Curated OER
Create the Ideal City
Middle schoolers examine the significance of city planning. They analyze maps, develop a crossword puzzle using vocabulary terms, and create a diagram of an ideal city and describe the features that make it healthy for the economy, the...
Carolina K-12
Create a City!
What is the purpose of a city charter? What services do local governments provide to their citizens? Is there an ideal way for citizens to behave? Approach these often overlooked yet important questions with your class members by having...
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Kid City, USA
What a model community would look like? Get your kids talking with an activity that allows them to create their own town. After printing out a "fold out village," groups of students use a variety of resources to help them build an actual...
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Rise of the Modern City
Students investigate the industrial developments of the twentieth century and the development of urban environments. In this industrial art lesson, students compare and contrast graphics and analyze industrial developments on...
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Reaching for the Sky
Students consider features of skyscraper using descriptive words, reflect on notion of skyscraper as orientation point in a city, and explore New York Times Building in Manhattan by reading and discussing article, "Pride and Nostalgia...
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Dreaming of a Healthy City
Ninth graders design a healthy city. They identify the essential elements of a city and describe how climate and geography can determine the layout of a city. They create a blueprint of their design and share in small groups.
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Fun in the City
Students describe their ideal city based on geography and climate and leisure activities in a collage and discussion. They apply their understanding of a city's layout based on geography and climate.
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The Vision of the City in the Mind's Eye, 12501700
Young scholars create their own symbols for a city from other letters of the alphabet (or geometric shapes). They rotate the letters to explore their possibilities. Corporate logotypes and other trademarks make excellent examples for...
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Mapping the Mediasphere
Learners compare/contrast the media messages they see in two different communities in their city. They list the elements of art and the principles of design in the photographs they have taken in those two different communities. They...
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Online —On Stage—and Action
Use your tablets to participate in a culture-sharing project with a class in a foreign country. Your class can communicate and share ideas with a class in another country, swapping information regarding language and culture. Together you...
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Studio Art Lessons Based on Latin American Arts
Study three of the basic principles of design: l) designs should create a rhythmic pattern made up of related shapes, 2) colors should be repeated so as to not force the eye to remain with a single part of the composition, and 3) a...
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Building a School Model: An Academic Challenge
First and second graders explore aspects of design. They discuss and design the ideal classroom building complete with window and door placement. Additionally, students observe and note features found in neighboring classrooms as...
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The Dream Factory
Students compare postcard samples from Los Angeles, CA and Austin, TX. They examine them to find common elements they share (tone, mood, romanticized themes, artistic elements, etc.) They create postcards to show the "real" Austin.
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Trout Are Made of Trees Crayon Mural
Students recognize that for a trout habitat to be ideal, several components must be present. In this trout instructional activity, students explore what makes a healthy stream. Students create paintings for a mural of a trout habitat....
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Members Only
Students discuss the advantages and disadvantages of private communities and the lives led by their residents. They design ideal planned communities for people featured in other Class Matters articles.
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Coming to America: U.S. Immigration
Students study immigration in the late 19th and early 20th century. In this immigration lesson plan, students participate in activities including creating maps, responding to non fiction text, memorizing and analyzing poetry, and...
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Cultural "Art"-ifacts
Seventh graders explore how culture is reflected through art. After researching the art of a specific culture, 7th graders create replicas of art objects that reflect the ideals, values, and history of the culture.
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Chinese Dragons
Young scholars discover the world of the Chinese dragon by creating their own festive dragon using texture, line, shape, pattern, and color. This lesson is ideal for the early-elementary classroom and includes a recommened reading list.
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Getting Animated
Students create a simple animation illustrating a chemical element in the periodic table. In this chemistry lesson plan, students create a new way to describe elements by using them in an artistic form.
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Filigree Jewelry
Students describe physical and human characteristics of North Africa and the Middle East, plot on a map areas populated by nomadic people in those areas, explain importance of filigree jewelry in Arab culture, and create their own jewelry.
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Virtual Vacation
Young scholars select a foreign city, research the city using the Internet, and plan an eleven-day vacation to that city. This instructional activity is ideal for a social studies classroom and includes ideas for using iMovie, Excel, and...
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Visual Art: Romare Bearden
Students examine the art of Romare Bearden, focusing on a stained-glass window designed for a New York City elevated railway station. they visit the site and discuss the art after viewing it from various perspectives. Based on their...
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Mapping the Border
Learners create maps of the borderland region. They decorate their maps with colors, pictures, icons, scenes, words that reflect their understanding of the character and history of the borderland.
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Beeswax Flower Candle
Learners create "Beeswax flower candles" in this early-elementary classroom Art lesson. Materials needed include foam pieces, straw, a glue gun, clay pots, beeswax, and popsicle sticks. This activity is ideal for the students to create...