Curated OER
Look Before You Think: How To Appreciate a Painting
Students develop an elementary understanding of the history of art. They study the basic elements of a painting including perspective, composition, color, light and symbolism. They look at each selected painting and analyze it, moving...
Curated OER
Do We Control Nature, or Does Nature Control Us?
Student examine the theme of man versus nature in art. In this man versus nature lesson plan, students examine various pieces of art and discuss the theme as it is depicted. They discuss whether the themes shown in the artwork are...
Japan Society
A Remade Environment
Art is a wonderful way to express feelings of social unrest or change. Learners will examine the works of two contemporary Japanese artists, and how they each have used art to say something big. They analyze the work of Katsuhiro Saiki...
Curated OER
Soil Pictures and Mud Puddles: Spring is Here!
You can take creative advantage of a season that offers soil in various forms, and inspiration for art lessons.
Curated OER
Majestic Murals
Albert Bierstadt is a highly celebrated artist who was able to capture the beauty of the American landscape. The class will first learn how Bierstadt explored America during the 1800s and painted the majestic countryside. Then, they will...
Berkshire Museum
Adopt a Schoolyard Tree
Help young scientists connect with nature and learn about trees with a fun life science lesson. Heading out into the school yard, children choose a tree to adopt, taking measurements, writing descriptions, and drawing sketches of it in...
Curated OER
Postcards From The Wilderness
Students examine and discuss various landscapes from the Getty Museum. They create postcards featuring landscapes that incorporate rubbings to create texture. They write letters on the backs of their postcards describing their landscapes.
Curated OER
In Depth: Pearblossom Highway
Students analyze a photograph and a photo-collage showing the same highway. In this visual arts instructional activity, students write a descriptive paragraph about both images and identify one-point perspective in art. Students then...
Curated OER
And Then What Happened?
Learners analyze paintings by using verbs, adjectives, and nouns. In this visual arts lesson, students view a painting of a storm and a calm sky. Learners use various verbs and adjectives to discuss the characteristics of each painting....
Curated OER
Responding To Rembrandt's Work Through Poetry
Students write poetry in response to Rembrandt's landscapes and portraits. They create accompanying illustrations based on interpretations of Rembrandt's work and present them along with the poems in book format.
Curated OER
Going West: The Artist Who Painted the Way
Fifth graders study the artists and artwork of the Westward movement. In this Westward Movement lesson set, 5th graders examine the characteristics of the art of this era. They look at the lives of the artists and think about how the art...
Curated OER
Perspective
Learners create oil pastel landscape paintings in this middle-level Art lesson on perspective, horizons, foreground, background, and middle ground. The lesson includes resource links to books on teaching art and perspective.
Curated OER
Vincent's Flowers
Learners create sunflower paintings using pastels, pencils, and construction paper in this Art lesson plan for the early-elementary classroom. Emphasis is placed on the artwork of Vincent van Gogh and the book Camille and the Sunflowers...
Curated OER
Whoever You Are
Students examine cultures, traditions, and feeling throughout cultures. In this cultural lesson, students use literature, maps, and cultural information to examine how people have universal feelings despite their different cultures and...
Curated OER
Finding the Animals: A Visual Exploration of Art
Students participate in a thirty-second look, followed by a class discussion about Jan Brueghel's painting The Entry of the Animals into Noah's Ark. They use description words and sentences to write about their favorite animal in the...
Curated OER
What Does It All Mean?
Students investigate the symbolism and meaning of samplers in American history. In this American history and sampler lesson, students examine pictures of original samplers and look at lists of the symbolism included in them. They connect...
Curated OER
Watching Wheatstacks
Students explore basic shapes in Monet's paintings Wheatstacks, Snow Effect and Morning. They study about light and shadows through reading and experimenting with three-dimensional models and flashlights.
Curated OER
Foil Action Figures
Learners create a foil sculpture representative of a human figure and a landscape drawing as a backdrop for their figure.
Curated OER
Hoosier Artists
Students examine the paintings of various Indiana artists. Using the internet, they relate the landscapes shown to the history of the state and how it affected Native Americans. Using the information they gathered, they write story...
Curated OER
Voices From Your Heart
Students create individual representations of Chinese calligraphy symbols in this cross-curricular lesson for the elementary Language Arts or Art classroom. One enrichment activity is included.
Curated OER
Fall Reflections
Young scholars create a multi-media landscape of a tree in fall color. They use the Y-method of drawing a tree.
Curated OER
The Reality of Life in the 1930s
Students examine the life style of the 1930's using art, music, the Internet and interviews as resources. They complete worksheets including a Venn diagram comparing two pieces of artwork. They determine what life during the Great...
Curated OER
Bringing Dinosaurs Back to Life
Students explain how the earth makes fossils and how dinosaur remains become fossils. In this Bringing Dinosaurs Back to Life lesson, students solve paleo-puzzles which ask students to solve problems as if they were paleontologists....