Curated OER
If These Walls Could Talk
Students compare Neoclassical objects from the Getty collection to American civic architecture of the time. They discuss the moral and political ideas of the Enlightenment and articulate how these art forms influenced democratic thought...
Curated OER
Masters of War
Young scholars explore how artists depict wartime historical events. Then students create their own works of art depicting a historical event that has taken place during their own lives. They create a classroom gallery.
Curated OER
Murals
Students investigate how murals portray cultural expression. They study the history of mural making, explore its symbolism and design a mural of their own.
Curated OER
Jazz Talk
Middle schoolers analyze the origins of jazz music by examining work songs, spirituals, blues, and gospel songs as well as works of poetry from African American artists. They create their own poems from either the narrative, dramatic,...
Curated OER
So, So Surreal Self-Portraits
Learners take virtual trip back in time to 1924 when a Dada manifesto sparked the Surrealist movement in Europe and the United States. They explore about the history of Surrealism and visit online galleries of notable artists of the past...
Curated OER
Modern Visions
Students explore the many art movements considered to exist in the realm of 'modernism.' students explore, in pairs, key elements of different modern art movements and design posters presenting their movements.
Curated OER
How Do Artists Get Their Ideas? Culture and Environment as Sources of Ideas
Students share the difficulties they have in determining what to write or draw for a project. In groups, they view examples from three different artists and discuss how their personal experiences affected their art. They brainstorm a...
Curated OER
The Amazing Maud Lewis
Students investigate cultural art from Canada by reading about Maud Lewis. In this Canadian history lesson, students identify the work of Lewis by visiting her magazine website. Students identify other heroes in Nova Scotia...
Curated OER
The High and the Flighty
Young scholars study women aviators and act out a talk show-style interview with one of them. They plot Amelia Earhart's flights on a map.
Curated OER
Now and Then
Students record transformations and their effects within and across cultures. Students study the life of specific people in a former time period and then in the present time period. This teacher focused on the Winnebago tribe, using her...
Curated OER
The Mayan Empire
Students study vocabulary associated with the Mayan Empire; its art, daily life, inventions, and religious beliefs. They examine why the Mayan culture is considered to be one of the most advanced of the ancient civilizations by...
Curated OER
Paper Making
Sixth graders create and design paper as an exploration of the history in making paper from pulp. Students will work in pairs or alone to create a piece of paper from raw materials.
National First Ladies' Library
Digging up the Past: Sir Arthur Evans and the Palace at Knossos
Middle schoolers explore the excavations of the Palace of Knossos on the Island of Crete. They create a simulated news broadcasting on the work of Sir Arthur Evans and his colleges. In their news investigation, learners cover such topics...
Curated OER
Design of Our Own
Learners explore the concept of philanthropy. In this service learning lesson, students recognize family, school, and local community leaders who have contributed to the common good. Learners also study community foundations.
Curated OER
Get Surreal
Students analyze and write text for audio guides about particular pieces of art from the Surrealism movement.
Curated OER
In King's Words
Young scholars analyze writings of Mr. Martin Luther King Jr. They read and discuss an article, and in pairs, research and analyze a written work or speech by Dr. King, create a mixed media collage to represent the text, and write an...
Curated OER
The Kindness Company
Students organize themselves into a simulated company complete with applications, interviews and training. They identify a community need they can fulfill related to cooking or sewing and work to make and deliver the designated product.
PBS
Home, Sweet, Home!
Students investigate the local history and architecture of their community. They draw maps, conduct Internet research, discuss varied architectural designs, take a walking tour of their town and work in teams to record their community's...
Curated OER
The Blues: The Father of Rock And Roll
Students examine influence The Blues had on Rock and Roll and the concomitant social, political, and economic factors and movements during the post-World War II period. Students then research and create multimedia reports on...
Curated OER
Protecting the Past: Give a Hoot, Don't Loot!
Students, in small groups, simulate an ancient civilization and the art they created, another group represents vandals, and the final group represents archaeologists who try to figure out what life was like for the "ancient peoples". ...
Curated OER
Contours, Curves & Lines
Young scholars discover how straight lines and curves function in both art and the science of conservation tillage by building model "hills" and experimenting on them.
Curated OER
Learning About Location: Charting the Path of the George W. Elder
Young scholars acquire a working knowledge of the geographical concepts: absolute location, relative location, longitude and latitude. They analyze primary sources that shows the physical and human characteristics of the places along...
National First Ladies' Library
Latin: The Language of Ancient Rome
Middle schoolers gain understanding about where some of today's words originated by reviewing a list of Latin words and their meanings. They work in small groups to create dictionary pages which will then be compiled into a large...
Curated OER
When a Chair is More than A Chair.....
Students research an artist of their choice and design a piece of art that represents that artist to them. They make sketches, plan their armature, cut out armature, pad with newspapers and apply layers of paper mach??.