Grade: Elementary 4-6
Student Edition:
The Water Walker: Indigenous Wisdom and Water Contamination
In what ways do Indigenous views of water align with scientific views, and how do Indigenous activists use artistic expression to advocate for water protection?
lesson:
The Water Walker: Indigenous Wisdom and Water Contamination
In what ways do indigenous views of water align with scientific views, and how do indigenous activists use artistic expression to advocate for water protection?
lesson:
What is a Mӧbius Strip?
What is a Mӧbius strip, how do you create one, and what can it represent?
lesson:
Mountaintop Removal Mining in Appalachia
What is mountaintop removal, how does it affect the environment and people’s health?
lesson:
Steve Aoki and Growth Mindset
How can our brains be shaped by our mindset, and how has a growth mindset helped Steve Aoki become one of the most successful DJs and record producers in the world?
lesson:
Post-production: Editing and Finalizing Your Life Songs Interview
How do you use editing to create a final media product?
lesson:
Production: Conducting Your Life Songs Interview
How do you conduct and record an interview?
lesson:
Pre-production: Preparing for Your Life Songs Interview
How do you prepare for a successful and insightful interview?
lesson:
Music Tells Our Story
What role might music play in a person’s life, identity, and community?
lesson:
Creating a Personal Logo
How can a logo help communicate a person or group’s unique personality?
lesson:
Joropo: Music Inspired by Nature from the High Plains of Venezuela
What is Joropo, and how is it inspired by nature?
lesson:
ChocQuibTown: Embracing Cultural Identity through Colombian Rap
How can the music of ChocQuibTown, from the Pacific Coast of Colombia, help students express and celebrate their cultural identity through Rap?
lesson:
Quitiplás: Deep Listening and Rhythm Building with Afro-Venezuelan Bamboo Drums From Barlovento
What is Quitiplás, how does it incorporate the natural world, and how is it an example of polyrhythm?
lesson:
Ciranda: The Brazilian Music and Dance that Creates Community
What is Ciranda, and how can group singing and dancing help us feel like a part of a community?
lesson:
Colombian Cumbia: African, Indigenous, and Spanish Roots of Rhythm
What is Cumbia, and how do you play its traditional rhythms?
lesson:
Dolores Huerta and The United Farm Workers Movement
Who is Dolores Huerta, what role did she play in the United Farm Workers movement, and how is she recognized today?
lesson:
Math With The Grateful Dead
How can math be used to better understand the Grateful Dead’s success?
lesson:
The Musical Roots of the Surf Sound (Elementary Version)
How does the “Surf Sound” in Rock and Roll reflect early surf culture, and what are the roots of this genre of music?
lesson:
The Teamwork Behind the Beatles (Elementary Version)
How did the input of manager Brian Epstein and record producer George Martin help The Beatles develop and refine skills that aided the band in presenting their music and personalities to a mass audience?
lesson:
Singer-Songwriters and the Environmental Movement (Elementary Version)
How did the singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 70s address the concerns of the environmental movement?
lesson:
Ritchie Valens (Elementary School Version)
How did Ritchie Valens meld traditional Mexican music and Rock and Roll?
lesson:
Feeling the Vibrations
How did the Grateful Dead make their concerts more accessible to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) community?
lesson:
The Science and Civics of the Flint Water Crisis (Elementary/Middle School School Version)
What is the Flint water crisis, and why did it occur?
lesson:
Exploring Shapes in Pablo Picasso’s “Guitar, Sheet Music, and Glass”
What shapes did Pablo Picasso use to create his piece Guitar, Sheet Music, and Glass and how can similar shapes be used to create other instruments?
lesson:
The Guitar: A Musical Transducer
How can the guitar help us understand the scientific principle of transduction?
lesson:
Cleaning up the Plastic Beach (Elementary School Version)
What is plastic, how is it harmful for the environment, and how can it be used more responsibly?
lesson:
Celebrating Community with Art and Poetry (Elementary School Version)
What different types of communities exist, and how do the people in our communities impact us?
lesson:
Making Music Videos with a Homemade Projector
How can one reproduce the effects seen in the music video for Zedd, Maren Morris, and Grey’s song “The Middle” using a homemade projector?
lesson:
100 Years of Dance
Why might people dance, and how have dance trends changed in America since the 1920s?
lesson:
Learning Rhythm through Gospel
How can Gospel music help students identify the musical concepts of beat, meter, backbeat, subdivision, and syncopation?
lesson:
The Leadership Skills of a Music Producer
How do successful music producers practice positive leadership skills?
lesson:
Muddy Waters, the New Kid in Town
How did Muddy Waters’ music change after he moved to Chicago, and what does that say about the relationship between place and self-expression?
lesson:
Fame and Judgement in “Funny”
How might Tori Kelly’s song “Funny” speak to the potential pitfalls of “superstardom,” and how does it relate to past songs written about the subject?
lesson:
The Latin Rhythms of “Despacito”
What Latin American genres inspired Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s hit song “Despacito”?
lesson:
Designing a Band Logo
What is a logo, what are the elements of effective logo design, and how have musicians and bands used logos to brand themselves?
lesson:
“See You Again”: How We Mourn with Music
How does music help us remember people we are close to, or those we have lost?
lesson:
Heroes and Mortals in “Something Just Like This”
Who are the gods and superheroes referenced in “Something Just Like This,” and what are the connections between them?
lesson:
“Here”: Managing Peer Pressure and Anxiety
In what ways does Alessia Cara’s “Here” defy popular music conventions, and what does the song say about peer pressure in youth culture?
lesson:
Sound Waves, Analog Synthesis and Popular Culture
How did synthesizers allow musicians to create new sounds and how did those sounds reflect American culture throughout the 20th century?
lesson:
The Beatles and American Segregation
How did the Beatles take a stand against segregation while touring America? And what did it mean for popular music culture?
lesson:
Thematic Lesson: Love Songs
Why is the Pop song such a common medium for expressing feelings about love, and how do individual songs relate to their historical moments?
lesson:
How to Study Rock and Roll
How can teachers help students analyze and understand Rock and Roll?