The process may be difficult, but the end product will be worth it. Kids will love creating these plaster masks made from their own faces. If they can sit still long enough, they can become the model for their own masks. All the steps,...

Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...

Learners will need to discuss the Civil War to truly understand the painting Peace and Plenty by George Inness. They'll analyze the painting in terms of context, style, and technique. Then, they'll experiment with light and composition...

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...

After walking in a nearby neighborhood, have your class create this amazing city street pop-up. They study the facades of the buildings they see, focusing on geometric line, shape, and architecture. They then draw, cut, and create a city...

Students use a scene from a book and make it come alive in movie clips.

Know how to use your tools before you can become a great creator! Here, learners experience their drawing tools using various degrees of pressure as they draw contour lines. This is a preparatory skills practice intended for use prior to...

Partners choose, research, and analyze fictional or historical characters and design character life boxes to represent them. They also compose a rhyme royal, which they understand inductively by deconstructing examples. Based largely on...

Your class can create their own Samurai identity with craft paper and a little imagination. Learners will discuss what life was like for a Samurai warrior, and then they will make representations of what they would look like as a...

Here is a great little reading and vocabulary development lesson created just for learners with special needs. The lesson is constructed with both core content and necessary adaptations in mind. The group will use PECS, pointing/gesture,...

Kids explore primary and secondary colors, as well as the concepts of tints and shade in a series of color lessons. The packet includes detailed directions for how to use BrainPOP Jr. resources to create learning...

Students discover characterization techniques and methods. In this characterization instructional activity, students choose favorite fiction characters and discuss what makes a character come alive. Students then describe a family member...

How are chemical bonds similar and how are they different? Provide your young chemists with the resources to more thoroughly understand the concepts of ionic and covalent bonds. Pupils research these topics, diagram examples of each...

Young scholars create an airship that doesn't use fossil fuel. In this flying lesson, students research different types of flying machines that only use wind power. They discuss invention designs by Alexander Graham Bell and Leonardo Da...

Students consider what makes a movie, television show, musical talent, or artist a cult classic and create descriptive lists of items from these phenomena that may be sold at auction.

Show a video clip that descripes how taking a journey can change a person's outlook on life. Learners write a paragraph about a place that uses imagery and tone to create a specfic effect. They evaluate their journal entries as well.

Investigate "respect" with your class. They will participate in a think/share activity in which they complete sentence starters about their personal experience with "respect." Then they view a video clip in which Holocaust survivors...

Examine the changing nature of language in the U.S. View and discuss excerpts from a PBS documentary with your class and then conduct Internet research, and complete a team project on the evolution of teen expressions. 

Scholars learn to use digital cameras to take pictures of natural subjects. They will examine the use of digital cameras, how to download photos, and to develop a digital project. They take nature pictures and develop a Power Point or...

Editing is a major part of making an amazing film. Young film makers examine a clip from the movie Citizen Kane. They then discuss two editing techniques and examine them in other films. They write out short scenes, film them, and then...

Analyze magazines as a class, looking carefully for the target audience, advertisements, and topics presented. Small groups then work as a publication team and receive a magazine that they have to "sell." Each individual has a different...

How tall is the Empire State Building? Lead your class through a collaborative estimation activity to determine the number of quarters it would take to reach the top and teach the following concepts: human capital, human resources,...

Grouchy? Sad? Here's a great resource that shows kids how music can be used to lift their spirits. Kids collect and chart data on the effects of music on emotions. After analyzing the results of their experiment, they develop...

The urbanization and consumerism of modern China is the hot topic up for critical analysis. Kids view a series of photographs that specifically describe Chinese modernization, urbanization, consumerism, and waste. They discuss each...