Curated OER
Navajo Sand Paintings
Research the use of sand paintings in the Navajo tribe. Your students work together to design their own sand painting. They share their creation with the class describing what the symbols mean.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: A Bird's Tale
Who wouldn't love to get a letter from a blue bird? Elementary art enthusiasts analyze the social and historical context of Ason Yellowhair's Navajo piece, Bird and Cornstalk Rug. They examine the construction and images on the rug...
Curated OER
Sand Painting
Students explore Navajo traditions and art. In this sand painting lesson, students discuss Navajo rituals and traditions prior to designing a sand painting that is representative of the Navajo ideal of the hozho.
Curated OER
Inspired Innovation
Throughout time, innovators have taken basic ideas and changed them into creative and cutting-edge designs. Kids tackle the topic of innovations in relation to traditional or creative objects. They discuss traditional Navajo pottery then...
Curated OER
Life of a Navajo Weaver
Students explore Native American weaving patterns and dance movements. In this Native Americans instructional activity, students view examples of weaving patterns on the Internet and compare the patterns to a Native American dance....
Curated OER
Navajo Poetry
Students listen to Navajo poetry and create various responses to what they have heard. Students may create an illustration for the poems, create an original work of poetry, or write about how the poem relates to Native American culture.
Curated OER
Rock Art
First graders create and share their own rock art. They listen and read stories: "Mathematics from Many Cultures" and "The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush."
Curated OER
Sand Painting
Students design and create Navajo Sand Paintings using sand, powdered tempera paints, and basic art supplies in this Art lesson for elementary classrooms. The history behind sand paintings can be included with this lesson for a complete...
Curated OER
Rock Art
First graders create and share their own rock art based on Navajo and Hawaiian rock art.
Curated OER
Should Art Be for Art's Sake?
Students examine how European-America aestheticians (philosophers of art) do not all agree about the value and definition of art. students examine how some cultures do not have a distinct word or definition for art.
Denver Art Museum
Putting Images into Words
Engage your class in art analysis of Indian Look-Alike by Melanie Yazzie. Using this work of art as inspiration, writers compose a poem or short story. After a peer review session, the teacher conveys information about the work of art as...
Curated OER
American Indian Art
Student complete a month-long unit on the symbolic and practical reasons for American Indian artwork. They explore websites, discuss elements of design, create an Indian backpack, Kachina Doll, weaving, sand painting, and totem pole.
Curated OER
Santa Fe, New Mexico
In this vocabulary usage online/interactive worksheet, students use the words in the word bank to complete conversational sentences about Santa Fe, New Mexico. Students fill in 10 blanks and click the Check button to check their...
Curated OER
National Gallery of Art: Jackson Pollock
Students paint a picture in the style of Jackson Pollock. In this painting lesson, students learn about Jackson Pollock and the method that he used to create his famous pieces of art. Students use objects other than paintbrushes to...
Curated OER
Santa Fe, New Mexico: Vocabulary Follow-Up
In this vocabulary worksheet, students fill in blanks in sentences, using Santa Fe, New Mexico associated vocabulary given at the top of the page. A reference web site is given for additional activities.
Curated OER
Descriptive Character Analysis
Students visualize a character or event and personalize it through drawings.
Curated OER
American Indian Art
Students complete a unit of study about Native American visual art. In this visual art lesson, students complete five lessons to study Native American art.
Arizona State University
A.r.t.s : Navajo Pottery: Beautiful Objects
This informative website contains pages discussing the history of Navajo pottery. Provides photos and explanations of various pottery techniques. Teachers can use these lessons to show students how to create and fire their own pottery!
Other
R.c. Gorman: Navajo Gallery
Resource dedicated to R.C. Gorman. There are links to his many works of art.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Arts Connect Ed Artist's Toolkit: Balance
An interactive site that explores the elements and principles of visual art through the artist's toolkit. This lesson is on balance (symmetrical and asymmetrical) using "Wrist Guard" by Navajo. The animation shows the arrangement of the...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian American Art Museum: Johnson Antonio
As part of the Smithsonian Art Museum's database of artists, this site provides biographical information on Johnson Antonio. Antonio was a Navajo artist who, through carving secular human figures, went against traditional Native American...
Purdue University
Purdue University: Pottery by American Indian Women
A fabulous collection of information and photos of American Indian potters. There are several color images and multiple pages of the history behind these talented artists.
University of Arizona
Avery Collection of American Indian Art: Shonto Begay
A biography with a few images from Native American Artist Shonto Begay. The images are from the Avery collection and there are links to Begay's website and other American Indian Art.