Here is a lesson that sounds like a lot of fun. Kids discuss the artistic elements and motives for the painting, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. To get the scope and scale of this oversized masterpiece, they use butcher paper and the...

If your class loves movies, this lesson is sure to interest them. After discussing the purpose and structure of movie reviews, young writers compose a movie review and discuss why people may read a review before they go see a film. The...

Fabulous! Your 5th graders should love this project. As an ongoing lesson throughout the year students use temperature probes to record outside temperature and then document their data using spreadsheets. They use their weather data and...

Reading, writing, and rings! A instructional activity from NASA combines space science with authentic reading and writing tasks. Included in this instructional activity are pre-reading activities, four mini informational...

If you've used any of the New Class Museum lessons exploring the theme, Unmonumental, then check this out! Included are three different final project ideas that tie into the other seven Unmonumental lessons. Kids create community through...

Students practice descriptive writing by viewing auto-portraits of young children.  In this art analysis lesson plan, students examine an auto-portrait of their teacher as a young child and ask him/her questions about their youth....

Learners read the play "The Oxcart" in its English form. After examining the author's life and works, they are given a part as one of the characters to act out the play. They dress in full costumes and acquire the correct props in...

Students critique advertisements in magazines, newspapers and telephone books.  In this advertising lesson plan, students complete a class activity in which they locate specific advertisements, then answer questions that analyze the...

Students explore the late 1800s as a time of demographic change in the US. They view the role of media during this time in the form of posters and political cartoons. They create a political poster/cartoon that deals with current...

Here is an authentic assessment task for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Young literature scholars prepare, perform, and record a news broadcast about the major events in the play. For example, groups may choose to report on the death of Lady...

Young analysts write a comparative essay, but about what? They compose a paper based on several critical discussion about reality and illusion, and how both are blurred in art. They analyze several theatre pieces that exemplify Brechtian...

Class members select a science fiction novel for independent study. To verify they have completed the reading, they write a summary, a critique, and an outline of the plot for a sequel or prequel. They then deliver a five-minute...

Sixth graders use the local newspaper to find and discuss examples of uses of statistics and the ways in which the information is presented. They create and represent their own set of data showing how students get to school each day.

Illustrate the importance of specific details and clear directions. Sitting back-to-back, partners take turns building a Lego structure and giving directions to their partners to create an identical structure. The subsequent discussion...

Understanding propaganda is very similar to understanding advertising's influence on an audience. Teach learners all about effective propaganda tactics by analyzing posters from World War I. Pupils work together to make their own posters...

Students use Shakespearean sonnets as part of a poetry analysis lesson. In this sonnet lesson, students perform a sonnet by Shakespeare but treat it as a script to be acted out. Students work in pairs to create motions for two lines from...

Students examine ancient Greek myths and illustrate origin myths scenes in a contemporary setting. For this Greek myth lesson, students analyze Rembrandt’s painting The Abduction of Europa and discuss how the artist took an...

Fourth graders choose a character from a magazine, complete a character sketch, and develop a short story placing this character in a situation. They utilize a worksheet imbedded in this plan which guides them through creating their...

Students explore how sound affects scene understanding using the Shakespeare play Macbeth. In this audio and play analysis lesson, students respond to Macbeth events as if they were at a sporting event. Students listen to parts of the...

Young scholars analyze the period of Belle Epoque and the methods of art that signified popular culture. For this art analysis lesson, students consider the ways popular culture influenced art by analyzing the images and completing image...

Learners analyze the art of theatrical costumes and modern art designs. In this art analysis lesson, students compare two different designs for theatrical costumes by artists Oskar Schlemmer and El Lissitzky. Learners complete image...

Students read poetry and a biography of poet Anne Carson as part of a creative writing lesson. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read about the poet, read her poetry, and analyze a photograph to then write a poem. Students write...

Based upon the statistics, this is what it means. The last instructional activity in a series of 22 has pupils present the findings from their statistical projects. The scholars discuss the four-step process used to complete the project...

Middle schoolers study the three types of mass media messages: visual media, written media, and audio media. After a class discussion which has them list examples of each, learners get into pairs and work on analyzing the "Four A's" in...