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Our Illuminated Alphabet
Students examine artwork and create their own. In this writing and illustrating instructional activity, students view illuminated letters from the Getty Museum's collection and discuss art vocabulary. Students examine the...
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Fine Art to Animation With Keith Haring
Fifth graders create their own morphes in the computer lab emphasizing lines and color and explain them. In this art lesson plan, 5th graders base their creations on the work of Keith Haring.
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Energy Efficient Homes
Students observe and gather data from a model simulated home. In this efficiency lesson students examine the factors that influence energy efficiency, complete a lab activity then draw conclusions from their data.
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x-rays - the Letter X
Students demonstrate the ability to draw vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines, recognize the difference between inside and outside, and create a picture of themselves.
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What is That White Stuff?
Fifth graders identify, through experimentation, what properties of substance are, determine what variables tested will be, identify constants and variables of experiment, conduct experiment to conclusion with measurable, recorded...
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Shaping the View: Composition Basics
Students view images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art web site, and list the objects and figures in the image. They discuss the way their eyes move around the canvas and take note of where their eyes fall, follow and finish. Students...
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Anything I Can Do You Can Do Better
Students complete a two-week unit involving design and construction concepts. They watch a PowerPoint presentation about geometric shapes, draw the fourteen shapes incorporated in bridge construction, and in small groups design, build,...
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Jack and the Beanstalk
Third graders read a story and grow a beanstalk. In this literature and life science lesson, the class reads "Jack and the Beanstalk," then lists fairy tale elements and write a puppet show. The students plant pinto beans and observes...
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Greek Mythology: Cultures and Art
Young scholars examine literary arts. In this Greek mythology lessons, students read Greek myths and select characters from the myths to study. Young scholars create watercolor illustrations of the characters, write short stories about...
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Creating Musical Notation
For this creative music activity from Scientific American, young scholars learn about musical notation and then design their own notations. Great web resource links are alsp provided
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Still Life - Realism
Middle schoolers discuss still life painting and the Realism style of art. They plan a personal narrative still life drawing, complete the project and present it to the class.
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Understanding Political Cartoons
Students draw two political cartoons. They compare the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 to the stand-off that took place at Wounded Knee in l973. They examine the role that Manifest Destiny played in the West.
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Art in the Middle Ages and Today
Students create a contemporary coat of arms and illuminated page. They study contemporary artists who combine text, symbols and images in altered books and create an altered book page of their own.
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Building Castles
Students research castle building. For this research and design lesson, students research castles, visit a Castle Builder website, and use graph paper to draw a blue print of a castle. Students continue to work on their castle building...
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Creature Feature
Students work in pairs to create a creature and its habitat out of construction paper. Then students write a narrative to describe the animal and its habitat.
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Solar System Tourist Bureau
Students, working in teams, role-play as advertising agents creating ad campaigns for a planet in the solar system. They design commercials for video, Hyperstudio, or Web pages. The activity includes research, all the production stages,...
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Baked Polymer Clay 3D People Portraits
Students discuss methods of building forms with clay (ball and variations, snake, flat sheets). They draw a stick figure of what their sculpture may look like, including correct figure proportion.
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Mastering the Keyboard
Sixth graders view an animated program showing how the continents fit together millions of years ago. In groups, they compare and contrast the distribution of rocks and fossils based on how the continents fit together. After reading a...
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How Do You Know A Panther Was Here?
Students research the signs that panthers leave. In this panther track lesson, students conduct Internet research into the signs that panthers leave such as tracks, scat, scrapes, and scratches. They make a three-dimensional poster using...
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Huguenot Street
Third graders visit Early Huguenot Street and identify architectural structural and design elements that were in use before 1720. They consider how architecture has evolved and complete Venn diagrams with their observations.
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Spice Container
Sixth graders examine and identify classic Greek and Roman motifs on spice containers. They analyze the process of casting and chiseling silver, and design and create a spice container using classic Greek and Roman design elements.
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Lesson 27: Illinois/Chicago Unit Assessment
Fourth graders create a Class ABC Book summarizing key elements of Illinois and Chicago.
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Looking at Illuminated Manuscripts: An Illuminated Day Planner
Young scholars examine the contents of a book of hours and then compare it to the modern day-planner. They create class day-planners/ calendars with illuminations that correspond to modern holidays and season.
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Nickels, History, and Peace
Second graders examine the designs on nickels before 2004 and after when the new Peace Medal nickel was minted. They research the events that preceded the new design and explore the symbols of friendship on the new coin. They work in...