American Institute of Architects
Architecture: It's Elementary!—Fifth Grade
Young citizens construct an understanding of urban planning in this cross-curricular unit. Covering every aspect of city development from the political, economic, and social influences to sustainable building practices, this...
Curated OER
Image Transfer and Printmaking With Clay and Under Glazes
What a creative lesson! Learners make sushi dishes using printmaking methods. They use a variety of techniques including those involving under glazes and clay. There are instructions and pictures to make this process easy for both...
Denver Art Museum
Alien Beauty
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," is a popular phrase in our society. The lesson here puts the phrase to the test as pupils explore what truly is beautiful through a study of some Japanese folk art. A careful examination of the...
Museum of Tolerance
Oral History Activity
Oral history has brought a multitude of lessons, stories, and factoids to our current knowledge of the past. Let us continue to use oral history traditions through a lesson that encourages pupils to discover and appreciate...
Curated OER
Reliving History through Slave Narratives
Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...
Curated OER
Animals in Art
Learners look at how animals are shown in literature and art as representing emotions, telling a story, or sending a message in this elementary school Language Arts and Visual Arts lesson.
Curated OER
New Forms from Old
Students look at historic porcelain objects. For this visual arts lesson, students examine how the use of historic objects has changed over time. Students design their own object from paper cups, bowls, plates, and more.
Curated OER
Clay Magic Pots
Fifth graders create clay artwork that resembles African and Egyptian monolithic sculptures. In this visual arts lesson, 5th graders are shown examples of monolithic and figural sculpture from Egyptian and African cultures, then...
Curated OER
Egyptian Symbols: What story do they tell?
Learners create a stele to represent what symbols are the most important to them. In this symbols lesson plan, students learn about Egyptian symbols, and then put their own important symbols into model magic clay according to their size...
Curated OER
Symmetry with Shapes
Students analyze a symmetrical stamp design with an equal balance of light and dark to create a pattern in succession. In this shape design instructional activity, students review concepts of sign, symbol and language across cultures....
Curated OER
Sarcophagus
Here is another in a series of fantastic art lessons from this source. This one has young artists create a sarcophagus-style clay box! This instructional activity would be ideal to utilzie during a study of the ancient Egyptians. One...
Curated OER
Beauty of the Harvest
Students collect information from Beauty of the Harvest and Native American culture to determine what women accomplished in their daily lives. After organizing and thoughtfully considering this information, students create their own...
Curated OER
Why Not Fabric?
Students investigate art from Native American culture by creating fabric. In this native art analysis lesson, students identify the art of Plains Indians and discuss how it is represented in their fabrics, beads and decorations. Students...
Curated OER
Kente Cloth
Students attempt to research the history of using the kente cloth for its cultural purposes. They comment in discussion about the highly visual appeal of the cloths while going through the process of creating their own. The importance of...
Curated OER
Sand Painting
Students explore Navajo traditions and art. For 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
Music Around the World: United Nations Week
Students discover the United Nations through the use of musical examples and performance. This two day lesson requires two forty-five minute sections and delivers information about different cultures around the world. Emphasis is on...
Curated OER
LA CENERENTOLA (Cinderella)
Learners research Cinderella stories from different cultures. They explore how words, like opera, can tell a story. Students identify the unique cultural elements of various versions of the Cinderella story. identify aspects of Learners...
Curated OER
Silent Symbols Speak Loudly: Icons, Brands & You
Learners view and discuss visual symbols around them every day, analyze symbols on United States one dollar bill, explore variety of meanings of same symbols depending on context and culture, and create their own money with symbols that...
Curated OER
Identity Boxes
Students create a "portrait" box that contains symbolic representations of their own identity. In this Lucas Samaras and Joseph Cornell art lesson plan, students discover ways that these two artists used symbols and objects to...
Curated OER
Grown-ups at Play
Students realize that adults entertain themselves at work and in their private lives and that much of adult play, like children's play, is part of adults' folklife and that they play in various folk groups. They consider the elite,...
Curated OER
Draw Like an Egyptian
Young scholars craft their own Egyptian art. In this ancient Egyptian art lesson plan, students explore Egyptian art and create their own work following the 4 guidelines presented in the lesson plan.
Curated OER
Andy Warhol and Silkscreen Pop Art
Students explore art history by researching famous paintings on-line. In this Andy Warhol lesson, students discuss who Warhol was, his impact on popular art and methods of painting. Students examine his use of silk screen printing and...
Curated OER
Sumi-e Painting
Students create Sumi-e paintings and explore the various materials, techniques, and processes associated with those paintings in an effort to better understand Japanese art and culture.
Curated OER
The Family: Louisiana Family Folklore
Every family has a different story to share. Your learning community examines the checklist that applies to the lesson, share some of the teacher's family photos, and look for clues in their own family photos in order to complete a...