Curated OER
Lascaux Cave Art on Ceramic Stones
Here is a great way to incorporate art into your next unit on prehistoric people. The class makes stones out of ceramic clay and then creates paintings like those found in the Lascaux Caves in France. A video link, full day-by-day...
San Francisco Symphony
Prehistoric Music
What was music like during the Stone Age? Learners listen to a CD entitled, Art of Primitive Sound as they consider the culture of people in the Stone Age. They use objects found in nature to create instruments, and then perform a...
Curated OER
Cave Art: Discovering Prehistoric Humans through Pictures
Students explore how people in earlier times used art as a way to record stories and communicate ideas by studying paintings from the Cave of Lascaux and other caves in France. Three lessons on one page.
Curated OER
Cave Paintings: Studying the Past
Middle schoolers are introduced to prehistoric paintings with the cave art at Lascaux and Altamira. They, in groups, role-play the members of a clan and design appropriate cave paintings for their group.
Curated OER
Art and Culture
Students compare and contrast the ways in which human figures are portrayed in rock art made by ancient Native American artists and in the drawings and paintings of historic European and American artists. They use images to identify...
Curated OER
Cave Art: Discovering Prehistoric Humans through Pictures
Students explore how people in earlier times used art as a way to record stories and communicate ideas. By studying paintings from the Cave of Lascaux and other caves in France, students discover that pictures are more than pretty colors.
Curated OER
Cave Paintings
Students examine various types of prehistoric art. In groups, they research the purpose of the drawings and use the internet to research the various ancient human groups. To end the lesson, they draw animals compared to the prehistoric...
San Francisco Symphony
Music and Early Man
Creative projects are great ways to increase interest in topical research. Middle schoolers learning about primitive life styles in the Americas explore the importance of music to hunter gatherers. They research and create musical...
Curated OER
Cave Painting
Students investigate ancient man in the use of cave art. Using pastel chalks (similar to earth pigments--earth tones only) the students were to draw an image/ or images onto their rock. Afterward we "framed" these with intertwined vine...
Curated OER
To Tell The Truth
Students play "To Tell The Truth" Art History style in this fun and interactive game for the upper-elementary Art classroom. Included in the lesson is a detailed set of rules and suggestions for successful classroom implementation.
Curated OER
Rock Art and Ritual
Students explore, examine and determine what kinds of rock art motifs are likely the product of ancient ritual descent. They identify connections between rock art symbolism and Native American ritual practices. Each student also views a...
Curated OER
Seeing Ancient Worlds
Students view the images from the Nature Images Photo Gallery and identify various elements of nature. They then group the elements into categories and discuss what these images tell about the worlds of ancient Native Americans.
Curated OER
To Tell the Truth
Students explore art history. They play a game inspired by the old game show "To Tell The Truth".
Curated OER
It's Not Conjecture, Look! It's Architecture!
Learners examine how architecture reflects historical time periods. They conduct research on the History Detectives website, complete a fact sheet, sequence photographs of different architectural styles, and create an illustration of a...
Curated OER
Cave Art: Discovering Prehistoric Humans through Pictures
Students understand how to "read" a picture and put together a series of images in a way similar to that of putting together words to form a story and gain knowledge about the past.
Curated OER
Native American Cultures for Grades 4-5
Students investigate Native American culture by researching the Internet. In this U.S. History lesson, students read online field reports about exploration and the history of Native Americans in the United States. Students create a...
Curated OER
Evolutions of Pottery
Students study the history and importance of clay and pottery. They observe a video dealing the kiln. Students explore ideas for improving construction of pottery. They demonstrate a variety of construction methods and identify the...
Penguin Books
An Educator’s Guide to Ruta Sepetys
Historical fiction novels give readers a chance to step into someone else's shoes. An educator's guide from Penguin Common Core Lesson Plans provides resources to accompany three historical fiction novels written by Ruta Sepetys: Between...
Curated OER
ARTIFACT to ART to GLYPHS
Students study the development of early Latin American civilizations in unit one. The second part of the unit is based on early image-making attempts from the Cro-Magnon to the Peruvian Incas. Students create their own weavings using a...
Curated OER
When Clay speaks
Young scholars listen as the teacher reads "When Clay Sings," by Byrd Taylor. They discuss clay, and view a variety of clay items. Students watch a video clip "Interests in One of a Kind Pots." They watch a demonstration on working with...
Curated OER
Discover Woodland Culture: Wisconsin Basic Pottery Techniques
Students take a field trip to a local woodland to find pieces of clay. Once they are back in the classroom, they dry the clay throughly and turn it in to clay slip. They watch a PowerPoint presentation on basic art terms and create...
Curated OER
Texas Treasures
Students explore the meanings of the word "treasure," and examine the use of clay in the construction of buildings in San Antonio, Texas. They examine clay artifacts, and watch a video about pottery artist, Harding Black. Students then...
Curated OER
Rockin? Chalk (Integrating science - make own chalk)
Students use plaster of Paris, talc, and cornstarch to create their own chalk. They hypothesize what mixture of ingredients produce the "best" chalk. Students discuss what they think are the characteristics of the "best" chalk.
Curated OER
Conversing with an Object
Students analyze museum artifacts and create conversations between these inanimate objects using prior historical knowledge. In this museum artifact lesson, students create theoretical dialogue between historical artifacts in order to...