Bring art and society together with this highly creative and interesting lesson. Learners research various uses of masks in ceremonies. They then create a ceremony of their own and a mask to go along with it. They film themselves...

A carefully crafted three-day lesson plan integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The lesson plan...

Begin this activity by asking third graders to bring from home pieces of cloth that represent something important to them. (Have extras for students who need them.) They reflect on important events in their lives, compose narrative...

Are you teaching Modernism to your class? Connect different areas of artistic expression in the Modernist Era. Learners read T.S. Eliot, view art by Pablo Picasso, and listen to a Modernist musical composition. This final assignment is...

Third graders relate the concept of individuality of geometric shapes to the individuality of topic sentences. They write and revise a persuasive argument essay using an established rubric.

Have your class create keepsake books about themselves. This activity is a presented as a basic idea with minimal justifications or classroom applications. However, with a little effort, this could become a full lesson. Add a rubric,...

Reflection is a wonderful way to understand yourself as a learner or as an artist. Kids write a one-paragraph analysis of their own self-portrait. They focus on style, character traits, and self characterization.

Students use a rubric to analyze their neighborhood and write a persuasive essay about changes that should be made. In this writing lesson, students use a rubric to grade their neighborhood and brainstorm improvements. Students write a...

Students discover writing strategies authors use to enhance characters.  In this character writing lesson, students are read the Knuffle Bunny books by Mo Willems and analyze the story, characters and settings as they listen....

The New York Times Learning Network provides the resources that permit pupils to examine and then write and perform a fake news broadcast in the vein of “The Daily Show” or “Saturday Night Live” Weekend Update. The generated reports...

Explore how illustrations add to a story. Young learners will look at picture books to see how the pictures tell the story. They create illustrations to go with a chosen story, and then flip the activity so they have to write a story to...

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 instructional activity to a creative project unit.

What a fun idea! The class discusses, and then writes free-verse poems using sensory detail. They get into small collaborative writing teams to compose their poems. Next, they pantomime the actions from the poem while their teammates...

Stereotyping and discrimination are explored in this social justice lesson.  Students listen to the book Dragon of Brog, in which mythical characters experience discrimination. Then, they sculpt a magical character out of plasticene...

"Neuroscientists consider Cajal as important to their discipline as Einstein is to physics." The first of four lessons has scholars view Santiago Ramon y Cajal's drawings of neurons. They reflect and respond to the art through writing...

Students use dance to better understand the writing process. In this interdisciplinary lesson, students use their critical thinking skills to connect dance with writing. Students use thinking maps to follow the writing process, write a...

Students examine the writing process. They determine the needs of the readers of their story before writing. They use peer-editing to check for errors and read their story to the class.

Students research, using links to Kodak.com web pages and answer questions dealing with basic photography terms and photographic elements. They type or write out the answers. They share their finding with the class.

Patterns happen everywhere, in music, math, and language! Fourth graders listen to the "William Tell Overture" visualizing the patterns that they hear. They then discuss and write an ABA poem that matches the ABA form found in the music...

The photograph, Nellie and her Italian Soda is viewed and discussed by the class. They are instructed to use the photograph as inspiration to write a poem about non-events, or things that are beautiful in every day life. Pupils use...

Project-based learning in a music theory class? Take note. Young songwriters compose, record, copyright, and promote their original songs. They even design their own CD cover.

Ninth graders explore civil rights by reading several biographies. In this Nelson Mandela lesson, 9th graders discuss the trials and tribulations Nelson Mandela had to face in South Africa and how they were similar to the problems Martin...

Young scholars examine events of historical significance in music. In groups, they are given pieces of sheet music and work together to try to determine the social and political conditions of the time based on the lyrics. They write...

Fifth graders explore slavery conditions by viewing a video clip on the Internet. In this slave ship lesson, 5th graders discuss the transportation of black men and women from Africa to the United States in the 1700's and how poor the...