Curated OER
Artistic Interpretation of a Classic: The Author's Role
Reading the original Hans Christian Andersen tale of “The Little Mermaid” and viewing the Great Performances: The Little Mermaid from the San Francisco Ballet video offers class members an opportunity to consider how artistic decisions...
Incredible Art
Starry Night Interpretation
Young artists are encourage to develop greater imaginative freedom and post their impressions of Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night in a series of activities based around the famous painting. Class members watch a film biography of van...
Curated OER
Comparing Visual Interpretations and Actual Events: War & Battle
A Venn Diagram is used to compare artistic and historical representations of a single event. Young analysts view the provided images, read textbook descriptions, and discuss the validity of each representation in terms of bias and...
Practical Pages
Famous Artists Lapbook
Create mini books with some of the most beautiful and well-known masterpieces of our time. Learners read short paragraphs about famous artists such as Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, and Johannes Vermeer, and create different kinds of...
Curated OER
Interpreting Photographs: Part One
Photography is a wonderful artistic medium used to express feelings, historical events, and nature. This worksheet provides three critical-analysis questions that require learners to take an in-depth look a photograph both physically and...
Curated OER
From Quotation to Interpretation in Informational Texts
How to ignite thoughtful written responses with the words of philosophers, artists, and current events.
Teaching Tolerance
Artistic Expression Showcase
No one is too young to create a masterpiece. Elementary artists delve into the topic of social justice with original artwork. Scholars keep journals to reflect on their experiences before putting paintbrush to paper. Final artwork is...
Curated OER
Seven Poems, Seven Paintings: A Teacher's Guide to Selected Holocaust Poetry
Seven poems paired with seven original works of art provide learners an opportunity to draw connections between literary and artistic interpretations. Designed to augment a study of the Holocaust, each pair is accompanied by discussion...
Curated OER
Creating Civic Awareness Through Artistic and Literary Forms
Interpret current events using editorial cartoons and other print media. Middle schoolers explore the meanings of literary and artistic terms such as satire, irony, and caricature. They visit internet sites to develop an understanding of...
Curated OER
Copper Sheet Boxes: Artistic Engineering
Secondary artists create a metal box made from copper tooling foil and solid oil paint sticks (Shiva Paintstiks). The exacting design develops organizational principles and the painted finish allows for individual expression of...
Curated OER
Flying Too Close to the Sun
Pupils research the myth of Icarus and his father and discuss the associated metaphor. They view the work of a number of artists and create a painting depicting the myth.
Curated OER
Artists Teach Us to See the World through Visual Symbols
Tenth graders analyze a biographical piece of art by Raymond Saunders. They identify shapes, symbols, and lines that are used, and how the piece relates to the artist's life and modern society. They design and create an original piece of...
Curated OER
Painting Faces: Interpreting Portraits
Over the course of four sessions, upper elementary learners explore the elements of visual art and portraiture and the work of Canadian painter Robert Harris (links included). (Paintings by any portrait artist will fit the plan; choose...
Curated OER
The Lure of The West
Here is a fabulous series of lesson plans on four of the most celebrated artists of the Old Western period in American history. Learners study the works of Charles King, George Catlin, Albert Bierstadt, and Thomas Moran. The pack is...
Curated OER
Grand Canyon Suite
Take a trip to the Grand Canyon! Lesson one explores how Ferde Grofe painted a musical landscape of America when he wrote the Grand Canyon Suite. Learners then examine art that shows the Grand Canyon in lesson two. Finally, lesson three...
Curated OER
An Electronic Self-Portrait Lesson Plan - A Unit for Middle School
Using a photo of themselves for inspiration, learners create a multi-media self-portrait. A digital image of each child is taken, it is uploaded into the computer where is can be experimented with in a digital format. Young artists then...
Prestwick House
Analyzing Multiple Interpretations of Literature
There is a reason why an Oscar is given each year for the Best Adaptation Screenplay. Adaptations are the focus of an exercise that asks class members to compare a work of literature with a least one adaptation of the work into a...
Curated OER
Interpreting Political Cartoons - "Roaring" 20s
Eleventh graders investigate 1920's America. In this political cartoon lesson, 11th graders interpret political cartoons from the 1920's and respond to the provided analysis questions that accompany the cartoons.
Curated OER
Getting the Meaning in Pop Music
Critical thinkers compare the impact of visual versus aural perception in how they comprehend artistic intent. They consider the meaning of a set of pop lyrics first by reading them, then by listening to them orally, and finally viewing...
Curated OER
Art Critic for a Day!
Middle schoolers practice evaluating art by creating a research project and presentation. They use the Internet and library to discover a piece of art or artist whom they feel has an impact on the world of art. Next, they create a...
Curated OER
Going West: The Artist Who Painted the Way
Fifth graders study the artists and artwork of the Westward movement. For this Westward Movement lesson set, 5th graders examine the characteristics of the art of this era. They look at the lives of the artists and think about how the...
Curated OER
Artful Installations: 3D Constructions
Students create a larger than life recreation of a famous painting after becoming familiar with a famous artist's work through reading and exploration. They view and discuss slides from a variety of major art museums. They analyze and...
Curated OER
Outside...North of the 49th Parallel
Students explore and discuss images of Canadian landscape focusing on the work of the Group of Seven. The discuss different Canadian environments in a group of art works and complete a chart categorizing the depictions. They complete a...
Curated OER
Midnight Ride of Paul Revere: Fact, Fiction, and Artistic License
Students examine The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. In this visual arts activity, students study the historical significance of the event as they examine the Grant Wood painting and primary sources regarding the event.