Planning activities for Autism Awareness Month? Check out the ideas in a packet designed to raise awareness of autism. Suggestions include plans for an assembly to launch a school-wide focus, lesson plans for classroom activities,...

Would you believe marine animals can make their own light? An online resource describes the process of bioluminescence and how animals in the ocean use it to survive. The lesson features a catchy tune that describes the behavior of ocean...

“What do you mean that my language is improper?” Prior to My Fair Lady was Pygmalion. Fair Eliza’s struggles with English, which according to George Bernard Shaw “is not accessible even to Englishmen,” come alive in the 1938 film version...

Take a journey to India with a read aloud of The Drum: A Folktale from India by Rob Cleveland. Make connections to the story's theme by building and practicing drums, role playing story characters, and practicing skills in phonics, math,...

Planning on using Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol this year? Then give yourself a gift and download this colorful guide thats packed with goodies. Kids, as well as the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future are sure to...

Introduce young learners to the read-aloud process with a short biographical passage about Ray Charles. After listening to the passage, class members respond to factual, inferential, and evaluative questions, and then create a timeline...

Before there was Beyonce, before there was Madonna, before there was Cher, there was Ella. Introduce Ella Fitzgerald, The First Lady of Jazz, with a reading comprehension exercise that presents a brief biography of her life and then asks...

Students imitate rhythmic patterns created by the teacher or taken from the drum performance of "Oshossi." They study and perform some of the layered and interlocking rhythms of the drum ensembles of Brazil, Haiti, Cuba, Suriname, and...

High schoolers inspire communication skills thru the lyrics of a song. Students watch and correlate the production of a fantasy film with speaking and listening skills. High schoolers quote the themes from the video.

Students perform a dance step in physical education class. They move to the beat of the music, counting eight beats to a set of movements. Students walk forward four counts and do two jumping jacks. They walk backwards four counts and do...

First graders clap a rhythm pattern notated on a board, and then make up their own patterns on percussion instruments. They answer addition and subtraction problems.

Students listen to the poem, "De Cunjah Man" and discover how and why this language came into existence. They are introduced to the idea that songs are a way of expressing human feelings and name a song that makes them feel happy or sad.

When slavery took Africans from their land, they were separated from the rich musical and oral traditions native to each country and region. While working as slaves, Africans found they had two places where they could use these musical...

This lesson enables teachers to use blues music to explore the history of African Americans in the 20th century. By studying the content of blues songs, students can learn about the experiences and struggles of the working-class...

Third graders study the Native American tribes of Maidu and Miwok by studying Internet artifacts, culture, language, music, storytelling, architecture, food, clothing, crafts and geology.

Eighth graders use maps, lecture and research to explore the history and social context of the Cold War. They examine films, music and important figures of the era.

Students consider which aspects of world around them have roots in 1960s, research and compare 1960s to today with regards to Civil and Women's Rights, Vietnam, counterculture, music, voting, and economic rights, and explore legacy of...

Students explore the black keys on the piano and basic music theory techniques using the Internet as a guide. Websites visited include www.PianoNanny.com and musictheory.net.

Students discuss bullying. They listen to or read the story "Kids Join Gangs to Beat the Bullies." Students role-play bullying situations and discuss possible outcomes. Role play ideas and the link for the story are included with the...

Students participate in an activity in which they place placards listing geographic features, landmarks, etc. in the correct place on a large fabric map of a given country. They also examine artifacts, photos, sounds/music, etc. from...

Students read a news article about a boy in California who wants to encourage his peers to use good language. In this current events lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a short rap, discussion, and vocabulary activity, then...

Students explore the cities of Cairo, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Mecca and Tehran.  For this Middle East lesson plan, students complete a map, research one of the five the cities and prepare a presentation that includes details about the...

Students design a montage of digital images about a specific year. In this digital image research lesson, students choose a specific year in history that they would like to investigate. They search the Internet for images of things such...

Fourth graders analyze the song "Home on the Range" and identify its meaning and setting.  In this timeline and retelling lesson plan, 4th graders use dictionaries to find definitions of unfamiliar words, create a timeline and...