Curated OER
Ancient Aztecs
Is it a calendar? A religious symbol? A political statement? One thing for certain is that Aztec sun stone designs remain an important symbol in Mexican cultural art. Young artists craft their own Aztec Sun design incorporating ideas...
Curated OER
Introduction to Myths, Fables, and Legends
Middle schoolers identify elements of myths, fables, and legends as they read an example of each. After reading an example of each type of story, they list elements from each. They compare and contrast these features by...
Hamilton Schools
Figurative Language
What's the difference between a simile and a metaphor? Show language arts learners a presentation that identifies different types of figurative language used in poetry.
Folger Shakespeare Library
Julius Caesar Curriculum Guide
You needn't beware using Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in your classroom. You, too, can be valiant and let loose your young actor's creativity, guided by the suggestions in a curriculum guide so filled with a delightful mix of elements...
Student Achievement Partners
Eleven
Turning 11 comes with a range of emotions. Explore those emotions by reading the short story "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros. Readers analyze the main character's reactions to the events of her day. Then, they write an essay describing what...
Incredible Art
Starry Night Interpretation
Young artists are encourage to develop greater imaginative freedom and post their impressions of Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night in a series of activities based around the famous painting. Class members watch a film biography of van...
Curated OER
Leading into Good Writing
Discuss the importance of a lead in writing with your upper graders. They examine several examples of leads from literature and practice writing leads for pieces of artwork. They then select a topic from a list and write an introductory...
Curated OER
Thrilling Information: Music and Reading
Here’s a cross-curricular program music activity that uses Peer Gynt to engage class members. Groups take one section of “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” choreograph their section of the tune to represent the story as they imagine it,...
Scholastic
Literacy Activities for Any Time
As the title suggests, this packet is loaded with activities that can be used at any time. The common element in all the exercises is that they are connected to books by Dr. Seuss.
Curated OER
Joseph Stella Art: Line Designs
Students discover the focal point in pictures and create their own images using lines and space. In this art analysis instructional activity, students create a black dot on a white paper which becomes a focal point for the lines...
Curated OER
4-H Line & Design Activity Page
What a great activity for students. This 4-H activity sheet has students organize their bedroom, and make clothing, focusing on line and design.
Curated OER
Gesture Drawing
Students investigate the use of proportion using gesture drawing as the subject matter. They create a painting using the elements of art and principles of design.
Curated OER
Line and Design
With photography as the focus, students learn about line and design. Learners take pictures, and use the photos as a means to analyze artistic elements.
Curated OER
Principles of Design
Students study the principles of design by viewing a PowerPoint presentation and then find examples of those principles in magazines. They look through magazines or sketch clothing that exhibit the principles of design and show their...
Curated OER
Rhythm and Art: Painting
High schoolers make connections between music and visual art. In this integrated arts lesson, students design paintings that challenge them to examine the relationship between art elements and principles.
Curated OER
Handout #3-Setting Found Poems
What is a Found Poem? Use excerpts of the setting presented in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men to inspire Found Poetry. An explanation is given, and the second page houses an example of a Found Poem inspired by Black Boy, but you'll...
Blackboard
Advanced Placement English Literature End of Year Project
The projects on this list, designed specifically for AP English literature, should challenge even your best students. Although the activities would certainly provide opportunities to review for the exam, the assignments are complex and...
Curated OER
Contour Drawing
Students create a contour drawing of a hand creating an illusion of depth. After a brief demonstration of contour drawing, students practice by creating pictures of various objects. The final project consists of creating a contour...
Curated OER
Food Pyramid
Here is an engaging cross-curicular lesson which incorporates elements of language arts and heatlh. Groups of learners are assigned to one vowel sound. They work together to find pictures of food out of a booklet that have the long vowel...
Curated OER
Masking Tape Masterpieces
Students create non-objective art based on the design elements of line, color, balance and movement using tape. This simple lesson plan encourages students to create patterns by overlapping and defining lines on a canvas panel. One of...
Curated OER
Collective Poetry: Teaching Tolerance
Help your class create collective poetry following a simple, engaging model from Teaching Tolerance (tolerance.org). Each young poet writes five things on an index card: sayings from others, favorite sound, favorite place, favorite...
Curated OER
Name Patterns
Here is a fun, colorful, and engaging art project that is sure to get your kids excited! They make a piece of art using watercolor paints, and by making a design out of the letters of their first name. This would be a fantasti art...
Curated OER
Collaborative Literature Circle For the 21st Century
Using ichat or Edmodo 4th -6th graders participate in an inter-school literature circle. Students from two different schools pair up online through ichat and use a blog to conduct a book circle. This lesson is wonderful; it fully...
Curated OER
Humor in the Movies
Lighten the mood in your film class (or film as lit class) with this amusing presentation. From pictures of Sacha Baron Cohen as his infamous character Borat to a play-by-play of jokes and exaggerated plot lines in many popular movies,...