Curated OER
Yellow Bird and Me
Upper elementary artists create works which demonstrate an understanding of the many elements of theater and the visual arts. This four-day plan combines many wonderful aspects of visual, musical, and theatrical arts into one very...
Curated OER
Pen and Ink Drawing
Learners hone their drawing techniques to create a nature-inspired piece of art. They practice hatching, cross hatching, stippling, and shading. They discuss how each method is better suited for creating specific elements in nature such...
Curated OER
Pop-Up Pop Art, Tunnel book
Students study iconic symbols Keith Haring would make in his artwork. They invent a background for the images, and draw the characters. Students create a Tunnel Book and a Pop-Up Book based on their drawings.
Curated OER
Summarizing with James and the Giant Peach
Elementary readers in literature groups practice summarizing chapter-by-chapter with Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. Focus on main idea, supporting details, and the 5 Ws. Unfortunately, a clever "peach" graphic organizer to which...
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 10-lesson...
Curated OER
View Finder Painting
Creative thinkers create a paper "view finder." They place it on a magazine picture in different ways until they find an image to paint. They do this until they have drawn and then painted an entire paper filled with found art.
Curated OER
Food Pyramid
Here is an engaging cross-curicular lesson which incorporates elements of language arts and heatlh. Groups of learners are assigned to one vowel sound. They work together to find pictures of food out of a booklet that have the long vowel...
Curated OER
Borrowing Narrative Skills from Mr. Fletcher: Using a "Prompts in Reverse" Technique to Inspire Your Writers
Help your class find their writing voices with this lesson which uses the work of Ralph Fletcher to guide a "Prompt in Reverse" activity. Using the chapter "First Pen" from Fletcher's Marshfield Dreams, learners decipher what they...
Curated OER
Spot the Leaf: Identifying Plants in Works of Art
Learners explore the leaf as a design motif in art. They conduct Internet research on leaf and tree symbolism, view and discuss artwork, and create an original work of art featuring a leaf or leaf motif.
Curated OER
Expressing Emotions Through Art Lesson 3: Everybody Works Together
Learners examine works of art that convey the idea of working together and analyze how artists use foreground, middle ground, and background. They use two-and three-dimensional materials to create a work of art.
Curated OER
Expressing Emotions Through Art Lesson 4: Everybody Celebrates
Students examine how feelings of caring and working together can be expressed in works of art, and define the terms two-dimensional and three-dimensional. They design and create celebratory hats using three-dimensional paper techniques.
Curated OER
Living on the Edge - "Illegal Art"
Students explore how copyright and trademark laws impact art. After researching cases on the topic, students use and existing postcard as the basis for a new piece of art.
Curated OER
Our Illuminated Alphabet
Students examine artwork and create their own. For this writing and illustrating lesson, students view illuminated letters from the Getty Museum's collection and discuss art vocabulary. Students examine the visual elements in the...
Curated OER
The Lorax Explorations
Learners read and debate the purpose of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, analyze its story elements, and write their own The Lorax II.
Curated OER
Painting Faces: Interpreting Portraits
Over the course of four sessions, upper elementary learners explore the elements of visual art and portraiture and the work of Canadian painter Robert Harris (links included). (Paintings by any portrait artist will fit the plan; choose...
Curated OER
Ellis Wilson: An Elementary School Art Lesson
Students study the life of Ellis Wilson. They examine the use of simple shapes when drawing human figures. They examine how to incorporate pattern into a background setting.
Curated OER
Rhythm in Motion
Any age of elementary student can demonstrate their understanding of the connections of elements of art and music by creating their own slit song. You will investigate and study the Melanesian Slit Song with Kindergartners through Junior...
Curated OER
Movement And Rhythm In Modern Art
Students gather around the three selected paintings. The teacher guide students in looking at different elements of the paintings and help students make the connections between the visual art and movement skills.
Curated OER
Fall Collage
Young scholars create fall collages using digital images, clip art or downloaded images, and the software program Adobe Photoshop in this Art lesson for the elementary classroom. The lesson involves the use of computers and would need to...
Curated OER
Graph Paper Patterns
Young artists divide a piece of graph paper into sections using rectangles, squares, and triangles. They then fill each section with patterns of shape and color. Elementary graders describe how their patterns are organized. Secondary...
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Line and Pattern Design Paper Sculpture
The learners create patterns and repeat colors for unity. They explore organic shapes and demonstrate awareness of design principles and art elements. They then create 3-D paper relief from a 2-D surface and demonstrate the difference...
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Paper Bag Puppets
Students create "paper bag puppets" using basic art supplies, construction paper, and their imagination in this awesome early-elementary Art activity. The lesson includes a resource link and suggests teaching a short history of puppetry...
Curated OER
"Small Still Life Paintings ala Courbet"
Students observe and discuss "Apple, Pear and Orange" a still life painting by Gustave Courbet. They paint their own realistic still life and create an elaborate frame. They utilize art elements: line, shape, color, value and pattern.
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Modern Mosaics
Young scholars create individual mosaics to decorate the classroom. They explore the elements of shape, texture, color, and pattern by identifying how the artist manipulated tesserae to create the mosaic.