Students explore American culture by reading classic literature in class. In this African-American history lesson, students read the story Zora Hurston and the Chinaberry Tree while identifying the work and contributions of the real life...

Learners discuss the sculptural group of Three Goddessesby Joseph Nollekens in a study of the classical past. In this Classical history instructional activity, students describe the three figures in the painting and read an excerpt for...

Students analyze cowboy literature. In this United States history and literacy activity, students listen to a variety of cowboy songs and poetry, view the video "Rediscovering America: The Real American Cowboy," and view related...

This was written for ESOL learners, but could work for any elementary class. Learners read about the American dance style known as Square Dancing. They explore its use in literature, write a friendly letter about it, and then use their...

Students survey bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop. They explore how bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop reflected American culture and society in the 1940s and 1950s.

Students survey free jazz and fusion. They explore how free jazz and fusion reflected American culture and society in the 1960s and 1970s.

Fifth graders explore cool jazz and how it reflected American culture in the 1940's and 1950's.

Learners discover the life and work of an American author, either Samuel Clemens or Louisa May Alcott. For this study of visual and written portraits lesson, students take a look at the authors through four different sources: a portrait,...

Students examine and discuss government-imposed censorship of art and artists' methods for counteracting censorship. They view censored artwork, write a persuasive essay, and create an art piece.

Students explore Chinese calligraphy. In this art and social science lesson, students copy the Chinese character ideograms in order to create words or phrases.

Students read poetry and a biography of poet Anne Carson as part of a creative writing lesson. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read about the poet, read her poetry, and analyze a photograph to then write a poem. Students write...

Students sequence the events of the popular Chinese folktale "The Terrible Nung Gwama" using a graphic organizer. This lesson plan takes 45-minutes and includes two possible enrichment activities.

Newshour with Jim Lehrer, a nightly news broadcast on PBS, offers a wealth of material on Romare Bearden. Content includes the NewsHour report, a gallery of his artwork, extended interviews with the artist, and a companion lesson plan.