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Cross- Curricular Activities
English Language Arts
Write a poem or story using as much onomatopoeias as possible.
Write a song to the tune of “This Old Man”
Assign each student one word from each column of the vocabulary words. Write a sentence using those four words.
Research and report on the life of a Jazz musician.
Math
Make a timeline with the birthdates of the Jazz musicians in the book.
Based on the years given in the back of the book, figure out which Jazz musician was the oldest, the youngest, etc.
Make a number book.
Listen to Jazz music. Count the beats in a song.
Science
Investigate how different instruments produce sound.
Make musical instruments with recycled materials.
Discuss how sound travels.
Make a rubber band instrument.
Social Studies
On a map, identify where each Jazz musician was born.
Research the role Jazz music played in the civil rights movement.
What roll does music play in the U.S. Government?
Make a historical flow of genres of music that led into jazz (field songs, spirituals, etc). What music today is influenced by jazz? (rap).
Foreign Language
Look up the cross linguistic onomatopoeias and compare how different countries say onomatopoeias.
Jazz music is influenced from the sounds of Africa. Discuss with your students what languages are spoken on the continent of Africa? How many?
Jazz drummer Chano Pozo was from Cuba. Discuss what language he spoke (Spanish) and the Cuban culture.