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Figurative Language: Simile and Metaphor
What is figurative language? Introduce your young learners to the most popular forms of figurative language: the simile and the metaphor. Start by reading "Willow and Ginkgo" by Eve Merriam, and identify where similes are used. Then look...
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Publishing Written Reports
Seventh graders discuss the importance of presentation in report writing. They prepare and publish written reports on pre-selected topics. Students use various media, including covers and visual aids.
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Paste Papers
Students combine acrylics with School Smart Art Paste to paint paper and to explore color mixing.
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Double Exposure Lesson Plan: Artistic Analysis of a Photograph
Students view photographs on Web module, practice answering questions of analysis, and identify artistic qualities of photographs by applying the analysis of elements of art.
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Introduction To Film Editing
Students are introduced to the role of a film editor and to two common film-editing techniques: continuity editing and montage (discontinuity) editing. By viewing video clips, students identify and define these two editing styles.
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Expressive Hands with Stippling Value Shading
Students create a larger than life modified contour drawing of hands in an expressive situation. Hands have linear value, contain a object, and have a patterned background.
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Traveling Through Time and the Consideration of Design
Students develop a greater understanding of how societal and environmental effects existing during each period of time impacted the development of design styles. In this technology lesson plan, students develop an awareness of what those...
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Our Side of the Story: African Americans Share Their Experiences of Slavery
Seventh graders listen to a variety of folktales sharing experiences of slavery. As a class, they compare and contrast reading a story and telling a story. They participate in a role play activity to discover the journey of a slave and...
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Choreography Project
Students produce a short choreography composition. Specific guidelines and choice of music are provided. The grade/evaluation takes place in the form of video documentation and a teacher-created rubric.
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Looking At French Decorative Arts: Makers of Nothing, Sellers of Everything
Students compare/contrast the role of merchant to that of his modern-day business counterpart. They role-play that they are 18th-century merchants, and write persuasive letters to sell French beds for clients.
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Digital Dada
Students explore the concept of photomontage the juxtaposition of photo images and fragments of images to create new images and meanings. To research Hannah Hoch and the Dadists who created them. To incorporate digital technology in the...
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Helping Others
Students explore philanthropy. In this service learning lesson, students read The Seven Chinese Brothers, identify the elements of the story, and then go out in the world to help others by sharing their talents.
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Analyzing Photographs: From Theory to Practice
Students analyze photographic images and use cameras to document their own life. For this analyzing photography lesson, students apply formal analysis techniques to images, then create a documentary of photographic images with...
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Plodding and Breaking Through:Walking and Carrying
Students analyze and describe the contributions of various dance artists, performers, teachers, and choreographers. In this dance activity, students fill in any gaps of knowledge they have in regards to dance training and choreographic...
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Rhythmic Expression
Students discover movement and expression to music/sound through a series of teacher-led exercises and role plays. This lesson is ideal for the middle school drama class with possibilities for adaptation to any level of drama or general...
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Uncovering Personalities in Othello
Students explore a unique way to view the personalities of the characters in William Shakespeare's play "Othello." They facilitate online research "deconstructing" poetry and performing scenes from the play with costumes and props.
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Chrysanthemum
Young scholars identify the main story elements in the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. In this literacy lesson, students listen to the book and use a guided reading ball check for comprehension. Young scholars answer questions such...
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Checkmate: The Play's The Thing
Students investigate the Middle Ages and it's relation to the theater. In this acting lesson, students read Arthurian stories form the Middle Ages and practice using vocabulary words from the Medieval Times. Students write a...
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Music-Follow the Drinking Gourd
Fourth graders study the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd." For this dance lesson, 4th graders listen to the book by the same name, listen to the music, and in small groups create a short dance illustrating a stanza from the song.
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Police Use MySpace
Students interview law enforcement officials concerning their use of the Internet to catch criminals. They research how MySpace operates. They interview staff at MySpace and its uses. They write a news feature about a criminal case...
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China CultureQuest
Students use the internet and other tools to examine the culture of China. In groups, they brainstorm a list of topics they want to know more about and practice writing Chinese letters. They create a collage to show the class what...
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Self-portrait Projects
Teacher discusses drawing of facial features with students. They then research facial features of famous artists and children's illustrators on the Internet. Students then will create a self-portrait using paper and pencil.
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I Went to the Crossroads: The Faust Theme in Music, Film and Literature
Students analyze song lyrics and discuss Faust theme in musical history. In this thematic lesson, students view a film clip and create a song lyric, poem or short story developed around the Faust theme. Students perform or present their...
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Chance Dance Compositions
Fourth graders create dances through a randomly generated process (such as throwing a dice) and perform their dances for the class. Class work is based on Merce Cunningham's "Chance Dance" and includes walking, skipping hopping, and...