Students discover the three elements of art. For this visual arts lesson, students examine line, shape, and color of works by Torres-Garcia and Picasso. Students then identify the elements of art in works by other artists.

High schoolers create maquettes of abstract sculptures utilizing the elements of art; line, shape, value, color, space and texture and the principles of design; balance, emphasis, contrast, rhythm and movement, pattern and unity. These...

Students examine the elements of composition in various artworks. They analyze and discuss paintings, explore "The National Gallery of Art" website, identify the shape of compositions in paintings, and draw a diagram.

Prompt your class to interact with Jack London's Call of the Wild. By analyzing the events in the novel, middle schoolers discover how human experiences create who a person becomes. They critique and analyze the reading, focusing on...

High schoolers explore the symmetry and balance in the composition of a variety of art works and note how the viewer's eye is guided to the important components of the image. How these elements affect the tone of the painting and...

Students apply descriptive language to identify the five elements of art and the basic lines, geometric shapes, and angles in Marie Hull's, Sharecropper. They explain how the elements of a piece of work contribute to the story it tells....

Students explore expression in artwork. In this interdisciplinary lesson, students travel to ancient Egypt to examine abstract art of the Nile River valley through several hands-on activities.

Students are introduced to the concept of composition in visual art. They examine various compositional structures and practice identifying the focus of various pieces of art.

Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...

Is it possible to tell a true war story? Tim O’Brien says that fiction is for “getting at the truth when the truth isn’t sufficient for the truth.” To get at the truth about war, class members examine primary source materials from the...

Students clearly identify commonalities and differences between dance and other disciplines with regard to fundamental concepts such as materials, elements, and ways of communicating meaning.

Tenth graders analyze a biographical piece of art by Raymond Saunders. They identify shapes, symbols, and lines that are used, and how the piece relates to the artist's life and modern society. They design and create an original piece of...

Upper graders use the potter's wheel to make Japanese style tea cups, which they will use in a Japanese style tea ceremony. They hone their sculpting techniques while exploring Japanese cultural and the history of tea. There are two...

Have your class analyze the narrative art in quilts. They identify elements in this domestic art and the stories they tell. They define a story quilt, view an example, and analyze the work of Harriet Power. This is a great lesson to...

"A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come."  The withered and wild witches of Shakespeare’s Scottish play launch an examination of the fantastical elements in Act I, scene iii, paying particular attention to the action, imagery,...

Students practice looking skills as they reflect upon the differences between viewing original works of art and reproductions. In this art viewing lesson, students interpret a work of art using formal analysis and research done for...

High schoolers experience and enjoy the sounds of poetry. They erform sound experiments with sonnets and closely read and analyze a sonnet by Shakespeare. Students write an analysis of how sound affects meaning in a sonnet chosen from...

Take young geologists on an exploration of the rock cycle with this six-lesson earth science unit on rocks and minerals. Through a series of discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on investigations your class will learn...

Young scholars define basic design vocabulary. They examine fabrics and sort into similar piles, design a picture of a beautiful room and label each art element in the design. They read an article from an interior design magazine and...

Included in this resource are a variety of activities to do while reading Willa Cather's My Antonia. The activities, which range from mapping out Nebraska to writing activities about pioneer living, are all designed with one...

For classes tackling To Kill a Mockingbird, this lesson plan sets readers up for discussions or essay writing with questions and prompts. The prompts encourage individuals to explore beyond the novel itself, looking at...

Combine art and science with this cell structure assignment. Learners depict a cell diagram, including the organelles, imitating a specific artist's style. 

Create a graphic autobiography integrating images and text. Working within the structure of the programs Comic Life and Photoshop, pupils integrate the Principles of Design. They focus on balance, rhythm, proportion, and text structure....

Students analyze the Minerva mosaic. In this Library of Congress lesson plan, students conduct primary source analysis of the mosaic as they interpret the symbolism and mythology featured in the mosaic.