Curated OER
Self-Portrait Unit - Lesson #1
Fourth graders create self-portraits using artistic elements found in Hispanic culture and, specifically, the art of Frida Kahlo. The lesson can be adapted for any culture/country and requires an outside person with cultural knowledge.
Curated OER
A Wolf's Tale
Third graders are introduced to the story elements of fairy tales. As a class, they rewrite the story Little Red Riding Hood, told from the wolf's perspective. Then they create a class PowerPoint of the story, each partner group creating...
Curated OER
Do You Dare to Dream?
Third graders discover the meaning behind dream catchers. In this themes and symbols in art instructional activity, 3rd graders discuss the meaning of Native American dream catchers. Students use paper plates, beads, and feathers to make...
Curated OER
Lights, Camera, Action...Crossing the Delaware in 9 Scenes
How does reading a drama differ from reading a novel? Middle schoolers become playwrights and explore these differences. After viewing the A&E movie,"The Crossing," groups create stage directions, write dialogue, and design sets and...
Curated OER
I Dig Your Art, Man (or Woman)
Twelfth graders write a thesis regarding a modern artist of their choice for a 15-20 multi-media presentation. For this lesson students create a Power Point, video, or some other visual representation studying an artist or modern...
Curated OER
Ancient Aztecs
Is it a calendar? A religious symbol? A political statement? One thing for certain is that Aztec sun stone designs remain an important symbol in Mexican cultural art. Young artists craft their own Aztec Sun design incorporating ideas...
Scholastic
Lesson Two: The Earth, Introductory Activities
Determine what young pupils already know about earth science with a brainstorming activity. After class members work together to complete a KWL chart about the Earth, they craft an acrostic poem to demonstrate their understanding.
Curated OER
EXPRESSIONIST ART LESSON
Sixth graders design and compose a picture that conveys a specific emotion or feeling, and recognize the use of emotion in a variety of artworks using crayons and/or pastels. They experiment and manipulate elements of art including, line...
Curated OER
Flambe Elements
Eighth graders discuss atoms and electrons as well as atoic structure. They view atomic structure via the computer. Students watch a demonstration in which the teacher demonstrates glass tubing turning yellow in a Bunsen Burner flame....
Curated OER
The Art of "Green" Flying
Students create an airship that doesn't use fossil fuel. In this flying lesson, students research different types of flying machines that only use wind power. They discuss invention designs by Alexander Graham Bell and Leonardo Da Vinci...
Curated OER
Machines: Designing Form and Function
Students design a boat model with simplified steam engine. In this ecology lesson, students compare renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. They determine the efficiency of their boat model.
Curated OER
Everything in Its Right Place: an Introduction To Composition in Painting
Students complete a variety of activities as they study the basics of artistic composition in the visual arts.
Curated OER
Making a Basic Clay Animal Sculpture In-The-Round
Learners create a three dimensional animal sculpture. In this sculpting activity, students use white art clay, gloss glaze, brushes, and wooden tools to create an animal sculpture.
Curated OER
Art Appreciation
Young scholars explain that everyone has their own opinion about what they think is good art. They study images, then put a heart behind the one they like the best, the least and the one they think their mom or dad would like.
National Endowment for the Humanities
“House by the Railroad”: A Painting and a Poem for the Common Core
Introduce your class to ekphrastic poetry with an exercise that asks them to examine Edward Hooper's painting House by the Railroad and Edward Hirsch's poem "Edward Hopper and the House By the Railroad." After a close reading...
Curated OER
Thrilling Information: Music and Reading
Here’s a cross-curricular program music activity that uses Peer Gynt to engage class members. Groups take one section of “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” choreograph their section of the tune to represent the story as they imagine it,...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A “New English” in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”: A Common Core Exemplar
To examine the “New English” Chinua Achebe uses in Things Fall Apart, readers complete a series of worksheets that ask them to examine similes, proverbs, and African folktales contained in the novel. Individuals explain the meaning...
Curated OER
Introduction To Composition And Elements Of Design
Students create a finished drawing with a dynamic, asymmetrical composition. Pencil sketches are encouraged for final projects. Students assess their own work prior to submitting the artwork.
Curated OER
Cut Paper Masks
Students examine different types of masks from various cultures. Using the masks, they identify the use of design elements in them. They create their own paper mask using the elements and share them with the class. After viewing a...
Curated OER
Everything in its right place: An Introduction to Composition in Painting
Students investigate the meaning of a composition in the realm of the visual arts. The elements of an image are taught in order for students to answer the guiding questions that are presented.
Curated OER
Geo Jammin' By DeSign - Day 3, Lesson 16: The ABC of Symmetry
Pupils follow directions in the ABC of Symmetry to make a butterfly which shows a line of symmetry.
Curated OER
Theatre Prop Design and Construction
Fourth graders construct individual props. In this theatrical arts instructional activity, 4th graders use the elements of art to create various props using paper mache. Students construct objects such as logs, fruit, and a picture frame.
Curated OER
Places and Spaces in Art
Students examine and describe the houses of Baie Saint-Paul. They name the colors used and the shapes in the roof. Using a gable roof design, they draw their own house. They discover the architectrual elements in their own community...
Curated OER
Black and White Design
Students are introduced to the four different types of lines. After explaining the basic elements of design, they create their own artwork using white paper and black ink incorporating the different types of lines. To end the lesson,...