Curated OER
Lesson: Unmonumental: Yesterday's News
Upper graders are tasked with developing a social consciousness as they analyze the impact of the news media. They view a presentation depicting various media events in order to understand threshold moments in history. There are three...
San Diego County District Attorney
Emotions/Feelings
Three lessons delve deep into the topic of feelings and the importance of expressing one's emotions. Through grand conversation, hands-on learning experiences, and reflective writing, scholars interpret the ups and downs of everyday...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Ingredients of a Relationship Recipe
An eye-catching hook makes a smart analogy between ingredients for a food recipe and ingredients for quality relationships. Scholars discuss and list qualities they feel contribute to positive interactions. Pupils create a recipe card...
Curated OER
Under the Sea
Tropical fish are a great subject for any art project, they are colorful, interesting, and can go along with under water themed stories read in class, learner written narratives, or Marine Biology units. This set of instructions will...
Curated OER
Seeing Art in Historical Context: An Activity to Promote Visual Literacy
Students consider works of art in their historical context. In this art in historical context activity, students are encouraged to think about and record their prior knowledge of the historical period and to make inferences about the...
Curated OER
Lesson: Communication, What's Valued, and the Written Word
Upper graders compare their cell phones to a lacquer box from the Japanese Edo Period. They consider how each is a form of communication and how the very nature of each object communicates social norms, ideology, and beliefs. A really...
Brookly Museum
Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe
Modern art is great to experience because it brings contemporary issues into everyday conversation. Upper graders consider the work of Mickalene Thomas, an artist that uses photo collage techniques to capture the beauty of African...
Curated OER
Lesson: Tomma Abts: Abstract Painting
One must first learn how to analyze art before they can properly respond to it. Here, young analysts examine six abstract pieces in a systematic and formal way. They then respond to one of the pieces in either a poem or an essay. An...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: Finding Treasures Within
Sherlock Holmes had fantastic skills of observation. Your super sleuths will examine the pattern, rhythm, texture, and color of a painting to uncover the symbolism beneath. A great instructional activity, that incorporates observation,...
Curated OER
Seeing the Image in Imagery: A Lesson Plan Using Film
In our increasingly visual society, it is often difficult for some readers to create a mental picture of a picture created only with words. An image-rich text like F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby can therefore, present a real...
Curated OER
Lesson: Younger Than Jesus: Is a Young Generation's Multimedia Work Art?
How has art changed? Are young people artists? What is art? These questions are up for discussion as critical thinkers examine several works of art expressed through multimedia. There are five different sessions outlined, complete with...
Curated OER
Bridge to Terabithia: Visualizing to Optimize Comprehension
Good readers visualize. And in our image-rich culture it is imperative that children are provided with opportunities to practice this important skill. A selection from Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends and Bridge to Terabithia,...
Haut Gap Middle School
Root Words
Scholars demonstrate their knowledge of root words aqua and aud, and develop vocabulary skills by completing of a chart, handout, and worksheet using creative thinking skills, a dictionary, and a thesaurus.
Curated OER
Maus: Making a Visual Representation
How do you represent a tragic event? Are stories of tragic events better left untold? After reading chapter two of Maus and studying other representations of the Holocaust (suggestions are included), class members create a representation...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Think Positive!
Following an attention-grabbing read-aloud, scholars brainstorm ways they can change negative thoughts into positive thoughts. Small groups plan and perform a skit that showcases one of the new ideas to uplift one's feelings....
Creative Visions Foundation
Creating Your Own Original Interpretation of the UDHR
How can visual aids enhance understanding of a complex topic? With the third of four lessons from the Introduction to the Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) set, scholars view illustrations online from the book We Are All Born Free and...
Curated OER
Positive/Negative Bugs
Bugs can be creepy - and fun! Kids create a positive and negative design by repeatedly drawing a simple insect overlaid with a geometric shape. The outcome is really neat and will help build spacial reasoning, visual acuteness, and...
Denver Art Museum
Lesson: That's Not Natural
Any time kids engage in a design project, they are building problem-solving skills, collaborative learning skills, and creative thinking skills. Upper graders take a nature walk to observe and sketch organic shapes and lines that they...
Perkins School for the Blind
Silly or Sensible?
Is it silly or sensible? That's a great question, and it's the question that will drive this entire lesson. Learners with special needs and visual impairments work together to analyze verbal information. The instructor makes a statement,...
Curated OER
Lesson: Mary Heilmann: To Be Someone
Kids consider the pure abstraction and minimalism found in Mary Heilmann's work. They analyze several of her pieces through critical discussion and then think about her use of a song title as the title of her exhibit. Learners then use a...
Curated OER
Lesson: Urs Fischer: Your Choice: Reality or Illusion?
Young analysts write a comparative essay, but about what? They compose a paper based on several critical discussion about reality and illusion, and how both are blurred in art. They analyze several theatre pieces that exemplify Brechtian...
Curated OER
Lesson: Paul Chan: "Score for the 7th Light"
Music, art, and poetry coalesce in a single exhibition, and in a single lesson. Critical thinkers analyze the Fluxus art movement as it's seen in the work of Paul Chan's 7 Lights. They consider the use of poetry and music in his work,...
Curated OER
I Have A Dream - Pastel Drawings
Discuss the meaning of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech, explore figurative language, and read about Harriet Tubman and her courage. After the discussion, learners analyze painter/author Jacob Lawrence's use of...
Curated OER
Beach Poetry
Familiarize young analysts with the relationship between words, meaning, and visual images. They consider the relationship between the painting Beach Poetry and the poem Sandpaper. They compose and illustrate an original a beach poem...