Jazz Interpretation

This worksheet helps students in Grades 5 and 6 strengthen reading comprehension, cultural interpretation, inferencing, and historical analysis by examining two lyric excerpts from 1920s jazz songs that reflect public reactions to Prohibition. Students answer questions in complete sentences, analyzing how the lyrics convey attitudes, resistance, or social defiance and identifying evidence that shows how people responded to alcohol laws.

Learning Goals

• Cultural Interpretation of Historical Sources (Grades 5-6) – Students use music as a lens to understand public sentiment and social behavior.
• Textual Evidence & Interpretation – Learners identify specific lyrics to support analysis of attitudes and emotions.
• Understanding Public Reaction to Government Policies – The activity explores how citizens engaged with or resisted Prohibition.
• Critical Thinking Through Thematic Analysis – Students interpret themes and infer broader social implications from song lyrics.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Designed by educators to align with upper-elementary ELA and social studies standards.
• Music as Historical Source – Encourages students to consider arts as evidence of societal attitudes.
• Promotes Inferencing and Analysis – Students extract meaning from textual and cultural cues.
• Flexible Classroom Use – Works well for independent analysis, discussion, assessments, or enrichment activities.
• Low-Prep Printable – Ready for classroom or homeschool use with minimal preparation.

This Jazz Interpretation worksheet helps students explore public sentiment during Prohibition through the lens of 1920s music. By analyzing lyrics as cultural artifacts, learners strengthen critical thinking, evidence-based interpretation, and historical understanding while connecting the arts to societal responses and historical events.

This worksheet is part of our Prohibition Era Worksheets collection.