Teaching Tolerance
Musical Movement Showcase
Young performing artists create a song or choreograph a dance to illustrate a theme in a text they are reading. Step-by-step directions are included.
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Great Gatsby's Jazz
As Nick wanders the grounds of Gatsby's mansion, he observes the behaviors of the rowdy guests and listens to the music pouring over the lawn. Bring the music of the jazz age into the classroom with Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues,"...
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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 analyze lyrics...
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Roger Robot
Read the story of Roger Robot included in the lesson and have kids move creatively by interpreting how a robot might move. Read a part of the story, then stop and let the class act it out. Read some more, and let them move some more....
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Singing: Mi, So, La
Little ones learn the tones mi, so, and la by singing an answer to a sung question. They play a name game to identify beat, then discuss songs with no beat. If there is time during this musical instruction lesson, they dance about the...
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Learning Refrain and Verse
Instruct your young musicians on the terms verse and refrain. They listen to two songs, and point out the verse and refrain as they occur. Students then play drums when they hear the verse and the refrain. Note: Song lyrics, sheet music,...
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Shape In Dance
Students engage in a lesson that is about the concept of shapes. They practice moves that are used to illustrate different types of shapes. Students participate in body movements that are focused around the directions of the body like...
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Winter Through the Arts
Students read the book The Snowy Day and discover various winter themes. In this winter lesson, students develop movements to express the feeling of a snowstorm. Students also construct winter-themed art pieces.
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Graffiti Project
Students inspect performing arts by participating in a class presentation. In this art collage lesson, students examine the graffiti art created on New York subways and discuss the life of Keith Haring. Students create their own images...
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Moving with Music
Second graders explore and experience the basic concepts of crescendo, decrescendo, andante and allegro by moving with the appropriate signal in accordance to the music being sung. They study the words to the songs "Old McDonald,"...
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Linear and Locomotor Movements
Students develop locomotor movements. In this dance movement lesson, students identify lines and develop creativity while performing to "Cha Cha Slide". Students discuss how to create dances and difficulty of movements.
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Music and Lyrics
Eighth graders analyze lyrics from songs from a variety of genres. In this musical analysis lesson, 8th graders write an essay about their life plans in which they discuss the lyrics of U2's song, "One." They tell how the writings of Dr....
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Pop Art Ice Cream Painting
Pupils develop skills in painting and create a painting of an ice cream cone using Pop Art as in inspiration.
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Rhythm and Art: Rhythm Collage
Students create a collage in response to musical rhythm. In this visual arts lesson plan, students will better understand the connection between visual arts and musical rhythm. Students will follow the teacher's model of letting the...
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Rhythmic Movement Skills
Students explore rhythmic movements. In this performing arts lesson, students create their own movements and then repeat the each others movement. Finally, students create movements to the Haiku generated by the entire class.
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The Art of Social Protest
Learners investigate how art and music define and unify a social movement. They decide how art and music can act as symbols of protest. They view both contemporary and historical examples of art as a tool for protest and design an art...
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Dali & Desnos: Surrealism in Poetry and Art
Students research the surrealism movement and its primary artists. Language is also analyzed, and students will create their own original poem utilizing surrealistic techniques.
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Music-Follow the Drinking Gourd
Fourth graders study the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd." In this dance lesson, 4th graders listen to the book by the same name, listen to the music, and in small groups create a short dance illustrating a stanza from the song.
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Historical Comparison of Anti-War Music
Young scholars explain that, how in this world of increasing awareness and interdependence, music can act as a magnet to draw people together. They research and compare anti-war songs from many different generations.
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Social and Cultural Issues in the Civil Rights Movement
Students watch videos, listen to speeches and analyze the information that is presented about the civil rights movement. They examine visual art of the period.
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AB Form Through Movement
Students listen to music by Ludwig Van Beethoven and figure out the form of the piece. They create binary forms for additional songs, and then practice the rhythms with eurythmic movement.
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Movement Adventure
Students discover movement and pantomime techniques in this adventurous story telling experience for kindergarten. Assessment is done through a short question and answer session and students drawing the "adventure".
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Rhythmic Pattern and Expressive Movement
Students use the song Row Row Row Your Boat to help them learn patterns and expressive movement. They recreate the movement over and over until it is a pattern and they feel comfortable doing it.
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The Language of the Civil Rights Movement:
Tenth graders study the poetry of the US Civil Rights movement and the Black Arts movement over a 12 day period. They author a website showing works of poetry that students have chosen to analyze and relate to these movements.