John Lentine
Butterflies and Bugs
Symmetry, line, shape, art, and math are all connected through a fun hands-on craft. Included are instructions to a classic activity, where learners create butterflies to show symmetry in nature and then discuss symmetry in math. It is...
Curated OER
Mississippi Trial, 1955: Culminating Writing Project (Multi-Genre Final Portfolio)
Designed as the final project concluding a study of Mississippi Trial, 1955, readers select a character from Crowe's novel and craft a portfolio of six entries that reveal not only aspects of the character, but similarities between the...
August House
Anansi Goes to Lunch - Pre-Kindergarten
In a multidisciplinary lesson plan, you will focus your instruction around the West African folktale, Anansi Goes to Lunch by Bobby and Sherry Norfolk while your little learners sing songs, play games, participate in a grand...
Curated OER
Wired with Alexander Calder
Kids consider how the body functions and moves, how each structure has a specific movement and purpose. They apply that idea as they construct a sculptural piece that moves. For inspiration they look to the work of Alexander Calder,...
Dick Blick Art Materials
Fauvism is for the Birds!
Here's a art project that lets kids use bold colors to express their inner wild beasts, and maybe even attract a few wild birds. Using old picture frames, canvases, and screen mesh, young fauvists craft bird feeders and decorate their...
Curated OER
Langston Hughes Was a Dreamer Too
Encourage your pupils to imagine their own dreams for the future. After studying three poems by Langston Hughes and listening to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech, young poets craft their own dream stanza.
Curated OER
Understanding King's Use of Metaphors in the
One of the most famous and well-crafted speeches of all time, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, consists of rich metaphors and rhetorical language. Using a provided graphic organizer, students analyze five quotes...
National First Ladies' Library
Designing an Appalachian Folk Art Museum
Learners investigate the concepts related to the Appalachian area and the movement of Folk Art. They conduct research using a variety of resources and use the samples as inspiration for creating their own works of art. They could...
California Education Partners
Letter From Birmingham Jail
To demonstrate their ability to comprehend complex text, ninth graders are asked to craft an essay in which they use evidence drawn from "Letter From Birmingham Jail" to analyze how Martin Luther King, Jr. uses rhetorical devices such as...
Curated OER
Shoe Shine
Young artists use Paintstik colors on paper, canvas, metal, fabric or another surface to create a work of art to be presented in a gallery. Students research the origins of the "Snakebasket" they are creating. These art lessons produce...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Puppet Scenes
Explore character, plot, and setting through dramatic puppet play. Second graders discuss basic story elements and then practice making a character with their sock puppets. After they've crafted a dynamic puppet, they pair up to create a...
Curated OER
Craft Revival: Shaping Western North Carolina Past and Present
Students gain an understanding of a resident's lifestyle of North Carolina. They analyze five objects the are representation of the culture of North Carolina. Critical thinking skills are used to describe the geography through using the...
Curated OER
Analyzing Persuasion
A reading of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech launches a study of rhetorical devices such as hyperbole, allusion, metaphor, simile, personification, connotative language and parallel structure. Class members then...
DC Vote
One Kid, One Vote
Learn about why the citizens of Washington, D.C. feel unrepresented in Congress with an article about D.C voting rights. Individuals read about the movement toward congressional representation in Washington, D.C., before answering...
Curated OER
The Five Senses Kids Activities and Crafts
Students make binoculars to reinforce fine motor skills. In this fine motor skills lesson plan, students use colorful materials such as toilet paper rolls, craft paper, crayons, glue, scissors and yarn to make binoculars. By doing this...
Curated OER
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau lessons and activities can provide a way for students to compare and contrast different artistic styles.
Curated OER
Picturing America: Images and Words of Hope from Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes
A carefully crafted three-day instructional activity integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The...
Curated OER
Dancing the Colors of Birds
Students explore colors through storytelling and dance. In this visual arts lesson, students view the painting "Bird and Cornstalk Rug" and identify three colors. Students express how the colors make them feel through the rhythm of...
Learn NC
Buffalo Soldiers
"Stolen from Africa, brought to America,/Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival." Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldiers" provides high schoolers an opportunity to explore the rich history of the Rastafarians in Jamaica and the Buffalo...
Teaching Channel
Storyboard Lesson Plan
Good books are accessible through a variety of literary lenses. To consider how the same story can be seen in different lights, groups develop a storyboard for a movie teaser that would focus on one of six concepts found in Suzanne...
Curated OER
Fredrick Douglass' Speech on Women's Suffrage
“When a great truth once gets abroad in the world, no power on earth can imprison it, or prescribe its limits, or suppress it.” These words come from Frederick Douglass’ April, 1888 speech to the International Council of Women. One of...
Polk Bros Foundation
Governor Deval Patrick's Inaugural Speech
“America herself is an improbable journey.” So is Deval Patrick’s journey from the South Side of Chicago to the governorship of Massachusetts. The complete text of Patrick’s inaugural speech, delivered outdoors facing Boston Common,...
Gobal Oneness Project
Passionate Pursuits
Not all technology is digital. Teach learners about the low-tech maker movement with a photo essay about six artisans from California and two articles about the local creator movement. After tackling the photo essay in small groups,...
National Education Association
Read Across America Classroom Activity Guide
Celebrate the legendary Dr. Seuss on Read Across America Day with a plethora of activities set to five stories—The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who, Oh, the Places You'll Go!, and Green Eggs and Ham. Activities include...