Curated OER
Native American Music and Dance Activity
Students demonstrate keeping steady beat through practice exercises and stepping to the beat using instruments such as conga drums, tambourines and rhythm sticks.
Curated OER
Understanding Folklife and Folklore
Student examine the basic characteristics of folklore. In this folklore lesson, students complete activities to identify two kinds of folk, folk groups, and folklife. Students list daily activities in their home, identify folk groups...
Curated OER
Family Traditions
High schoolers research their family traditions. They select a tradition that has meaning to them and write about the traditions. They retell the story to a partner and add details. They write a draft of their story to a partner and...
Digital Forsyth
Photo Analysis for Visual Impact
A instructional activity on photo analysis, compare and contrast, and an art project are here for the taking. Fourth graders analyze photographs of gas stations from now and from the past, focusing on how the cars and building designs...
Curated OER
Native American Friendship Dance
The performing arts offer artistic perception, creative expression, historical and cultural context and aesthetic valuing. This dance helps students understand dance history and develops cultural awareness. Students are given the...
Curated OER
Surviving the Winter
Fifth graders investigate given cultures using the internet, personal interviews and other sources, They examine how the civilizations of six Native American tribes and six Australian Aboriginal tribes survived during their respective...
Curated OER
Gotta Be Me
Students create model societies. In this social identity lesson, students conduct research so that they can plan and present model societies to their classmates. The societies must include information regarding how their society will...
Curated OER
English Literature - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Everything you wanted to know about the history of English literature and language but were afraid to ask. From Beowulf to Canterbury Tales, the Knights of the Round Table to Robin Hood, Addison, Fielding, Shakespeare, Swift, and many...
Curated OER
Courtship and Calligraphy in The Tale of Genji
Pupils discover through an examination of The Tale of Genji the importance of calligraphy to courtship rituals in the Japanese court culture of the late Heian period ( 897-1185). Three possible enrichment activities are included
Curated OER
Nature and Haiku Poetry
Students compose haiku poems and recognize how cultures value nature and
natural forces through the study of Japanese poetry. This lesson includes a bibliography of resources.
Curated OER
Halloween
Discover the origins and traditions of Halloween with a crafty lesson plan! Second graders create bats, monsters, witches, and ghosts with masks and puppets. Next, they share their work with their classmates in a fun...
Curated OER
The Art of Political Cartoons in Revolutionary America
High schoolers analyze political cartoons. In this colonial America lesson, students examine the provided political cartoons and respond to analytical questions about each of them.
Curated OER
Make Mine Turkey
Young scholars compare foods available for the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving with contemporary Thanksgiving foods. After reading information about the first Thanksgiving, pupils create a menu and compute the cost of a turkey dinner, using...
Curated OER
Music in Japan - Fine Arts
Second graders discuss various types of music. They identify and explore Japanese music, and instruments. They make a koto.
Curated OER
Japanese Festivals and Celebrations
Learners investigate the importnce of celebrations anf festivals in Japanese culture and then create a story based upon an image from the instructional activity. Resource links are provided for images of events.
Curated OER
"Power: Abuse and Resistance
Tenth graders will use the camera as an instrument of self-expression (photography) and gain cultural appreciation and a sense of pride from greater understanding of self through their family heritage, customs and traditions. Then...
Lee & Low Books
First Come the Zebra Teacher’s Guide
Accompany a reading of First Come the Zebra written and illustrated by Lynne Barasch with a teacher's guide equipped with before reading, vocabulary, and after reading activities. Additional social studies,...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Greek Alphabet: More Familiar Than You Think!
In this Greek alphabet instructional activity, pupils explore the Phoenician origins to the Greek alphabet. Learners compare Greek letters to current letters and write a paragraph about the life of students in ancient Greece. They...
Curated OER
Jazz's Beginnings
High schoolers examine jazz's roots and their hybridization in New Orleans in the early 20th century. They listen to ragtime and jazz recordings, then complete worksheets imbedded in this plan.
Curated OER
The Luck of the Irish
Students are introduced to a variety of customs and traditions relating to the culture of Ireland. They view a video, explore the art of storytelling, research sport origins, cook Irish food and discuss well-known Irish proverbs.
Curated OER
Japanese Folktales for Children
Students study Japanese folkart traditions and culture through storytelling, class discussions, and a creative project. The project involves students creating drawings of a pre-selected folktale and putting them together in a class book.
Curated OER
The Fine Art of Paper-Cutting
Students create original examples of the ancient Chinese Folk Art technique of Paper-Cutting in this middle-level lesson highly adaptable for either the Art classroom or a Social Studies class.
Curated OER
Comparing Christmas Around the World
Christmas inspired lesson and project ideas that help students sharpen critical thinking skills.
Curated OER
Storytelling
Students discuss how they know certain aspects about their families and customs. As a class, they discover that life changes over time and stories are only preserved if they are told. They read many different pieces of literature to...