Spring Branch Independent School District
Elementary Art Curriculum Guide
Get crafting with hundreds of pages of art lessons! The plans are organized into topics, which include clay, drawing, composition and design, mixed media, painting, printmaking, and paper.
Curated OER
Follow the Leader: Line in the Visual Arts
Students explore line in painting and drawing and examine how it is defined in the visual arts. Recognizing line in the composition of a number of art works and how it affects these works of art is the focus of this lesson.
Getting to Know
Shape and Form in Art
Introduce youngsters to the important role shape and form play in art with this extensive collection of activities and projects. From teaching first graders how to create mandalas to engaging third and fourth graders in the design of...
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Everything in Its Right Place: an Introduction To Composition in Painting
Students complete a variety of activities as they study the basics of artistic composition in the visual arts.
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Repeat After Me: Repetition in the Visual Arts
Students explore one of the techniques artists often use to highlight important elements within a painting's composition and to move a viewer's eye around the canvass from highpoint to highpoint.
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An Introduction to the Relationship Between Composition and Content in the Visual Arts
High schoolers identify different kinds of narratives used in a number of art works, discuss artist's use of compositional elements to further the story and/or convey a message within a work of art, and explain relationship between...
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An Introduction to the Relationship Between Composition and Content in the Visual Arts
Young scholars investigate how artists create a story that provides a message or provokes emotions in a single image. The ways in which the composition of a painting contributes to telling the story or conveying the message is examined...
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Horse of a Different Color: An Introduction to Color in the Visual Arts
High schoolers identify ways in which the artist uses color to draw the view's attention to points within the composition and creates a sense of depth. They discuss the effect of color on the tone and mood of an artwork.
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Animal Self-portrait Mosaics: A Visual Arts Elective
Out-lined here is a two-week procedure that has the class creating ceramic animal tiles that are metaphorical representations of their own personalities. They discuss animal images found throughout history, what they mean, metaphor, and...
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Becoming an Art Critic: Graphic Organizer
You don't need to be planning a museum tour to take advantage of this graphic organizer that teaches kids how to read a work of art. The student version directs viewers' attention to the content, color, and composition, while the teacher...
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Balance in Visual Art
High schoolers examine works of art to develop an understanding of the importance of visual balance in works of art and nature. Students research artists and their artwork for examples of visual balance. High schoolers create works of...
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The Elements of Art Through Photography
Fifth graders photograph examples of the five elements of art: line, shape, color, pattern, and composition.
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Studio Art Lessons Based on Latin American Arts
Study three of the basic principles of design: l) designs should create a rhythmic pattern made up of related shapes, 2) colors should be repeated so as to not force the eye to remain with a single part of the composition, and 3) a...
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A Musical Composition Experience
Upper graders having skills in music performance will extend their abilities through creative musical composition. They'll use Finale 2000 to explore facets of music composition, they'll then compose a piece for their instrument in C, F,...
Arts Ed Washington
Art Lessons in the Classroom: Our Family
Blend art and family into one lesson with an activity involving oil pastels and watercolors. After viewing a few famous portraits of families, learners create masterpieces that represent their own families.
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Elements of Art: Student Assessment
What a neat test! The class is asked to draw and color to create examples of eight elements of art. They focus on each element (line, value, shape, form, space, texture, primary and secondary color) by creating an original piece in each...
Teaching Tolerance
Community Arts Showcase
An art showcase encourages class members to explore the themes of social justice and tolerance. They create an original artwork, engage in group discussions, and journal writing. The art gallery also provides a chance for families and...
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Night and Day: A Digital Art Lesson based on Monet's Rouen Cathedral Series
Think about your favorite place ... now, think about what it looks like at different times during the day. How does the change in lighting affect the colors you see? Young artists explore the tools available in digital art software to...
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Follow the Leader: Line in the Visual Arts
Students identify line in the composition of a number of art works. They explain how the artist's compositional choices guide the viewer's eye to important components of the image. Students identify sight lines in several paintings and...
National Gallery of Canada
The Changing Composition
Play with dimensions and practice making a two-dimensional scene look three-dimensional. Class members view pieces of art and then make their own scenes by layering different materials and drawing in details. Check out all the tabs for...
Concordia University Chicago
The Pietá by Michelangelo Buonarroti
Why is arts education so important? It builds critical thinking, analysis and creative problem-solving skills. Learners review the life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, and then analyze his piece, The Pieta. After that, they'll sculpt a human...
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Repeat After Me: Repetition in the Visual Arts
High schoolers identify repetition in the composition of a variety of art works, and how it is used to create a unified composition. They discuss compositional structure of a painting.
Memorial Art Gallery
Learning to Look, Looking to Learn - Peeling Onions
Lilly Martin Spencer's "Peeling Onions" is the subject of a series of exercises that model for learners how to use the elements of art to read a painting. A series of worksheets focus viewers' attention on how Spencer uses color and...
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Shaping the View: Composition Basics
Students are introduced to the concept of composition in visual art. They examine various compositional structures and practice identifying the focus of various pieces of art.