Curated OER
Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Artist's Community: The Real
What is real or imagined? The lines of beauty reality, and imagination are blurred in Elizabeth Peyton's portraits of her community. Learners analyze her use of artistic technique in conveying real and imagined communities. They then use...
Curated OER
A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History
The Nashua River serves as the focal point of an investigation of the treatment of and care for natural resources. A reading of A River Rand Wild: An Environmental History by Lynne Cherry, launches the study and class members consider...
National Gallery of Canada
Memories of the Past
Explore contemporary American Indian art. After viewing a set of images, class members discuss the design elements of techniques present, as well as how these artists represent history and culture. Learners examine the parfleche and...
Dick Blick Art Materials
EZ-Grout Mosaics
Young artists create 2-D art using air-dry clay and acrylic paint in this mosaic-making activity. Kids trace their design sketch on a clay slab, cut out the pieces, and after drying, paint and mount their tile design.
Curated OER
Australian Aboriginal Art and Storytelling
Young explorers investigate Australian Aboriginal culture by listening to traditional Dreamtime stories and examining dot paintings created by Aboriginal artists. In addition, they locate the country on maps, discuss the geography of...
Curated OER
Lesson: Looking Closer: The Artwork of Wangechi Mutu
Social issues of gender and media stereotypes, begins with a multi-sensory experience. Learners view the painting Backlash Blues and make critical comments based on what they see. They then read the Langston Hughes poem and listen to the...
Curated OER
Modern Messages
Students explore the aims of artists working in various contemporary art movements, then create works in a similar art style to convey
Curated OER
Through Their Eyes: Video Taping Oral History
Students identify the stereotypes they are faced with on a daily basis. In groups, they use this information to identify the ways stereotypes are portrayed in movies and television. They use a video camera to record oral histories of...
Curated OER
The Role of the Museum
Museums play an important role in education and preservation of historically and culturally significant information and artifacts. Develop an appreciation among your learners for the scope and depth of work it takes to run a museum. They...
Curated OER
Lesson: Allison Smith: What Are You Fighting For?
Trench art is a nontraditional art form created by soldiers in trenches during wartime. Artist Allison Smith connects her art to the American Revolution and the question: "What are you fighting for?" Kids examine her art, how it connects...
Curated OER
"History of My Family"
Students explore world geography by participating in a family history project. In this U.S.S.R. lesson plan, students read assigned text regarding the Stalinist era of Russia and the intolerance that thrived there. Students answer a list...
Curated OER
Lesson: Urban China: Contemporary China
The urbanization and consumerism of modern China is the hot topic up for critical analysis. Kids view a series of photographs that specifically describe Chinese modernization, urbanization, consumerism, and waste. They discuss each...
Curated OER
African American Literature in Art
Learners compare art and literature by examining a contemporary painting by Glenn Ligon and the essay by James Baldwin that inspired it. They write an essay about a personal experience that relates to the theme of being an "outsider."
Curated OER
Sculpting a Message: From the Counter-Reformation to the Present Day
Students discuss persuasive messages in art. In this art history lesson, students research 17th- century European sculptures to find the messages given. They create their own sculptures and write press releases to explain their art.
NPR
This Isn't Right: A History of Women in Industry
Women were in the workplace long before Rosie the Riveter pushed up her sleeve. Learn about the working options available to women during the Industrial Revolution, the Progressive Era, and the Great Depression with a lesson that prompts...
Curated OER
Lesson: Ginger Brooks Takahashi: Powerstich: A Forum for Community-Building
This is a great way to build community in your school, experience process-based art, and explore the critical-thinking process. While quilting as a class collectively (just like a quilting bee) pupils listen to poetry and prose of a...
Curated OER
Determining Importance
Students hone their skills at identifying the principle story in a work of art and text. Through discussion, students assess the central and supporting stories of a work of art that is characterized by multiple layers of action and meaning.
National Gallery of Canada
Who Am I?
Connect design elements and principles to identity a culture with a discussion and related art activity. After analyzing artwork in relation to design, class members talk about personal and cultural identity. Using items that represent...
Curated OER
Modern & Contemporary
An informative study of the masters of modern and contemporary dance, including Ailey, Fokine, Balanchine, Baryshnikov, and Graham, this presentation offers students some key moments in the development of 20th century dance. Great in a...
Curated OER
A Bug's Journey
Young scholars research the art of John Baldessari. In this art history lesson, students examine Baldessari's drawing of a beetle and discuss the characteristics of these bugs. They write a story from a bug's perspective and create their...
Curated OER
To the North: A Black Family Leaves Arkansas to Find Work in Michigan
Upper elementary and middle school scholars study the economic factors that caused so many Arkansans to migrate to different parts of the country looking for work. Use this history lesson plan to help your charges gain a better...
Curated OER
Prisoner in One's Own Home
Examine the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. After reading an article from the New York Times and exploring the author's word choice, young readers find the central idea in the text and work on researching additional...
Curated OER
American Colonists Protest Song
Students explore the role of protest songs. For this early American history lesson, students research the acts passed by the British that angered colonists. Students then listen to protest songs from contemporary American history prior...
Curated OER
Examining Women's Roles through Primary Sources and Literature
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary resources. In this women's history lesson, students examine the role of women prior to and following the suffrage movement. Students also read selected pieces of women's...