Lesson Plans
Lesson: Henry the Hungry Hound
Inspired by her children’s book Henry the Hungry Hound, Theresa Cocci shares a lesson plan designed to pair the message of kindness with the creation of an interactive musical experience.
Read MoreLesson: Coppernickel Goes Mondrian
Aimee Curtis Pfitzner shares a colorful lesson plan from her book, Painted Music, which uses children’s literature to explore connections between art and music.
Read MoreLesson: Straighten Up and Fly Right
Jennie Rozsa shares this fun movement activity designed to expose your young students to more jazz using a popular song by the Nat King Cole Trio.
Read MoreLesson Plan: Haru Ga Kita
Janice Boychuk shares a lesson from her childhood, Haru Ga Kita (Spring Has Come), which is a Japanese shôka (“school song” used to introduce Western music).
Read MoreLesson: Apples
Matthew Stensrud shows how you can use the theme of apples to guide children to experience, create, and compose a bushel of musical experiences for all of your K-5 general music classes.
Read MoreLesson: Rain of Leaves
Joan Eckroth-Riley and Wendy van Gent have prepared a fall lesson that beautifully combine the philosophies of Music Learning Theory and Orff-Inspired teaching.
Read MoreThe Long Game: Growing From Play
Christopher Giles and Michael Vasquez describe how they took one piece, Halloween Night, and used it to meet multiple objectives in the primary, intermediate, and advanced levels.
Read MoreLesson: Integration of the Schulwerk & STEAM
These lesson ideas from Tiffany Barry are examples of how to naturally integrate STEAM education into the music curriculum.
Read MoreRecorder Lesson: John Cena Theme Song
Recorder Lesson: John Cena Theme Song (Grades 4–5) *(this will likely take 2-3 class periods) I. Attention Grabber What is the message of the video? (hustle, loyalty, respect) Briefly discuss that while wrestling is not for everyone, there is definitely an artform to it and it takes hard work; there’s a lot to respect…
Read MoreLesson: What’s Your Name? Speech and Body Percussion Piece
What’s Your Name? Speech and Body Percussion Piece Every year, new students enter our classrooms from all walks of life. The one commonality with all of them is a NAME. As an elementary music teacher, learning all of our students’ names can be a daunting task and we sometimes forget that the children are in…
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