National Endowment for the Humanities
History in Quilts
Learners investigate the use of cloth-based art forms intended to pass down traditions and history. They research types of quilts, quilt characteristics and then identify how Freedom Quilts were historically used in the US.
Curated OER
Crazy for Cubes: Art and Science
Learners discuss Sol LeWitt and conceptual art, then analyze the differences in expressing a concept through model-based inquiry and aesthetic art criticism. They develop a geometric, scientific, or mathematical concept, then create an...
Armory Center for the Arts
Place Value Collage
How can art represent math? Use a lesson on place value collages to illustrate the different meanings that numbers have in their designated places. Kids observe photographs and paintings that show place value, then work on their own.
Sargent Art
Color Value Study
I love geometric art because it applies mathematical reasoning to an artistic endeavor. Creative kids use scale values to highlight their complex, repetitive, geometric designs. Symmetry, angles, and congruence are three concepts that...
Curated OER
Give It All You’ve Got Heroes and Visual Art
Sure, your young artists probably know Van Gogh and Picasso, but are they equally as familiar with Frida Kahlo and Andy Warhol? Small groups examine the work of famous artists. Then, they create their own hero portraits in Cubist style...
National Gallery of Canada
Make a Parfleche
Examine American Indian art and culture by observing contemporary art and creating original pieces. Class members discuss artwork included in the plan and use these images to help inspire their own work, which should represent their...
Curated OER
Exploring Weather Conditions Through Painting
Your advanced class will paint a picture of a particular weather condition. In this painting lesson students describe elements of art in pieces of artwork. They analyze the weather and seasons in the artwork. The students use paper,...
Curated OER
Goldsworthy Project: Building With the Five Elements of Art
Seventh graders explore the five elements of art: line, shape, value, texture and color. They collect items from nature and arrange them aesthetically taking the five elements into consideration. They consider their work from several...
Curated OER
Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Artist's Community: The Real
What is real or imagined? The lines of beauty reality, and imagination are blurred in Elizabeth Peyton's portraits of her community. Learners analyze her use of artistic technique in conveying real and imagined communities. They then use...
Curated OER
Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Pictures of Royalty: The Imagined
Elizabeth Peyton is an artist who creates images of people (often famous) that she doesn't personally know. These images become part of her imagined community. Learners analyze her work, her community of imagined friends, and then create...
Ontario
Critical Literacy—Media Texts
Media texts convey both overt and implied messages. As part of their study of media, class members analyze the language, form, techniques, and aesthetics in a variety of media texts.
Curated OER
Protesting through Art
Students experience critiquing, analyzing, and comparing different works of art from different eras. They discuss how these works can or can't be considered a form of protest and assess how to evaluate their own judgments and values on...
Curated OER
Art in the Middle Ages and Today
Students create a contemporary coat of arms and illuminated page. They study contemporary artists who combine text, symbols and images in altered books and create an altered book page of their own.
Curated OER
Expressive Hands with Stippling Value Shading
Students create a larger than life modified contour drawing of hands in an expressive situation. Hands have linear value, contain a object, and have a patterned background.
Curated OER
Modern Art Lesson Plans
Young scholars explore the history and examples of Modern Art. In this Modern Art lesson, students read background information about Modern Art and a biography of Andy Warhol. Young scholars complete a criticism and aesthetics, art...
Japan Society
Nature and the Environment in Postwar Japan
Japan has a complex relationship with the environment. Explore this relationship with your class through this resource. Included are thought questions, several activity ideas that range from writing, to discussion, to research, and an...
Curated OER
Remembrance Through Public Art
Students discuss the purpose of public art, in the form of memorials. They research the design and planning of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C., then plan their own memorial and construct a 3D model.
Curated OER
Identity in A Raisin in the Sun
Ninth graders read the play, "A Raisin in the Sun," and participate in a class discussion about "identity." They discuss racial identity and examine and interpret how community influences a personal identity. They demonstrate how...
Curated OER
Word Meanings from Context
Here is a vocabulary worksheet in which your scholars determine the meaning of 10 words using context clues from short readings. They choose from among four words and write their answers on the blank lines at the bottom of the page. They...
Curated OER
BEAN and SEED MOSAIC
Fifth graders create a bean and seed mosaic focusing on Mexican culture. They develop an aesthetic value for others' work and a cultural sensitivity. They gain a greater awareness of the cultural significance of Cinco de Mayo.
Curated OER
Being in the Noh: An Introduction to Japanese Noh Plays
High schoolers read a Japanese Noh play and discuss its structure and traditional characters. They choose a short myth and write a Noh play based on it.
Curated OER
Favorite Sports and Athletes: an Introduction to Sports Media
Even young children watch sports and like team logos and products. It's never too early to think critically about what's onscreen. This exercise develops awareness that media communicate values (i.e. who participates in sports and who...
Curated OER
We Tell Stories
Young readers bring characters to life by working in small groups to script and perform stories that contain a community concept. Detailed questions and activities are outlined for the class. Consider having your groups create...
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...