Curated OER
Traditions and Transformations
Ninth graders examine the Jewish culture from a variety of perspectives. In this ethics lesson, 9th graders interview guest speakers on the subject of Jewish culture. Students create group poems and murals around themes of...
Curated OER
Rituals
Students research and write short reports on religious or cultural rituals and create displays to illustrate their findings.
Curated OER
Inclusion/Exclusion
Students explore the time and culture of the Inuit people. They view the play Ice Wolf and discuss its importance. Students discuss the feeling of being included and excluded. They write brief stories about a real experience or...
Curated OER
Social Studies: Ancient Egypt
Seventh graders explore the history, geography, and culture of ancient Egypt. They research daily life and compare it with their present lives. Students, in pairs, trace their body outlines on poster paper and work individually to use...
Curated OER
Sanctuary: Quail Island Banks Peninsula
Students consider the connection between the past and future landscape of Quail Island. In this visual arts instructional activity, students observe existing artwork, art vocabulary, and connections to the role of social sciences when...
Brooklyn Museum
Lorna Simpson: Gathered
Lorna Simpson is a photographer who has put together a collection of photos from the 1950s in order to challenge the idea that primary source documents are objective in their portrayal of history. Learners are introduced to Ms. Simpson's...
Curated OER
How the Light Bulb Gets Switched On - The Evolution of Ideas
Young scholars discuss how people are influenced by their cultures and backgrounds, make artwork that documents creative process, write character sketch of Colonel Massey from different points of view, examine issue from different...
Curated OER
Terrific Tessellations
Students construct tesselations that fosters their ability to create, transform, and critique their own piece of work. This allows them to become aware of repeated patterns in math, and connect these patterns to artwork.
Curated OER
Making Treaties and Weaving Wampum
Students are exposed to the cultural and artistic importance of wampum belts and the importance of the belts in American history as markers of relations between the Native Americans and European settlers.
Curated OER
History in Pictures
Sixth graders interpret diary entries, letters and read maps to better understand portions of history. They create an oral presentation demonstrating understanding of how cultural characteristics have been communicated through art,...
Curated OER
The Role of the Museum
Students identify the role of the museum as a cultural resource in the community. They use primary and secondary sources to evaluate institutional, and media influences on people and society in both historical and contemporary settings.
Curated OER
Overglaze Decoration on Tile
Students explore majolica. In this art and history lesson, students glaze and decorate pottery using the decorative ceramic technique of Majolica. Students discuss visual arts and make connections with history.
Curated OER
Up Close with Author Allen Say
Students explore the Asian-American culture. They read several books written by Japanese-American author Allen Say and create questions to ask the author. Students write letters to the author.
Curated OER
Summer Festivals
Learners read about European holidays and then design their own creative festival. For this cultural awareness lesson, students use primary and secondary resources in order to uncover facts and practices that occur during European...
Curated OER
"Old 300"
Fourth graders combine art and history to assess the importance of the "Old 300." They explore a group of colonists that Stephen F. Austin brought to Texas as the first settlers and then create a time line of major events leading to the...
Curated OER
Industrialization, Chemicals and Human Health - Math
Students review the units of the metric system, and practice estimating measures before actually converting between the two systems of measurement. They participate in activities to visualize a concentration of one part per million....
Japan Society
Tanabata: Japan's Star Festival
The Star Festival or Tanbata, is a holiday celebrated in Japan every year. People make tanzakus out of paper and hang them on the trees. Pupils will learn about this culturally significant holiday while creating tanzakus of...
Curated OER
El Amor Perfecto
Students discuss the popularity of Hispanic music in the U.S. and listen to a song and discuss the refrain. They then discuss characteristics of their perfect love/friend and develop the ability to use the subjunctive in adjective...
Curated OER
African Popular Music
Students explore popular music of West Africa. In this musicians lesson, students complete listening tasks that challenge them to analyze the music of Oumou Sangare, Angelique Kidjo, and Baaba Maal.
Curated OER
Run/Walk Across America
Walk, jog, or run across America. Maps of individual states, visual progress, competition, and rewards, seem to be great motivational ideas. Make sure that the distances that each class has to walk or run are the same, because getting...
Global Oneness Project
Deconstructing Consumerism
To increase awareness and launch a discussion of consumerism, class members view What Would It Look Like, a 25 minute film of images that capture the global effects of the consumption of goods. Viewers make a list of the images that...
Curated OER
Sarcophagus
Here is another in a series of fantastic art lessons from this source. This one has young artists create a sarcophagus-style clay box! This lesson would be ideal to utilzie during a study of the ancient Egyptians. One note of caution:...
Smithsonian Institution
Dia de los Muertos: Celebrating and Remembering
Help scholars understand the history, geography, traditions, and art of Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. Find background information for your reference as well as a detailed cross-curricular lesson plan. Learners compare...
Curated OER
Landscape Confection
Students engage in a lesson about the creation of landscape paintings. This activity is meant to be done before visiting a museum. They examine the works of art in order to become familiar with the style and recreate them. Then students...