Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Learning Network: Re-envisioning Classic Stories

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Readers reflect on enjoyable stories they know, brainstorm criteria that make a story "good," analyze a New York Times article about innovative children's performances, re-envision classics on their own, and peer edit drafts. Use this as...
Unit Plan
Film Foundation

To Kill a Mockingbird: What Is a Movie?

For Teachers 6th - 10th
The challenge film makers face when creating a film based on a novel or nonfiction text is the focus of a interdisciplinary resource that uses To Kill a Mockingbird to teach viewers how to read the visual images of film. A...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Day One Dance Workshop

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders complete a unit of lessons on the definition of dance. They view videos of various dances, compare/contrast the dances viewed, categorize a list of words about dance on a handout, write journal responses, and perform dance...
Lesson Plan
Memorial Art Gallery

Art Alive! - Towing a Boat, Honfleur

For Teachers 1st - 12th
Color, light and shadow, the placement and size of objects. These are some of the tools artists used to tell their stories. Model for learners how to read a painting by closely examining these features. The richly detailed packet...
Lesson Plan
Memorial Art Gallery

Art Alive! - Beach at Blue Point

For Teachers 1st - 12th
And then what happened? Class members engage in a series of activities that model for them how to read the story in a painting. Participants respond to questions that ask them to closely examine the elements in William Glackens'...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

High Anxiety

For Teachers 6th - 12th
The Learning Network section of the New York Times produces high-quality teaching materials. This issue gets middle or high schoolers reading an article about how people use art to express their response to high-stress events. They work...
Activity
Orlando Shakes

West Side Story: Study Guide

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Hey, enough frabbajabba about that stool pigeon, Daddy-O! Using the West Side Story study guide, scholars explore the language of the play and read about its historical associations and themes. Pupils also engage in a Spectrum of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

THE PEN VS. THE SWORD: LYRICAL RESPONSES TO A NATION AT WAR

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars brainstorm lists of songs that were written in response to American wars; consider the patterns in the lists they create.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How the Kangaroo Got Its Pouch

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students perform a play based on a legend. In this performing arts lesson, students read the legend Kangaroo Gets a Pouch and brainstorm ways to turn the story into a play. Students prepare for a short play, including costumes and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Drama-Dialogue

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Use drama to study and practice dialogue. Creative minds discuss what dialogue tells about a character, and how it can be used to advance the plot. They read a play, think about what they gleaned from dialogue, and record their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Planet Dance

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers examine Anna Halprin's philosophies and choreography and perform one of her Planet Dances. They find a site that inspires them to create a dance based on the environment's design, levels, textures, and atmosphere.
Activity
Orlando Shakes

Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!): Study Guide

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
What do Ebenezer Scrooge, the Grinch, and Frosty the Snowman have in common? They're all characters from beloved holiday movies that viewers revisit in the play Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!). Scholars conduct research...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tonic Chord in "The Star-Spangled Banner" (Grades 5-8 Chorus).

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students demonstrate perception of the root, third and fifth of the tonic chord by appropriate movement responses. They analyze and describe music. Students listen to the middle C played on the keyboard and sing to it on the syllable do.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Problem Page Letter

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discuss a dramatic situation involving realistic characters and create response "letters" to the situation in this Drama lesson plan for the high school classroom. The lesson plan emphasizes the study of empathy and sympathy as...
Activity
Orlando Shakes

Les Misérables: Study Guide

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A writer has the responsibility to defend the less fortunate members of society. At least that was the view of Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables. The novel is the subject of a study guide from Orlando Shakespeare Theater....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

It's About You

For Teachers K - 4th
Students build connections between census information and community decision-making by reading a reader's theater script. In this reader's theater lesson plan, students practice reading fluently and learn about the government. The...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Functional Public Sculpture? Let's build a"Reading Wall"!

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students interview a brick sculptor and aid in building a brick wall. They write expository paragraphs explaining the sequential process of building a reading wall. They create reading wall sketch designs. Students carve their names and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rhythmic Movement Skills

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Young scholars explore rhythmic movements. In this performing arts lesson, students create their own movements and then repeat the each others movement. Finally, young scholars create movements to the Haiku generated by the entire class.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

That's Dope - Part 1

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate drugs in sports. For this performance enhancing drugs lesson, students discuss the uses for steroids in medicine and sports. Students utilize the web to play a steroid related game, view media clips of their favorite...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

EXPRESSIVE QUALITIES

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students create a dance that expresses a specific mood. They describe the composition in writing and explain how they would alter actions, movement qualities and spacing to convey a new mood. They perform the dance they created...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plodding and Breaking Through:Walking and Carrying

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students analyze and describe the contributions of various dance artists, performers, teachers, and choreographers. In this dance lesson, students fill in any gaps of knowledge they have in regards to dance training and choreographic...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Internet Filter Infiltration

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore the effects of Internet filters in schools. They work in small groups to survey different types of people in the school community about their views on school Internet filters and draft an Internet policy based on their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

When Clay speaks

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Young scholars listen as the teacher reads "When Clay Sings," by Byrd Taylor. They discuss clay, and view a variety of clay items. Students watch a video clip "Interests in One of a Kind Pots." They watch a demonstration on working with...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Art of Illustrator Eric Carle

For Teachers 1st
First graders use two-dimensional and three-dimensional media and techniques to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories in works of art. They use media and tools in a safe and responsible manner