National Endowment for the Humanities
Kate Chopin's The Awakening: Local Color in the Late 19th Century
Kate Chopin's The Awakening introduces readers not only to the lush Louisiana setting of Grand isle but also to the nuances of Creole culture. the second lesson plan in a three-part series examines how Chopin's use of literary realism...
Curated OER
Casting Doubt: "Color-blind" and Nontraditional Casting Decisions
In his article about color-blind casting entitled, "Willy Loman Is Lost, Still Looking for Stimulus Plan and Some Dignity," Charles Isherwood quotes August Wilson as saying, "To mount an all-black production of a 'Death of a Salesman'...
Curated OER
Color and Write
In this color and write instructional activity, students color indicated clothing items. All items are given a predetermined color. Finally, students draw a picture and write a description of their own clothing. This one page...
National Gallery of Canada
My Treehouse
If you could build your own treehouse, what would it look like? Using a piece of contemporary art as inspiration, learners draw their own treehouses and add geometric and organic shapes. The lesson touches on Visual Thinking Strategies...
Curated OER
The Color of Your Own
Students understand primary and secondary colors. In this lesson about colors, students explore where colors come from. Students paint a picture with the primary paint colors that the teacher has created. Students mix the primary paint...
Curated OER
Kandinsky Color Studies
Students study the artist Wassily Kandinsky as well as his art and and music. In this art appreciation lesson, students view a variety of Kandinsky's work and circular color studies. Students relate the use of color to emotion and listen...
Curated OER
Tracking Fall's Falling Temperatures
Young meteorologists track weather from day to day and record results on graphs, maps, or other places. They see firsthand how weather temperatures trend cooler as fall progresses and practice grade-appropriate skills in geography (map...
Read Works
Columbus Reports on His First Voyage, 1493
What did Christopher Columbus have to say about his exploration of the Caribbean? Young historians have a chance to examine Columbus' own words about his voyage to Cuba and Santo Domingo. After reading Columbus' report, pupils respond to...
Curated OER
Color in 3-D: A Nature Design Project
Students view a film about Hans Hofman and consider his use of color and layering. They experiment with the concept of 'push and pull' by using warm and cool color schemes in a tracing of leaves and shapes. Students view their work using...
American Institute of Architects
Architecture: It's Elementary!—First Grade
Build an interest and appreciation for architecture in your young learners with this fun 10-lesson art unit. Engaging children in using their five senses, the class first observes the environment around them, paying special attention to...
Curated OER
Add a Page to Love
View Keith Haring artwork in the book Love. Create original artworks in the style of Keith Haring by choosing 2-4 colors to portray their illustrations. Finally, write sentences describing the artwork. These activities could be adapted...
Curated OER
Candy Colors: Figuring the Mean, Median, and Mode
Students count candy by color and then calculate mean, median, and mode. They count candy and use the data to calculate mean, median, and mode (by color) and apply their learning to another collection of data.
Curated OER
Color Poems
Students listen as the teacher reads several poems from the book "Hailstones and Halibut Bones," "My Many Colored Days," and a teacher created poem. Students choose a color and share some brainstorming ideas with the class. They write a...
Curated OER
Investigation--Can You Build This?
Early learners explore shapes using colored blocks. They first get some hands-on time with the blocks and then look at beginning math concepts regarding spatial relationships. They work with a partner to build a 6-8 block tower with...
Curated OER
Trace, Draw and Color: Diamonds
In this tracing worksheet, students trace a set of diamonds, and draw some of their own. Students then color the diamonds in a set of 5 given shapes.
Curated OER
Understanding Stage Design: Using Visual Elements to Provide Information to an Audience
Learners study about theatrical design by developing environments for improvised and scripted scenes. They develop focused ideas for an environment using visual elements.
Curated OER
Brown Bear, Brown Bear
Students complete a variety of activities related to the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." They role-play the animals from the story, read about the book's author Bill Martin, Jr. on his website, discuss the rhythm of the story, and create...
Novelinks
Touching Spirit Bear: The Literary Mandala
Even someone with a dark side can make a good decision—and vice versa. Readers explore Cole's traits and decisions in Ben Mikaelson's Touching Spirit Bear and analyze his sunside and shadowside. They identify a symbol that best...
Curated OER
Homophone Pairs Cards -- Full Color
In this language arts instructional activity, students understand that the spelling of homophones is related to meaning and grammar. Students cut apart 50 word and picture cards which match up to be 25 homonym pairs. The cards are in...
Art Educators of New Jersey
Exploring Eric Carle’s Painted Collage
Where does inspiration come from? Where do writers get their ideas? What about visual artists? A PowerPoint and a video introduce middle schoolers to children's author and illustrator Eric Carle and how he found inspiration in the work...
Montclair Art Museum
Eric Carle: Animals and Friends
Celebrate Eric Carle’s beloved children’s books, especially those about animals. Teachers and readers alike engage in Carle’s books as they explore the art and color in each of his stories, and how these elements support comprehension.
Ascanius: The Youth Classics Institute
Anatomy and Simple Commands
Poor Joe is all in pieces, and he needs students to learn the Latin words for his body parts so that they can put him back together! Learners work as a class first to perform whole-body reconstruction, and then individually. In addition,...
Curated OER
Stain Glass
Students study the history of stain glass. In this stain glass instructional activity, students select an art period and research the use of glass during that time. Students create a picture presentation of stained glass pictures from...
Curated OER
Chuck Close Portrait Drawing
After watching a video of photorealist Chuck Close and examining his work, individuals create their own grid-style portrait.