Yes!

Every concept plan contains a National Core Arts Standards table naming the anchor standards addressed under Create, Perform, Respond, and Connect. These National Core Arts Standards are the basis for many other state-level standards.

Sequential. This curriculum is constructed with a backward-design model. Each grade has a published Scope and Sequence that sets the year's concept order. Each concept plan moves through three phases in a sound-to-sight progression: Making Music, Communicating Music, then Making Music Consciously. Each one opens with the prior knowledge students need and a written teaching progression. Monthly plans place that sequence into dated weeks with numbered lessons.

Yes!

Each concept plan names a pre-assessment and a post-assessment. Formative assessment questions appear throughout, with written guidance on using them for qualitative notes or building quantitative rubrics, and on using the results to make decisions about future instruction and pacing. Summative evaluations are labeled directly in the activity sequence. Each monthly plan lesson carries an Assessment Questions block tied to that lesson's stated objectives, with a built-in notes table for recording results class by class.

I also offer an entire course on active embedded assessment practices. You can find it in the bonus section.

Written out. Every activity includes the full teaching process, as well as a transition into the next activity.

Importantly, this curriculum is constructed through backward design. Therefore, users are encouraged to back up and think about learning through concept plans first, before moving to individual lesson plans.

The teaching processes in The Planning Binder are conceptualized through the lens of Universal Design for Learning.

Lessons engage students through singing, speech, movement and dance, games, pitched and unpitched percussion, notation reading and writing, improvisation, arranging, and partner discussion. Plans include scaffolds, adaptations, and game variations, and tell teachers to repeat, extend, or omit activities based on students' pacing. Open Teacher Choice sections let teachers bring in their own repertoire and songs students suggest.

The collection includes songs and singing games from a range of cultures and languages, with translations, cultural background, and a cultural context guide. Sheet music, recordings, translations, and cultural notes are included in the Repertoire section.

Learning activities also utilize pop materials, specifically for upper grades.