Curated OER
Change the Beat
Brainstorm the reasons why a healthy heart is important. Using a diagram, label and locate the heart and discuss its function. Practice finding your heartbeat and describe the effects of physical activity on the heart. Also perform an...
Curated OER
Be Sharp and Never Flat
An outstanding instructional activity on music awaits your young composers! They learn about patterns found in music, the different sections of an orchestra, and see the differences between musicians and a composer. Excellent streamed...
Curated OER
Telling Stories Through Dance
Examine the movement of characters in the story, Caps for Sale. Using the text, pupils invent gestures and movements for some of the actions and major events. They practice retelling a story by using the movements they developed. They...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
I Need a Superhero
Once the class learns about the hero's journey, they'll find it in every story and movie they see! Take characters from their humble beginnings to their atonement and apotheosis with a set of lessons about the hero's journey...
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: Performing Arts
The classical arts have made a lasting impact on our society and your advanced learners get to find out why. The activity starts as the children create a list of the arts found in society, they discuss how these art forms impact their...
Curated OER
Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders: Disorders Extending Beyond the "Norm"
Learners develop an understanding of autism by engaging in an inquiry-based discussion. Pupils are exposed to the vast array of defining characteristics of autism spectrum disorders. They create posters about the developmental...
Curated OER
Painter of the Caves
What a great instructional activity! Learners read a story called Painters of the Caves by Patricia Lauber which discusses Stone Age wall paintings in Avignon, France. There is a series of discussion questions, comprehension questions,...
Curated OER
"Mambo" from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein
Students encounter and study "Mambo" from "West Side Story," by Leonard Bernstein. They practice utilizing musical elements (instrumentation, tempo, and dynamics) to create a certain mood for a scene with music. Each student interprets...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Machines
What do science and dance have in common? Simple machines, work, and force! First, children discuss machines, wheels, inclined planes, and wedges. They create inclined planes with their bodies and make up dances about wheels and wedges....
Perkins School for the Blind
Making Choices
Here is an excellent and well-developed lesson intended to promote choice-making skills for learners with visual impairment and intellectual disabilities. It fosters choice-making skills through a soft version of discrete trial training,...
Perkins School for the Blind
Accessible Labels
When you're blind it is extremely important to be able to navigate your environment in as independent a way as possible. This idea isn't a lesson, but it is a great way to foster independent mobility and literacy skills while making the...
Curated OER
Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf"
Fourth graders study Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf." They explore the characters and the instruments that represent the characters. They create their own version of "Peter and the Wolf" for the purpose of introducing the...
Curated OER
Dr. Seuss Comes to the Gym
Demonstrate different motor activities to honor Dr. Seuss's birthday. A literacy-based physical education lesson prompts young readers to perform group activities such as tumbling, jumping rope, throwing frisbees, and hopping....
Curated OER
Hear No Evil
Students explore the function of the ears. In this sense of hearing instructional activity, students read the book Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear and discuss the things the Polar Bear heard. Students construct simple musical...
Rainforest Alliance
Stop and Smell the Flowers
It's a bird! It's a bee! Actually, it's your learners flying from flower to flower smelling their scents! Using paper flowers and essential oils, pupils flutter between flowers to use their sense of smell to experience how animals use...
Curated OER
Rhythm - "Yankee Doodle Dandy"
First graders practice rhythm and beat. In this music lesson, 1st graders sing and clap to the song "Yankee Doodle Dandy". They find the rhythm of the music and practice making rhythm with other instruments.
Curated OER
Happy Mealtimes
Students read The Hungry Caterpillar to examine healthy eating habits. In this food and nutrition lesson plan, students role play the various responsibilities during family mealtime. They will discuss the struggles of healthy eating, and...
Curated OER
Chef for a Day
Students make chocolate chip cookies. In this cooking lesson, students follow a recipe by doing each step in sequence.
Curated OER
Musical Mysteries
Students examine the changes that occur to sound as the pressure changes. Echoes and sound changes in caves and tunnels are explored in this lesson.
Curated OER
Discover the History of Melody
Students connect to music resources. In this music lesson, students visit the websites of the Handel House Museum, the Horniman Museum, Reid Concert Hall, and the National Center for Early Music. Students...
Curated OER
Fun With Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Young scholars read the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and listen to the musical tape. Then they make their own coconut trees, adding their own letters. They express and record their favorite parts. All are displayed on a bulletin board.
Curated OER
Hold That Pose
Students discuss the painting The Radcliffe Family and discuss what it was like for them to hold poses for portraits. In this portrait lesson plan, students then pose stuffed animals and make their own portraits.
Curated OER
When a Country Loses Its Songs
Young scholars explore music as a cultural tradition. In this global studies lesson, students consider the implications of the loss of childhood songs to a cultural group. Young scholars determine the type of musical "treasures" that are...
Curated OER
Media Violence - The Good, the Bad and the Future
Third graders define, identify, measure, and assess the level and impact of violence in media. The media forms evaluated include music, sitcoms, news, and other programs that are identified and shared by the class.