Calling all performers! Scholars present a modern-day theme of adversity by performing their narratives for the class. As individuals watch their peers, they take notes on each performance using an Audience Note Sheet.

Here is an exciting way to get small groups teaching each other about different fuels that are used for transportation; have them write a song about a fuel type and sing it for the class! Each group must write a three-line, informative...

Music aficionados classify pop music into by musical genres or styles. They evaluate the positive and negatives of collaborative performances, view segments of VH1's "Save the Music" concert, and discuss the difficulties of...

Turn your classroom into a music studio as groups work together to determine why music sounds different when performed live versus a recording. After listening to some different music, each group picks a poem, creates a recording, and...

B.B. King and Muddy Waters are two of the most famous blues performers of all time. In this music instructional activity, middle schoolers study the early careers and lasting musical contributions of both artists, each of whom carried...

Lights, Camera, Action! Pupils read Little Women and create, act, and direct a melodrama that Jo March and her sisters would enjoy. The lesson plan comes complete with resources for the educator on melodrama as well as examples...

Students explore movement in dance routines. They observe movements and transform everyday gestures into choregraphy. Through activities, students develop improvisational skills. They evaluate and critique work.

The school band or orchestra analyzes their own performance after exploring musical terminology. They listen to a classical piece and describe it using only words. They look up musical terminology and then use those words to compare and...

Gustav Holst's The Planets provide young musicians an opportunity to examine how composers can create a suite: a collection of smaller pieces grouped to explore a single topic. After listening to "Jupiter," they examine "Mars" in...

Students draw portraits of a dancer. In this visual-arts lesson, students study the work of James Wyeth online. They then watch a dance performance and sketch 10 - 15 pieces depicting dancers. Five of these sketches will be selected for...

The Learning Network section of the New York Times produces high-quality teaching materials. This issue gets middle or high schoolers reading an article about how people use art to express their response to high-stress events. They work...

Fifth graders complete a unit of lessons on the definition of dance. They view videos of various dances, compare/contrast the dances viewed, categorize a list of words about dance on a handout, write journal responses, and perform dance...

Integrating technology and music can be a snap with lessons like this one! Kids in a junior high band class took to the Internet to download and practice playing their instrument with a computer generated back up band. They practice...

To appreciate the value of seeing and hearing a poetry performance, groups prepare readings of selected poems and then compare and critique their interpretations and videotaped versions of the same poem. Included in the resource are...

Class members take center stage as groups perform scenes from Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope. Actors are encouraged to add stage directions to the script, as well as create costumes and props to...

Students investigate writing scenarios that can be performed. They examine the parts and levels of scenarios that can actually be performed.

Students in groups create, produce and perform as many poems as there are members of the group. They choose between recording them, reciting them orally with music or interpreting them with dance or acting. Each group attempts to add in...

Here's a fun lesson which will pique your pupils' imaginations. A brainstorm session about things that kids are good at takes place. A large cardboard box is made to look like a TV set, and each child gets to perform a special skill...

Students examine the beginnings of jazz in New Orleans. They relate the music to the history and culture of the region. They also perform the music for their classmates.

Examine two works of art and use these pieces as inspiration for dialogues. The whole class discusses Renoir's Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise and Toulouse-Lautrec's At the Moulin Rouge. Then, in groups of either three or ten, pupils...

What makes a poem difficult? Explore that topic and more with your class as you work through the lesson detailed here. Using materials from Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation contest, individuals or small groups examine poems and...

Sometimes, it's fun to follow the rules. Using their drafts of an evidence-based essay from previous lessons, scholars write their final informative essays about rules to live by. Next, they choose and share quotes from their essays that...

In a lesson designed to prepare scholars for taking tests, they begin with a review of how to plan and review notes. They Identify ways to prepare for upcoming tests and strategies for studying and memorizing information. Class...

Help young scientists get to the bottom of the water cycle with this comprehensive earth science lesson. After first viewing and discussing presentations about the states of water and the water cycle, the class performs a...