Older artists create 2-dimensional surfaces with paint, then use these paintings as the components of a 3-dimensional sculpture. They assemble a free-standing sculpture that may be viewed from any angle by using wire to create the shape....

Students create lotus flowers in 3-D designs applying Lao art techniques. Following a teacher demonstration, they assemble their own lotus flower candleholders and the teacher arranges a group flotation in a body of water. Students...

A great cross-curricular project for any art classroom, this activity encourages young artists to consider color, pattern, texture, shape and line in their depiction of a historical figure. After researching a historical figure of their...

Students create non-objective art based on the design elements of line, color, balance and movement using tape. This simple lesson plan encourages students to create patterns by overlapping and defining lines on a canvas panel. One of...

Such an ambitious lesson! Third graders with special needs listen to an audio recording of the novel, Moby Dick. They stop often to discuss each of the main characters and analyze their actions in the story. They then make puppets of one...

Students discover the color wheel. In this color lesson, students find the primary colors, secondary colors, and contrasting colors. They look through the designs of super hero logos and create their own using what they know about...

Does your language arts class have a hard time with writing transitions? Use this organizational writing lesson to create three effective transition sentences that middle schoolers will use in their research of renewable resources.

Students read and explore one of Emily Dickinson's nature poems, "A Bird Came Down the Walk-" through interaction with a variety of art forms. Clips of a hymn to hear meter and the viewing of bird images exposes them to the language and...

Students draw portraits of a dancer. In this visual-arts instructional activity, students study the work of James Wyeth online. They then watch a dance performance and sketch 10 - 15 pieces depicting dancers. Five of these sketches will...

Fifth graders develop and practice the steps involved in imaginative writing. They follow the steps/worksheets included and write imaginative stories of their own.

Some gorgeous images will inspire your young scholars to create different fashion designs from a wide variety of natural sources. Students study color, pattern, texture, shape and form to create their own original piece in this...

Japan's Taisho Period was a time when authors like Akutagawa and other Japanese modernists began to experiment with point of view and literary form, making the literature produced during this time period a natural choice for teaching...

For this synonyms and antonyms worksheet, students study 6 words in their own boxes and the 5 words below each. Students circle the word that is the best synonym for the word. Students then do the same in 6 more boxes; this time they...

Commas, colons, and semicolons truly are the "clutter busters" of the written world. Students see many examples of how each are properly used, then must identify the sentence in each slide that uses these punctuation marks in the correct...

“Poor people are poor because they are lazy and don’t work enough.” “If you are desperate, the means justify the ends.” Prior to reading Cry, The Beloved Country, class members complete an anticipation guide that focuses on issues raised...

Celebrate National Poetry month with a quote a day from Dr. Seuss's books. Each poster includes the date (a day in April), a quote from a book, an image from the book, and a thumbnail of the book cover. 

The set for a play combines design elements (style, line, shape, mass, measure, position, color, and texture) and principles of composition (unity, harmony, contrast, variation, balance, proportion, and emphasis) to create a particular...

Often, science fiction makes a lot of connections to real life. An educator's guide for the novel Charisma by Jeanne Ryan, has readers discuss many of the real-life issues that come in the text. A brief summary helps garner interest...

Use this economic activity to focus on writing summaries of informational text. First, middle schoolers define common economic terms used to describe news about the economy. They closely read news about the federal budget deficit and...

Do military recruiters plan to visit your campus? If so, the visit presents an opportunity for class members to engage in a series of action projects. Class members interview recruiters, propose a PTA meeting to discuss the pros and cons...

Following the six-step process for a talking sticks literature circle, group members choose a leader for the discussion, summarize the reading, discuss journal entries and questions, set reading goals, and write reflections. I think this...

This nicely-designed presentation does an excellent job of introducing the comma and its many uses. Each of the slides shows different ways in which the comma is used. Learners are given a chance to practice what they have learned in the...

How do you create parallel structure? Here, the first section details parallelism, providing many examples. The next two sections provide your class with practice opportunities. The first one requires learners to identify the sentences...

Warning or prediction? Nineteen Eighty Four is the anchor text for a series of tasks that ask readers to compare the novel to the film as well as current events to those pictured in George Orwell's dystopian classic.