Students will use the San Francisco Symphony's Kids website to choose music that supports the events and people associated with the history of Oklahoma, such as Native Americans explorers and exploration; Civil War; Trail of Tears; Land Run; and farmers, and ranchers. Students will write two or three sentences to explain and support their selection of music. In small groups, students will create a statue or tableau depicting one of the events. Students will perform a tableau for the class with their musical selection as a background.

Students will assign an orchestral instrument to an African animal, using characteristics which
they have in common. The students will write a cinquain poem and create a poster (collage) with their
African animal as the theme.

Students will generate descriptive language of several animals (with special focus on verbs), culminating in the writing of a poem about the animal of their choice. Use Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals as a stimulus prompt.

This lesson develops students' ability to hear subtle dynamic levels in orchestral music, and to recognize
sudden and gradual differences. They will use their collective perception to make relative aural judgments
about levels and changes. Data will be recorded on a bar graph marking real time and 6 dynamic levels
roughly equivalent to 6 primary markings of standard dynamics: pp to ff.

Students discover how music can create a visual image in one"™s mind as they listen to Beethoven"™s Sixth Symphony "“ Pastoral. As the image takes shape, the students create a visual representation of their image to include the aspects of nature which Beethoven included in this wonderful composition.

Students write a descriptive essay explaining their thoughts and feelings while listening to Beethoven"™s 5th Symphony, learning how to describe the musical elements that cause them to feel this way, and transpose these feelings into a watercolor art piece. The students will present their essay and art work orally, and act out their responses during a physical education exercise.

Students will complete two language arts activities for this lesson. In the first activity, students use folk
songs from the era of the California Gold Rush, which are introduced in the early chapters of By the Great
Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleishman, to identify folk song motifs in the classical music of Antonín Dvořák. This
will be explored by the students' creation of a labeled line drawing of one of Dvořák 's compositions. In the second activity, students will write a letter to Dvořák from the point of view of Master Jack, a character in Fleishman"™s novel, inviting Dvořák to continue his American tour into the gold fields of California for
musical inspiration.

Students will explore the lives of various jazz musicians. They will become familiar with the social and historical events that were present during the lives of these individuals. They will listen to the music of the artists and become knowledgeable about their styles. This activity will culminate in the production of a news/talk show created and performed by the students highlighting the lives of these musical figures.

Students are introduced to Johann Sebastian Bach"™s music through short deep listening exercises and
optional integrated language arts activity.

This lesson introduces basic communication skills by asking the following questions: "What does communication mean? What do good communicators do? Selections from Fanfare for the Common Man Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland and Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns will help us define musical terms and discover the answers to our questions.

Students will create a visual representation of what they think about, or feel from the music of Copland and Stravinsky. After reading books from the series Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers, students will use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the two composers, their music, and the time period in which they lived.

Students will reinforce skills of comparing and contrasting pieces of music and writing, practice musical vocabulary while listening to, learning about and analyzing the movements of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3.

Use songs and social dances from the Mexico/USA border to introduce students to South Texan people, language, location, and values. Also discuss issues such as immigration and experiences of living in the borderlands

Why do two composers from the same period of history compose different music? Students will gain an understanding of how culture and history influences music as they analyze and compare the music of Aaron Copland and Duke Ellington, and learn how these composers used special sounds to enhance their music.

DSOKids is the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s magical doorway to a world of musical fun and learning for students, parents and teachers. The site’s mission is to provide attractive, accessible and child-friendly resources that introduce symphonic music, the orchestra and its instruments, and to encourage both adults and young people to explore the world of the symphony orchestra.

After gaining familiarity with the lives and music of Aaron Copland and Duke Ellington, students are asked to write a letter to these composers, expressing an understanding of how the history and culture of one"™s life can be reflected in a composer"™s music. Students also create a bio-poem to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the composer"™s thoughts and feelings about his life and music.

Students will learn to focus and listen to music and begin to recognize the musical elements of dynamics and tempo. Students will learn to discuss the emotions that music can portray and evoke with a writing activity to allow students to brainstorm ideas of what they hear.

Students will discuss emotion words. They will look up synonyms for emotion words. They will then listen
to the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and discuss the emotions they hear. Discussion about
instrument families and dynamics will take place to help students decide why the song gives certain
emotions. After several times listening to the music students will create a graph of the emotions they hear in
the music.

Students can use music to read each other"™s minds! As students learn to differentiate tempo and dynamics to interpret the mood of the music, they will express it through physical movement that allows their classmates to guess what is on their mind.

This lesson was designed for a third grade unit on immigration and heritage. It can be adapted for other grades with an emphasis on culture in social studies. Students are encouraged to seek out information about specific traditions, culture and music from their heritage. The teacher will pick two pieces that have contrasting images. The students will listen to contrasting pieces of music and identify which one seems to connect with the student's family heritage.