Teaching Tolerance
Fairness Fair
How can we create a more fair world? Chances are, class members have some ideas! After reading a text about fairness, individuals create skits around the ideas of fairness. Extend the learning and make their presentations a...
Museum of Modern Art
Modern Art and Ideas
The Museum of Modern Art provides this educators' guide to Dada and Surrealism. Featuring the works of such artists as Jean Arp, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, and Meret Oppenheim among others, the guide is ideal for art history and...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Illustrating Text
Ideas like this are highly effective for helping build better reading comprehension. The class listens to an excerpt from a grade-appropriate text, and they discuss what clues or words helped them visualize the scene. They then read a...
Curated OER
Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor
Need a musical activity for your drama or performing arts class? VH1 has put together a really neat activity, in which learners use biographical information about Alicia Keys to write and perform a one-act musical related to her life....
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Brain Inspiration
"Neuroscientists consider Cajal as important to their discipline as Einstein is to physics." The first of four lessons has scholars view Santiago Ramon y Cajal's drawings of neurons. They reflect and respond to the art through writing...
Curated OER
Color Your Destiny
Eighth graders read and discuss a variety of children's books that deal with feelings, self-concept and how they affect a person's perceptions of themselves as well as their world. They also tie in interrelationships of visual and...
Curated OER
Keith Haring & Social Awareness
Students view four sections of one of Haring's paintings. They describe the people and characters they see. Students participate in a variety of classroom art activities such as: Making a treasure box modeled after Keith Haring's work,...
Curated OER
Art and Culture of France
Lessons about France can cover art, history, and the colonization of Africa.
Curated OER
Flamenco And Its Origins
Middle schoolers discuss the role Islamic culture had on the development of Flamenco music in this General Music activity for the middle-level classroom. Resource links are provided. The activity emphasizes the creation of group posters.
Curated OER
Fifties/Sixties Musical Playwriting Workshop
Students write a coherent script based on characterization, theme, conflict and emotional tone as found in the songs' lyrics and develop an understanding of the enjoyment that comes through discipline and hard work leading toward a...
Curated OER
Fit Kid
Young scholars practice and perform the song "Fit Kid" while learning the basics of motion and music and dynamics in this elementary-level instructional activity for the General Music classroom. The instructional activity emphasizes...
Curated OER
Singing In Canon
Third graders analyze and discuss the four seasons and how each can be represented in song form. This lesson is intended for the third grade Music classroom but could be adapted for any elementary grade. State and National Standards...
Curated OER
Wiggly Spiders
Students create "wiggly spiders" using black paint, construction paper, yarn, and their hands in this fun, messy, art lesson for the early elementary classroom. An ideal lesson for the Halloween holiday or for a lesson/unit on spiders.
Curated OER
What Do Scientists Do?
Students do a report on distinct scientific fields using the Internet resources provided. They see the connection between what they learn in the classroom and what goes on in the enterprise of science.
Curated OER
The Tango
Fourth graders explore the music of Buenos Aires as they hear and then dance the Tango. They practice basic Tango rhythm, learn to sing the song, "Any Turkey can Tango," then practice a few Tango-riffic dance steps with a partner....
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Strangest Dream
Do words change or add meaning or interest to a work of art? The final instructional activity in a four-part series on the beautiful brain as a work of art focuses on art analysis. Scholars write a story about exploring art from the...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Do You See What I See?
Can art play tricks on your eyes, and can a still painting really appear to vibrate? The second lesson in a four-part series discusses the way our beautiful brains translate visual images. It highlights the style of optical art and...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Step Inside the Brain
Before digital microscopes, scientists hired artists to draw the things visible in the microscope. Through training in neuroscience and art, Cajal revolutionized the way we view the beautiful brain. The third lesson in a series of four...
Curated OER
Image Transfer and Printmaking With Clay and Under Glazes
What a creative lesson! Learners make sushi dishes using printmaking methods. They use a variety of techniques including those involving under glazes and clay. There are instructions and pictures to make this process easy for both...
Curated OER
Protest Songs
Students analyze and perform an American social protest song. They describe its historical setting, consider the effectiveness of the music and recognize that popular music is a reflection of American culture.
Curated OER
Behind the Movie Chicago - Lesson 1
Young scholars are introduced to the genre of the musical film. They become aware of the music and dance trends of the 1920s. They identify musical motive as a basis for unity in composition.
Curated OER
Sam Samurai
Students study the history and culture of 17th century Japan by examining samurai. They review the format of haiku poetry and examine renga poetry. They examine Kamishibai, the Japanese storytelling form and apply it five facts they...
Curated OER
Draw Like an Egyptian
Young scholars craft their own Egyptian art. In this ancient Egyptian art lesson plan, students explore Egyptian art and create their own work following the 4 guidelines presented in the lesson plan.
Curated OER
Textured Pottery using Self-Hardening Clay and Multicultural Design
Students create textured pottery. In this multicultural arts lesson plan, students follow step-by-step directions to create textured pottery with a multicultural design out of self-hardening clay.