Unit Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian In Your Classroom: The Music in Poetry

For Teachers K - 12th
Take poetry off the page and put it into terms of movement, physical space and, finally, music with this series of three lessons from the Smithsonian Institution. This resource introduces students to two poetic forms that originated as...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Horse of a Different Color

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Elementary schoolers explore the wide variety of horse coat colors and reproduce an existing color as well a create their own horse coat color. There are two fine worksheets embedded in this plan that learners use to crete these coat...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Room Design Planning/From Paper to Virtual Reality and Back Again

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students participate in activities in which they explore how the space and objects around them can be altered. Using various types of software, they design and create a three-dimensional building and share it with the class. They also...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Classroom Archaeology

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students, in groups, receive a box of artifacts. They record their findings and discuss what the items would have been used for. They come together at the end of the lesson to share their findings.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

West Virginia Def PB Wants You!

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students write, adapt, and compose a song related to the West Virginia State Museum.  In this music lesson, students create a composition for a work of  visual art. Students incorporate major and minor melodies.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Immigration to America

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students examine reasons for immigration to the United States in the 19th century. They role play as immigrants asked to write accounts of their immigrant experiences.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Numbers in Art

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students choose a number from one to twelve and tell a number story about it. They listen to the teacher read "Numbers in Art" by Lucy Micklethwait. Students choose three numbers from one to twelve and view works of art while looking for...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

1950's Scavenger Hunt

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners encounter how to work together as a group to accomplish a common goal. They gain more experience in doing research using library reference materials as well as internet sources. Each group is responsible for making a bulletin...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reading Basic Music Notes

For Teachers 1st
First graders develop skills in reading music notes. In this reading music lesson, 1st graders clap and chant rhythm patterns and learn music vocabulary. Students also match patterns by listening to the teacher perform the pattern.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Piece Like a River

For Teachers 6th - 7th
Students investigate water formations by creating a puzzle.  In this water properties lesson plan, students create a giant river puzzle by drawing on large butcher paper as a class, then dividing the image up into many pieces. ...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Symmetry that is Basic and Beautiful

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students explore lines of symmetry. In this symmetry lesson, students divide and combine shapes along basic lines of symmetry. Students explore symmetry in real life objects.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sow the Seeds of Victory! Posters from the Food Administration During World War I

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars engage in a class analysis of posters, responding to each of the worksheet questions. They identify the similarities and differences between the posters.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Songs of Unrest - Lesson 4

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify popular songs from 1968 and make connections with the year's current events. They pretend that they are producing a new CD. The CD includes four songs that comment on today's social issues. They write the liner notes.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Learning Birthdays With Chinese Calendar

For Teachers K
Students participate in a visual arts lesson that focuses on patterns used in a macaroni necklace that represents the students' birthdays in the Chinese calendar. They compare the Chinese calendar to the one used in America and look at...