Children's Day is a beloved Japanese holiday with many colorful and engaging traditions. On this national holiday celebrated yearly on May 5, children are honored for their strengths and given good wishes for happiness. Your younger...

Familiar with the systems-based sports drawing of experimental artist Lee Walton? If so, this drawing exercise if for you. Young artists observe an activity over time, develop a coded language for the activity, and then draw a...

Using the Note Names and Values SMART notebook file, review the whole, half, quarter and eighth note with students. Students sing "Apple Tree Song." They add body percussion, and then instruments. Students use the SMART apple tree, they...

Tenth graders complete a variety of activities related to the first two chapters of the book The Outsiders. They define metaphor, simile, idiom, and hyperbole, and take a vocabulary pre-quiz. In small groups, they write a character...

Discuss strategies for defining word your young readers don't know. They read sentences with key words covered by sticky notes and guess from the context what the word might be. They peek at the first letter and guess again.

Students work through a Haiku Organizer to determine the characteristics they use to write eight haiku poems on a theme that they choose. They design presentation folders of their completed work.

Gustav Holst's The Planets provide young musicians an opportunity to examine how composers can create a suite: a collection of smaller pieces grouped to explore a single topic. After listening to "Jupiter," they examine "Mars" in...

Learn two new letters a week with this activity! After learning the two target letters, the class will make an alphabet video "performing" each letter. The letter's name, sound, and a motion associated with it will be included in the...

Allow your class to use their imaginations and create fun creatures with various wooden shapes and other embellishments. What a great way to encourage your young artists to stretch their minds!

Show your school spirit! Class members use instruments or sing along and employ what they have learned in the two previous lessons to perform their school's songs.

Explore point of view and more with a Common Core-designed instructional activity. Learners experience different points of view by representing one of two characters from Esperanza Rising during a partner discussion. They must use...

Pupils explore the concept of design, and identify items in their lives that have been designed. They explore the concept of book design and create and arrange their own page layout.

Students discuss the history and purpose of cartouches. They examine examples of cartouches and design an original example with symbols of their choosing.

Students play the beats of mariachi music. In this mariachi lesson plan, students listen to mariachi music and discuss why music is important.

Students identify characteristics in a Latin American film. In this filmography lesson, students describe their favorite movies and the reasons why they like them. Students are shown a short clip of a Latin American movie and discuss the...

Students work with a partner by using the symbol bracelets from instructional activity #1. They that has the number #1 look at the object keeping it hidden from student #2. Student number 2 then ask questions in order to determine the...

Students observe, discuss, and interpret Radcliffe Bailey's work "By the River" by creating a personal narrative of the 18th or 19th century. Internet access is required and related links are offered for teaching aides.

Second graders explore Egyptian culture, including mummification, and hieroglyphic writings. They create their own mummy case using paper and a variety of materials. Students use symmetry to create their mummy.

Pupils assemble and decorate a calendar. This is a lesson to be used at the beginning of each month to make a calendar for the month. Math concepts for this lesson consist of each student writing numbers on the calendar.

Seventh graders study about the musical rhythms and instruments of Puerto Rico. Then they construct their own instruments using recycled products. Students listen to different genres of music and define them. Students focus on the...

Students analyze portraiture with a focus on the work of Pablo Picasso. For this portraiture analysis lesson, students explore the conventions of portraiture and the elements of pose, gesture, expression, costume, and setting. Students...

Students discuss the Chinese New Year and the importance of the dragon in Chinese culture. After examining pictures of dragon puppets, students create simple dragon puppets and have their own Chinese New Year parade.

Students examine two artists Vasily Kandinsky and Marcel Breuer. In this artist analysis lesson plan, students explore the principles of Bauhaus and consider the elements of chair design. Students identify the technique of lithography...

Students research symbols from Texas history and make selections for quarter designs. In addition, they include written explanations to accompany their drawings. Coin designs cultural background and visually represent patriotism and...