Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Listen to and learn about traditional music from cultures around the world and through the ages. Browse this amazing collection of downloadable tunes to find musical enrichment to enhance a unit of study. Full downloads in MP3 or FLAC format are available for purchase but each offering is accompanied by a free audio sample. Note: this site opens rather slowly.Be patient, especially if you are on a dial-up connection.

tag(s): songs (46)

Classics for Kids is an engaging website designed to introduce students to classical music through interactive lessons, composer biographies, and fun activities. Teachers can access ready-to-use lesson plans, games, and a podcast series that explores composers and musical concepts in an accessible way. The site also features listening guides and printable resources to enhance music appreciation in the classroom. Whether integrating music into history, language arts, or general education, Classics for Kids provides valuable tools to make classical music enjoyable and educational for students of all ages.

tag(s): composers (14)

This multimedia site introduces students to Mozart, Beethoven, Joplin, Tchaikovsky, and more. Visitors can listen to portions of the composers' most famous works while practicing ordinal numbers and common word endings (-ed, -ing). Includes interactive exercises and virtual jukeboxes that provide additional musical selections.

tag(s): numbers (120)

Practice note recognition with this interactive activity. Click the on-screen buttons or use the keyboard to identify notes as they appear on the staff. Teachers can visit the "Settings" page to customize the activity. Headphones highly recommended.

tag(s): musical notation (34)

This interactive game provides practice in note recognition. Choose from four levels - beginner to virtuoso - and match each random note as it is displayed with the corresponding virtual piano key.

tag(s): music theory (46), musical notation (34)

This searchable collection of tunes, melodies, and musical themes provides a great resource for teaching counting and rhythm. Enter a keyword or phrase (or use the melodic contour search if you're up to the challenge), browse to find the desired tune, then click to listen to and view the melody.

tag(s): rhythm (21)

These creative and rather offbeat hands-on activities use common paper plates and a lot of ingenuity to illustrate principles of science, math, geography, music, and more! From plate tectonics (no pun intended), to multiplication practice and physical fitness, this site provides an amazing collection of ideas. Instructions are provided for most.

tag(s): resources (83)

The Children's Television Network has created a delightful set of learning activities that strengthen skills in letter recognition, decoding, listening, problem-solving, and more. Led by the familiar cast of characters from Sesame Street, your youngest students will love to explore Elmo's World, the Game Room, and participate in interactive stories. The links include games, stories, art, music, mail, and Elmo's World. At the Games link you will find science activities about the weather, counting challenges, classification activities, musical fun, and numerous other educational activities. This site truly has something for all primary elementary classroom.

tag(s): classification (22), counting (60), listening (93), numbers (120), preK (270), sound (72), sounds (43)

If you're looking for a resource that will engage reluctant readers or help new readers with unfamiliar vocabulary words, you may want to incorporate these fun and interactive stories into your classroom. Students can read through the interactive texts independently, click on troublesome words, and listen to their pronunciations. Select from movies, videos, and games that illustrate special sounds, pronunciations, and spelling rules.

tag(s): sound (72), sounds (43), vocabulary (238)

The month of March is filled with special events to commemorate. Use the many teaching resources on this site to develop activities for Women's History Month, National Nutrition Month, Youth Art Month, Music in Our Schools Month, and the Iditarod. Lesson plans, online projects, hands-on activities, and book reviews are provided. Created by Education World.

tag(s): iditarod (4), nutrition (140), women (151)

Here's an on-screen music theory resource with explanations, descriptions, and on-screen quizzes that range from the simple to quite challenging. This one works better as a review and practice tool than as a self-study, but there's surprising depth to the presentations on all aspects of music theory. Well worth a visit for iPad and iPhone users.

tag(s): music theory (46), musical notation (34)

Musician Woody Guthrie drew, wrote, sang, journaled, and painted. He was a man who used notebooks and the written word to record his musings on life. This site has a lesson in which students create make their own journals in the manner of Woody's notebook treasures.

tag(s): writers workshop (31)

Music teachers who need to make percussion loops for electronic or computer-based music will find this free online "sound machine" an interesting approach. Novices will likely find the interface confusing, but those who know what they want can quickly create percussion loops using a variety of instrument sounds.

tag(s): sound (72)

Support music education at home and school with the many free resources shared in the Kids Edition of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra's website. Visit the educators' portion of the website to find digital teaching activities and music playlists featuring music from around the world. Each playlist includes an engaging downloadable activity packet loaded with fascinating information about the featured topic's countries, musicians, and musical instruments. Explore and learn about the orchestra instruments in the lesson, including downloads that teach about instrument families and an orchestra seating chart. Additional downloads include a crossword puzzle, word search, and drawing activity. Be sure to explore the complete educators' portion of the site to find many lessons correlated to science, social studies, and language arts concepts.

tag(s): countries (73), musical instruments (52), rhythm (21), worksheets (69)

Designed to both inspire and teach, the Smithsonian's Jazz site offers several online instructional modules that do a nice job of introducing the history and structural elements of jazz. Students can learn about particular composers and performers, and how their work built on the experiences of other jazz musicians.

tag(s): africa (148), african american (115), harlem (9), jazz (16)

Music draws powerful connections. This is a wonderful, wholly unlikely collection containing dozens of lesson plans that use music and popular songs as touchstones for exploring other events and disciplines. Created by teachers at workshops hosted by Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the topics range from the Reformation to literary themes, and much more. Many of these lessons require real research and serious thought. Teachers in all disciplines can find something here.

tag(s): lyrics (15), songs (46)

Arts education is frequently one of the first casualties of tight budgets. This national site for music educators offers standards for music education as well as links to music education resources. Advocates for the importance of the arts in education will find help here.
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tag(s): music theory (46)

Introduce your students to the blues as a means of understanding Afro-American culture, emphasizing improvisation. Students learn by playing and singing the music, and finish by writing and singing their own piece of the blues.

tag(s): blues (22)

Introduce your students to the blues as a means of understanding Afro-American culture, emphasizing improvisation. Students learn by playing and singing the music, and finish by writing and singing their own piece of the blues.

tag(s): blues (22)

Use activities that center around poetry, art, and music related to migration, slavery in the U.S., and African-American culture to help students learn about the blues aesthetic.

tag(s): blues (22), migration (45), poetry (193), slavery (79)