Curated OER
Noisy Nora, Studious Students: Story Elements
Alliterative adjective nicknames generate stories inspired by Rosemary Wells' book Noisy Nora (also a thematic complement to any class with children who make a ruckus to get attention). Class members explore basic story elements --...
Curated OER
Poetic Elements Are Fun!
Engage your class in the elements of poetry with a series of lessons and activities. The plans cover simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, alliteration, and imagery. Learners come up their their own metaphors, identify poetic...
Kenan Fellows
What Element Would You Be?
Primo Levi wrote a collection of short stories comparing his life from Italy to Auschwitz to elements in the periodic table. Pupils read an excerpt from his book and research the characteristics of various elements. Then, they make a...
Dick Blick Art Materials
Stitch It Up!
Ever think about combining the art forms of painting and embroidery? Then this art instructional activity is right up your alley! Given a piece of white cloth, young artists first create a grayscale painting and then highlight certain...
Curated OER
Art Critic for a Day!
Middle schoolers practice evaluating art by creating a research project and presentation. They use the Internet and library to discover a piece of art or artist whom they feel has an impact on the world of art. Next, they create a...
Curated OER
Rhythm and Art: Elements of Art
High schoolers discover the three elements of art. In this visual arts instructional activity, students examine line, shape, and color of works by Torres-Garcia and Picasso. High schoolers then identify the elements of art in works by...
National Park Service
The Poet's Toolbox
If you need a lesson for your poetry unit, use two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ("Rain in Summer" and "The Slave in the Dismal Swamp") and a resource on Elements of Poetry. The lesson plan guides you through activities on...
ReadWriteThink
Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Narrative Structure
A picture is worth a thousand words, but a comic strip combines both images and words for the ultimate narrative effect. After reading The Three Little Pigs and deciphering the plot elements, elementary readers work through four...
Curated OER
Shaping the View: Composition Basics
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.
Arts & Humanities
Pizza Arts Storage Box
Where do you put all of those fantastic art projects you've done throughout the year? In a pizza box! Yes, learners will use pizza boxes to create strong vibrant portfolios for all their art work. Note: Clean pizza boxes can be donated...
Curated OER
Explore the Elements of Art
Students recognize elements of art such as texture, shape line and color. In this elements of art lesson, students create a still life picture with oil pastel or crayons. Students define elements of art vocabulary. Students relate...
Curated OER
Writing: Mentor Text Lesson & Microteaching
Mentor texts are a great way to demonstrate how to write with purpose. Pupils will be reintroduced to two well-known books and then asked to think about them from the writer's point of view. They will see that the author had to use basic...
Curated OER
Exploring Contrasting Story Elements Through Tapestry and Poetry
Young thinkers view two narrative art tapestries and study the images included that tell a story about the Roman Emperor Constantine. As they examine the details of the tapestries, pupils use a Venn Diagram to record the similarities and...
Scholastic
Spin-a-Story: Writing Prompts Chart
"But I don't know what to write about!" Now, there's a very familiar complaint. And here's a very creative solution. Young authors are given a writing prompt chart, spin three wheels that provide suggestions for the who, what, and where...
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
Come Tool Along With Me
Learners create metallic Bas-relief scultures using basic art supplies and the technique of "tooling" in this Art lesson plan with croos-curricular connections in Social Studies and Math. A scoring rubric is included for assessment and...
Curated OER
The Art and History of Japanese Calligraphy
Chinese and Japanese calligraphy is beautiful and significant in both culture and tradition. Engage your class in this expressive fine art form through a activity on using, holding, and creating brush strokes common to Japanese writing...
Curated OER
Writing Short Stories: The Fun Way
Do your young authors suffer from writer's block when they try to write short stories? Access their natural creativity with C-Gor, the writing monster! The instructional activity takes aspiring authors through a new writing process...
Brigham Young University
Understanding Design, Composition, and Color
The set for a play combines design elements (style, line, shape, mass, measure, position, color, and texture) and principles of composition (unity, harmony, contrast, variation, balance, proportion, and emphasis) to create a particular...
Curated OER
Short Story Elements
Students engage in a lesson that investigates the elements that are necessary in a short story. Each element is covered separately while they take notes for each part. Then the teacher points out each element while reading a short story...
Curated OER
Understanding Stage Design: Using Visual Elements to Provide Information to an Audience
Learners study about theatrical design by developing environments for improvised and scripted scenes. They develop focused ideas for an environment using visual elements.
Curated OER
Making a Basic Clay Animal Sculpture In-The-Round
Students create a three dimensional animal sculpture. In this sculpting instructional activity, students use white art clay, gloss glaze, brushes, and wooden tools to create an animal sculpture.
Curated OER
Keith Haring And Aboriginal Art
Young scholars explore the art of Keith Haring and examine how it relates to Aboriginal art. In this fundamentals of art instructional activity, students examine the fundamental elements of art, such as, line, symmetry, contrast,...
Pace University
Short Stories
A reading of Kevin Lamb's short story "Lost in the Woods" launches a study of how writers use elements such as foreshadowing, mood, character development, setting, and conflict to engage readers. Class members then demonstrate what they...