....
Curated OER
The Hamsterdance
It's unbelievable that there really is a dance that goes with a song called "The Hamsterdance!" This is not a lesson plan per se, but rather steps to the dance. They include head bobs, slide steps, thigh slaps, and clapping. Short dances...
Curated OER
Those Fabulous Fables
A video leads off this activity on fables, introducing the class to this important form of traditional storytelling. The group defines fable and hears an explanation of the origin of this type of folk tale. They summarize the story they...