Teaching Ideas
The Victorians Pack
What was life like during the Victorian era? Images of crowded factories and lavish palaces may come to mind—and both would be accurate. Learn more about Britain during the 64-year reign of Queen Victoria with a series of informational...
Curated OER
Ocean Commotion Activity - Dioramas
Groups make a model of an Ocean Commotion exhibit based on what they saw during the fieldtrip. These dioramas can be used as an informal assessment of student knowledge acquired at Ocean Commotion.
Dick Blick Art Materials
Peace Windows
Peace, love, tolerance, faith. Marc Chagall's Peace Window in the United Nations World Headquarters serves as a model for young artists as they create their own peace-themed transparent paintings. A great activity for both SPED and...
Curated OER
Stained Glass for Your Class
Students use a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of white drawing paper, each student creates an original line drawing of a subject that interests them. They can create a geometric design. Students place the completed drawing under an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of...
Curated OER
Remembering Waiting
After a close study of the pastel drawing Waiting by Edgar Degas have the class imagine the story Degas may be telling through the body language and clothing of the people in the work of art. Your young writers then create a...
Curated OER
Japanese Collage
Seventh graders compare and contrast different types of art associated with different cultures. They identify how cultures express their values in art. They create their own collage about Japan.
Curated OER
Calico Watercolor Cats
A fun art project, this lesson incorporates math and listening skills as young artists play with a new painting technique. First the teacher models how to draw a cat using shapes, an oval for the body, triangles for the ears and so on,...
Curated OER
Arts Impact and Math
Third graders incorporate math into dancing. In this algebra instructional activity, 3rd graders identify different shapes and patterns using dance movements. They relate the different creations to polygons as they incorporate the use of...
Curated OER
Value Study Pencil -- Using Chuck Close as a Catalyst
Seventh graders examine the life of artist Chuck Close. They use markers to create an image to show a range of values. They develop a grid to represent these values.
Curated OER
Cardboard Radial Weaving
Students explore cultural history by participating in an arts and crafts activity. In this weaving lesson, students identify the many cultures that used weaving methods and local plant life to create baskets and other useful tools....
Curated OER
Presenting Your Case
Students write letter from historical figure's point of view using proper letter writing conventions, write about two props/artifacts that are representative of their subject's life, and use Internet resources to gather images to use in...
SForsyth
Name and Describe a Street
Build creative writing skills through a project centered around a street name. Young writers start by creating a unique street name and brainstorming what life might be like on that street before writing a descriptive piece about this...
Curated OER
Write Your Own Description
For this writing worksheet, students learn about a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks titled "Skipper" which is about her goldfish. Students draw the water, life and objects in a fish bowl shape, then describe what people would see if they looked...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Using Maps to Inspire Personal Narratives
A solid description of one way to teach narrative writing, this resource outlines the writing process from concept to completion. Class members create concept maps of moments in their lives and follow the writing process to publish their...
Curated OER
Bud, Not Buddy: Anticipation Guide
Hoover flags? Hoover blankets? Hoovervilles? Drawing upon prior knowledge of the Great Depression class members respond to the prompts on an anticipation guide for Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis’s tale of Bud Caldwell’s quest to...
Curated OER
Families and Communities
Here is a week-long activity on the roles of family members designed for first graders. In it, learners share stories of their families, listen to books about families read to them by their teacher, complete homework assignments and...
Live Oak Media
Activity Guide: Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
Enhance a reading of the Caldecott Medal-winning children's book Joseph had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback with this collection of learning activities. Starting with general background information about the book and author,...
Curated OER
Making Inferences While Identifying Similes and Metaphors
Use this lesson to study similes and metaphors and the inferred meaning. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders write their own similes and metaphors. A worksheet is provided for extension work or to check understanding as homework.
Curated OER
Portrait of a Friend
Students complete a graphic organizer about themselves and write a short auto-biography. They share their work with a classmate and draw a portrait of a classmate be displayed in the classroom.
Curated OER
Digital Portfolio
In need of a good way to asses the work your art class has been working on all quarter? This quick-and-easy idea has young artists take digital photographs of each of their art pieces in order to create a digital portfolio. This is...
Curated OER
Humor, Philosophy, and Religion
Philosophy and religion are the topics of this presentation, though humor is what ties them together. Providing many examples of humor in different religions (Evangelism, Buddhism, Mormonism) and from different philosophers (Plato,...
Curated OER
Using The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a Bibliotherapy Technique for Foster Children
As the title suggests, this instructional activity is designed for a foster care therapy group. C.S. Lewis' novel provides children an opportunity to discuss life issues vicariously through fictional characters. However, the discussion...
Curated OER
Time Line of the Year
Students record special events and memories on a timeline of the school year. In this timeline lesson, students understand the purpose of a timeline as they chart important events of the school year using photos, drawings, handprints,...
Curated OER
Crossing the Delaware with Historic, Cultural, and Personal Interpretations
Sixth graders discover the importance of information sources by researching the United States History. In this research gathering lesson, 6th graders examine a historical painting of George Washington and analyze what it means,...