Here is a packet of lessons which are designed to help you to foster your pupils' creativity. The lessons are designed to develop their fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration on ideas. The are built around field trips to a...

Launch a discussion of the creative process with a short video that features the daily ritual of Slobodan Dan Paich, a San Francisco artist. Slobodan models his approach to tea painting and shares his reflections on the...

Young scholars investigate the environment by designing a group project.  In this ecology lesson, students identify the man made threats to the Amazon while reading environmentally conscience vocabulary terms.  Young scholars...

Teach everyone how to work together in both physical education and music activities. Parents and their children are shown a presentation that highlights the philosophy of cooperation. They apply these concepts to their physical education...

Students practice mirroring human moves by performing a dance in class.  In this physical education lesson, students utilize different spaces around them to perform a dance expressing their full motion.  Students cooperate in...

Examine the genre of historical fiction while reading A Light in the Storm. They extract events in chronological order to make a timeline. Then, they use information in the book important to the characters to create a presentation of an...

What are the origins of el Dia de los Muertos, and how is this tradition observed in contemporary celebrations? With a variety of lesson plans and suggested hands-on activities, here is an excellent resource to reference as you...

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...

Explore gender stereotypes by analyzing how male and female characters are depicted in comic books. Using the provided Comic Book Analysis sheet, students record the attributes of male and female comic book characters. Then the whole...

Let's make colors! Your class will participate in a creative art project that introduces them to the concept of color blending and allows them to discover color combinations through exploration, trail, and error. First, the teacher will...

Learn by doing! Young artists try their hand at creating their own self-portraits in the style of Vincent van Gogh. This worksheet contains a brief explanation of the essential qualities of van Gogh's art: complementary colors and...

Learners explore the different themes and strategies of dancing by performing in class.  In this physical education lesson, students practice moving specific joints and muscles as they train to perform a dance.  Learners...

Lights, Camera, Action! Pupils read Little Women and create, act, and direct a melodrama that Jo March and her sisters would enjoy. The lesson plan comes complete with resources for the educator on melodrama as well as examples...

Young artists create a series of sketches of ideas for a sculpture, and using the criteria develop in the previous class, critique their sketches. They then choose one of their ideas and create their work of art.

The final session in a sequential, three-lesson sculpture study designed by the education staff of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has class members using the criterial they developed to critique each others' symbolic sculptures.

Is there a difference between examining an original work of art and viewing a reproduction? Class members are asked to reflect on this question after researching a piece, study a reproduction of it, and the examining the original in an...

Have you just visited an art museum? Or can you create a gallery in your classroom to visit? Pupils create an original drawing that reinforces what was learned in a visit to the art museum. They will view original art work and verbally...

Students analyze, discuss and compare sources of inspiration, use of words and imagery, and other differences in writing styles between two featured songwriters. This is an introductory lesson to a creative project unit.

Masks have been used for many reasons throughout human history. They are also great subjects for art projects! Included here are instructions, background information, and all the supplies needed to create mini masks in your class. 

To truly teach through the arts means one must tackle both art and core content in one activity. This quick activity does just that. Learners make skeletons out of cotton swabs in order to study relief sculpture and the skeletal system....

Students analyze illustrations of workers in the 19th and 20th centuries. In this social science lesson plan, students examine photographs of workers and identify the types of work that were available in the 19th century compared to the...

Students examine the 20th-century sculpture "Gandydancer's Dream" by Mark di Suvero. In this visual arts lesson, students examine the sculpture and then use flat shapes and wire to create their own sculpture. The students are...

Students study symbols on a French cabinet. In this architectural design lesson, students examine the symbolism of the door panel on the "Cabinet on Stand." Students create their own unique design based on a symbol from another country.

Students examine the color in paintings. In this visual arts lesson, students explore the 1821 painting by Jacques-Louis David and identify the colors in the art piece. Students write an original fairy tale and create an illustration...