K-12 RESOURCES

Africans and African Americans in Early New Orleans

Grade Level: Secondary

Students will analyze documents regarding Africans and African Americans in early colonial New Orleans.

https://www.hnoc.org/programs/education

Bomba, designed by Sandra Sanchez, University of Miami

Grade Level: Primary

This lesson focuses on the African influences found in Puerto Rico’s musical culture by studying bomba music.

https://folkways-media.si.edu/docs/lesson_plans/FLP10112_Bomba.pdf

Congo Square

Music Rising, Tulane University and the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South

https://musicrising.tulane.edu/learn/topics/congo-square/

Congo Square, Collective Improvisation, Clave Rhyth

Grades: K-2, 3-5

Students will learn the history of Congo Square in New Orleans; gain an understanding of systems of slavery and the Code Noir; sing, dance, and demonstrate a clave rhythm, a tradition in Congo Square.

https://lessons.preshallfoundation.org/lesson/congo-square/

Caribbean Beats and Blends, designed by Patricia S. Campbell, University of Washington

Grade Level: Secondary

Students will learn about Caribbean peoples, languages, geographies, and values by singing and playing instruments to Caribbean music. There is a particular focus on Puerto Rico, Cuba, Haiti, and St. Lucia.

https://folkways.si.edu/caribbean-beats-blends/music/tools-for-teaching/smithsonian

Examining Colonial-Era Census Records Objectives

Grade Level: Secondary

Students will examine statistics from census records and respond to questions about the documentation of early inhabitants of the colony

https://www.hnoc.org/programs/education

Exploring Primary Sources: Music in New Orleans

Grade Level: Middle - Secondary

Students will identify and evaluate primary and secondary about the history of New Orleans music.

https://www.hnoc.org/sites/default/files/lesson_plans/LessonPlan_Music.pdf

First Meeting of the Indians and the Europeans

Grade Level: Middle

Louisiana Voices: An Educator’s Guide to Exploring Our Communities and Traditions. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Division of the Arts.

https://www.louisianavoices.org/Unit5/edu_unit5_lesson5.html

Having Our Say: The Music of the Mardi Gras Indians, designed by: Erica Watson, University of Memphis.

Grade Level: Secondary

This lesson introduces students to the culture and music of Mardi Gras Indians by examining the tradition and its culture-bearers, listening to and analyzing Mardi Gras Indian music, and examining the cultural influences that contributed to the tradition.

https://folkways.si.edu/having-our-say-mardi-gras-indians/folk/music/tools-for-teaching/smithsonian

Jazz and Marching Bands

Grade Level: Secondary

Students will learn about the early days of jazz in New Orleans and compare early New Orleans marching bands to contemporary marching bands.

https://education.ket.org/resources/jazz-marching-bands-lesson-plan/

Mapping Early Colonial New Orleans

Grade Level: Secondary

Students will analyze maps from the French period to determine the city’s growth and development.

https://www.hnoc.org/programs/education

Musical Gumbo: A Whole Lotta Creole, Cajun and Zydeco Goin’ On, designed by Elaina Malcolm

Grade Level: Primary

This unit of study is intended to develop student knowledge of the Creole influence on the music of various countries in the Americas: French Guiana, Surname, and the United States. Students will enjoy experiences in listening, singing and playing on instruments, and they will learn to study how different groups of people have influenced one another.

https://folkways.si.edu/gumbo-whole-lotta-creole-cajun-zydeco-goin-on/music/tools-for-teaching/smithsonian

Music of Cuba & the Caribbean, designed by Roberta L. Stafford, Pennsbury School District

Grade Level: Primary

Students will learn and perform the songs “Guantanamera,” and “Caribbean Carnival” with improvisation.

https://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/docs/lesson_plans/FLP10008_caribbean_beats.pdf

National Museum of American History

The New Orleans Beginning 1901 – 1922

https://amhistory.si.edu/jazz/education/Act1.pdf

New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park

https://www.nps.gov/jazz/learn/education/classrooms/curriculummaterials.htm

New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA)

African Art at NOMA Educator’s Resource

https://noma.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/African_Art_at_NOMA-1426092243.pdf

Preservation Hall Lessons, Preservation Hall Foundation, New Orleans

Grade Levels: All

https://lessons.preshallfoundation.org/

New Orleans: The Birthplace of Jazz

Grade Level: Middle

https://lessons.preshallfoundation.org/lesson/new-orleans-the-birthplace-of-jazz/

New Orleans Genres and Origins

Grade Level: Middle

https://lessons.preshallfoundation.org/lesson/new-orleans-genres-and-origin/

Spirits Across the Ocean: Yoruban and Dahomean Cultures in the Caribbean Brought by the Slave Trade, designed by: Joseph Galvin, Indiana University, Bloomington

Grade Level: Secondary

Students will explore the forced migration of the trans-Atlantic slave trade from the Yoruban and Dahomean cultures to the Caribbean and learn the similarities of the music found in the countries Haiti, Cuba, Trinidad, and Brazil.

https://folkways.si.edu/spirits-across-the-ocean-yoruban-and-dahomean-cultures-in-the-caribbean-brought-by-the-slave-trade/tools-for-teaching/smithsonian

The Birth of an Icon: Learning and Performing the Origins of the Drum Set and Early Jazz Drumming in New Orleans, Louisiana, designed by Matthew R. Berger

Grade Level: Adaptable

The drum set, now an international cultural icon, owes much of its popularity to the development of jazz in New Orleans. This lesson provides an introduction to drum set history and teaches students to perform preliminary New Orleans brass band and early jazz drumming rhythms.

https://folkways.si.edu/the-birth-of-an-icon-learning-and-performing-the-origins-of-the-drum-set-and-early-jazz-drumming-in-new-orleans-louisiana/music/tools-for-teaching/smithsonian

The Fifteenth Amendment & Congo Square, by Amy Cohen

Grade Level: Secondary

Students will examine the painting The Fifteenth Amendment, set on the edges of Philadelphia’s upscale Washington Square. They will be introduced to the surprising history of this park, including its use as a potter’s field, a mass grave, and a gathering place for African Americans –similar in many ways to Congo Square in New Orleans. After reading poetry inspired by Washington Square’s past, students will create their own works of art in a medium of their choice.

https://librarycompany.org/geniusoffreedom/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Lesson-8-15th- Amendment-Congo-Square-COMPLETE.pdf

The Rhythms of Congo Square: The Second Line Beat, designed by Freddi Williams Evans and Ashley Shabankareh

Grade Level: Middle -Secondary

Using a PowerPoint presentation along audio and video clips, students will identify, clap and discuss primary rhythms in New Orleans indigenous music.

Trail of Tears: Music of the American Indian Diaspora, designed by: Jennifer Carnevale

Grade Level: Primary

This lesson examines several musical selections from the Five Nations heritage (Choctaw and Cherokee in particular) during and following the Trail of Tears of 1831 and 1838.

https://folkways.si.edu/trail-tears-american-indian-diaspora/indigenous-ballad-lament- dance/music/tools-for-teaching/smithsonian

West African Song and Chants: Children’s Music from Ghana, by Karen Howard, University of Washington

Grade Level: Primary

Using children’s music from Ghana, West Africa, students will gain experience with basic polyrhythmic ensembles. Singing, chanting, dancing and playing instruments are included throughout the unit.

https://folkways.si.edu/west-african-song-chants-childrens-ghana/music/tools-for- teaching/smithsonian