Curated OER
The Body Talks
Young historians examine the gestures of human subjects represented in Mannerist, Baroque and Renaissance paintings. After they play charades and attempt to match dialogue with body language, learners create a drawing that...
Curated OER
Bodies In Motion: Shapes and Gestures
Students use geometric shapes to describe body parts. In this geometry lesson, students use geometry vocabulary as they discuss body parts. They practice drawing bodies using shapes based on a wooden model that is poised to show specific...
Curated OER
Rhythm and Art: Gesture Drawing
High schoolers explore connections between non-verbal language and art. In this visual and auditory art lesson, students investigate the science of sound and principles of drawing. They then use various genres of music to directly apply...
Curated OER
Pantomime vs. Abstract Gesture
Students explain dance as a way to create and communicate meaning and demonstrate the difference between pantomiming and abstracting a gesture.
Curated OER
Rhythm and Art: Gesture Drawing
Students make connection between music and art. In this integrated arts lesson, students complete gesture drawing activities as they listen to Cuban, flamenco, classical, jazz, and contemporary music.
Curated OER
Pantomime Exercise
Learners of any age can learn to communicate using gestures and their bodies. They create a pantomime of a specific activity without using any words. This resource includes a link to an Off-Broadway Workshop for kids.
Curated OER
Mask Project
Students discuss "mime" before playing a game in which they make the body movement and gestures of a large animal while a classmate guesses what they are imitating. Next, they design and make masks of an animal face while studying the...
Curated OER
Looking at Body Language
Learners examine Dorothea Lange's photograph of a migrant mother and consider how artists express emotions, ideas, and physical conditions through gesture, pose, clothing, and expression.
Curated OER
Posture and Pantomime: Total Body Movement
Students analyze posture and pantomime in an analysis of total body movement. In this body movement lesson, students read a chart of movements and the mood or attitude they convey. Students complete several space and observation...
Curated OER
Telling Stories Through Dance
Examine the movement of characters in the story, Caps for Sale. Using the text, pupils invent gestures and movements for some of the actions and major events. They practice retelling a story by using the movements they developed. They...
Curated OER
A Gesture Is Worth a Thousand Words
Students share observations on the nuances of meaning in face to face and online interactions with others. After reading an article, they identify the causes and effects of internet flaming. They create their own comic strips...
Curated OER
Sketchy Business
Students identify and describe characteristics of contemporary artwork. Then, they create gesture drawings, a drawing technique used to express the action of a subject in a short period of time.
Curated OER
Shapes
Students recognize different shapes, such as squares and rectangles. They make a face using squares and the rest of a body using rectangles, using the drawing pencil in KidPix.
Curated OER
Art & Drama for Middle Grades
Learners define humor and consider how people have different senses of humor and therefore different ideas of what is funny. They explore improvisation, cartooning, comics, body language and storytelling as the means to express humor.
Curated OER
Alexander And The Wind-Up Mouse
Use drama techniques to recreate the story, Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni. They engage in problem-solving as they identify the roles they will fufill in their groups for the performance. This is a motivating way to...
Curated OER
"The Midwife's Apprentice"
Here is an inventive, and educationally rich way to conduct a literature study of the book, The Midwife's Apprentice. After the book has been read, learners get into three groups. One group is assigned the task of being the writers....
Curated OER
Israel
The class creates and performs a movement performance of the creation story found in the Jewish tradition. This lesson begins with the research of Israeli culture and culminates in a performance of the narrated creation story....
Curated OER
Rhythm and Art: Painting
Students make connections between music and visual art. In this integrated arts instructional activity, students design paintings that challenge them to examine the relationship between art elements and principles.
Curated OER
Peer and Self-evaluation in Spoken Tests: Tools and Methods
Learners, in groups, each take a different role and are to either ask or answer questions. They explore how to effectively evaluate themselves and others.
Curated OER
Challenge to Communicate
Students use Lewis and Clark's journals to identify the forms of non-verbal communication they used. They discover the problems they faced on their journey and how they overcame them. They practice using the non-verbal language of the...
Curated OER
Theatre Lesson Plan- Tableau (part 2)
Students explore tableaux. In this social studies and fine arts cross curriculum lesson, students work in groups of four to create "frozen" stage pictures (tableaux) representing vocabulary and concepts from a "From Farm to You"...
Curated OER
Storytelling and Drawing
Young scholars orally retell the Yosemite Miwok legends and design accompanying artistic depictions. They discover the various storytelling elements, such as plot and theme.
Curated OER
What Really Happened?
Sixth graders recreate scenes from the theories about the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. In this history and theatre activity, 6th graders review the story of Earhart using a flip chart. Students work on one act plays to depict one of...
Curated OER
Theatre Lesson Plan - Pantomime
Second graders study heroes, inventors, and explorers and role-play as one of the people. In this theatre and history lesson, 2nd graders review the people and their accomplishments using a Promethean flipchart. Students then act out one...