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Learning By Looking: Pueblo Indian Ceremonial Dances
Students investigate the uses of ceremonial dance in the Pueblo Indian culture by viewing videos of native dances. They listen to folk tales that explain the dances and compare the traditions of the Pueblo culture to their own culture....
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Italy: Festa del Grillo
Students examine the traditions of the Festa del Grillo in Italy and its relationship to the culture of Italy. After being shown examples, they create their own cricket out of materials found in the classroom. Using 3D, they decorate a...
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African-American Artists
Middle schoolers conduct research on a chosen African-American artist. They research how the artist's community influenced his art, analyze how themes are conveyed through the art, and create a collage depicting the artist's themes.
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Joseph Stella: Movement and Unity
Students explore line,shape,color and repetition,to create unity and movement. They discuss Joseph Stella's Battle of Lights, Coney Island and visuals of roller coasters. They use colored pencil techniques and create an artwork.
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Building Buildings
Students work together with a partnet to design a building. Using materials, they create the inside and outside of the structure along with works of art. They present their creation to the class and receive constructive criticism in return.
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Cracking Catlins's Code
Students create a chart comparing visual clues with artistic meaning. This lesson plan is designed to introduce students to the ways in which consistent patterns of gesture and pose chosen by an artist (specifically George Catlin)...
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Performance Standards/Competencies
Students research how children dressed during Colonial times. Students design and create life-sized likenesses of themselves, dressing the paper dolls in colonial dress.
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Radial Balance in the Giant Kites of Guatemala
Learners view images of the giant kites of Guatemala. They discuss the designes. Using the last image as a model, students create a radially balanced design with some variety within a motif. They write a short paragraph describing a...
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Making a Pictorial Timeline
Learners create a pictorial timeline of a biographical character. In this timeline lesson, students create a slide show illustrating the life of the person from a biography they've read. Learners also use Kid Pix to create a pictorial...
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Keeping Us in Stitches Activity: Hexagon Quilt Top Design
Students examine how the hexagon shape can be a building block for quilt patterns. They view images of quilts, discuss symmetry and design patterns, and create and name an original quilt design.
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Kimonos
Students create their own kimono design after researching the history, tradition, and techniques of kimono design and production. This art lesson can be connected easily to the Language Arts and/or Social Sciences.
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Traditions and Transformations
Students examine how traditions change over time. In this lesson on Jewish culture, students interview persons of the Jewish faith, write poems, and create murals that exemplify Jewish culture.
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Treasure of the Silk Roads
Students generate world maps that act as creative writing prompts. The prompts reflect on the cultures and history of the past through their own experiences. Students create an original writing sample.
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When I Was Young In Appalachia
Students comapre and contrast the lifestyles of the people of the Applachian region with their own community through in-class discussions, creative projects, hands-on activities, food preservation, homemade remedies, home construction,...
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Personal Homage
Students research an African American person of interest to them. Once the research is complete, they share the information with the class. They also create a visual or written portrait of the person to show their character and...
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A Trail Across the Plains
Students discuss how pioneers reached Utah, and create a mural of the pioneer trek with captions explaining what is happening along the trail.
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Japan: New Year's Day
Students discover how New Year's Day is celebrated in Japan. In groups, they create their own versions of Japanese kites using materials available to them in the classroom. They discover the signifigance of the kites to their culture and...
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High Rollaway Heroes
Students work collaboratively with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to preserve a local historical and environmentally fragile site. They conduct a survey of the plant and animal life at the site, and create an informational...
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Ancient Chinese Tomb Building
Middle schoolers compare and contrast the monuments erected for George Washington, the first president of the United States, and Qin Shi Huangdi (r. 221- 210 BCE), the first emperor of China. This lesson also includes a creative project.
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Water: From Neglect to Respect
The goal of this collection of lessons is to make middle schoolers more aware of the ways in which they are dependent upon water to maintain their standard of living. Learners compare water use in Lesotho to water use in the United...
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Northwest Coast Indians: Spring and Summer Salmon
Here is a fabulous lesson plan about the cultures of the Northwest Indians. Through an exploration of a story about the Salmon People, learners study the practice of harvesting salmon and the cultural importance of salmon to the...
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Murals
Students investigate how murals portray cultural expression. They study the history of mural making, explore its symbolism and design a mural of their own.
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We Are Reflections of Canada - Our People, Our Places, And Our Landscape
Sixth graders discover that they are active participants in Canadian culture. They engage in investigation of the past and various symbols of Canada. They explore their concept of culture and demonstrate an understanding of culture...
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Renaissance Man Comparison Poster
Students watch a PBS video entitled Suleiman to help them identify characteristics associated with Renaissance notables. After watching the video, individually or in small groups, the students will research a notable Renaissance figure...