Students discuss and examine the work of artist Cai Guo-Qiang.  For this art lesson, students analyze how cultural and historical factors impact the visual arts. 

Students explore and react to the painting The Road to Santa Fe. In this interacting with art lesson, students locate various objects in the painting.  Students copy the angle of objects by using their bodies.  Students discuss...

Student create mobiles to promote self-awareness and discovery. In this creative hands-on mobile lesson, students use large star patterns to create a mobile that reflects a theme they've chosen, representing something about themselves....

Students compare and constrast life in an 1830s family verses a modern family. They role play the position of a family member in 1830 while wearing traditional clothing for the time period. They write journal entries to show their daily...

Here is a good lesson on butterflies and caterpillars. After listening to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, young learners put cards that depict the life cycle of a butterfly in the correct order. There are some good ideas for center...

Here is a tasty topic for a instructional activity: Christmas candy! Third and fourth graders research classic Christmas candies, then create their very own! They write a descriptive paragraph about their candy, then use KidPix to create...

Youngsters listen to the story, "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." After discussing the story, going over new vocabulary, and repeating the rhymes in the story, they study the parts of a fly. They finish by creating a fly on...

Youngsters become familiar with zoo animals. They sort them into categories, and choose an animal to act out. Two zoo centers are created in the classroom that have examples of the animals for the pupils to play with. Then, they choose...

Using geoboards, computer programs, and hands-on manipulative materials, elementary schoolers engage in a study of two and three-dimensional geometric shapes. This lesson is chock full of good teaching ideas on the subject, and the...

Have you ever wanted to tell a character what you really thought of him or her? Use a lesson based on Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter to encourage learners to write a letter in response to a character's actions. 

Go star-gazing with young learners! They study the history, origins, and patterns of constellations in an activity that explores the starry night sky.

Readers select a character from Call of the Wild, record their responses to a series of prompts in a spiral notebook, and use details from the novel to support their thinking. The spirals are then used as source material to support...

First graders express the words of Autumn through creative dance movements.

Young scholars are introduced to the art of assemblage - which is the process of taking ready-made materials, and ordinary objects and using them to create sculptures. They create a self-portrait by assembling and joining found objects...

Students study the meaning, symbolism, and value of U.S. coins, especially the quarter. They research Texas symbols online and create a design for the obverse and reverse sides a Texas quarter in a choice of media.

Learners create their own versions of The Eensy-Weensy Spider. In this creative writing lesson, students read The Eensy-Weensy Spider and imagine what else the spider could do. Learners then draw a picture depicting the spider engaged...

Students act as archaeologists. In this Lewis and Clark expedition lesson, students develop a list of questions that archaeologists might use to find the physical remains of the expedition and then use print and Internet sources to...

Students research post-Katrina career opportunities in New Orleans and in their own communities, then design a revitalization plan. In this research and design instructional activity, students use a variety of sources to find out how...

Sixth graders create replica cave paintings using flowing lines, texture, and earth colors.

Learners create a story about a picture. In this writing lesson, students select a picture and write a story about what happened in the picture. Learners are encouraged to write a story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Students explore the concept of cloning. In this cloning lesson, students research reproduction, cloning, and ethic issues. Students discuss their findings and write stories about extinct animals that are brought back to life.

Third graders view a PowerPoint presentation of the images by Maxfield Parrish. They wirte a short story based on one image and create drawings of an imagined character.

Learners use a stamped shape image to create a piece of imaginative art. For this stamped art lesson, students use a stamped shape as a starting point to create their own imaginative piece of art that incorporates the stamped shape.

Practice expository and creative writing with your class. Pupils use magazines to find pictures, cut them out, and create a collage. This work of art is then used as a writing prompt. They describe the collage in either a creative or...