Second graders create a multimedia painting using warm or cool colors expressively. They demonstrate multimedia techniques in a drawing using pencil, oil pastel and tempera paints. They recognize and discuss mood created by warm and cool...

It isn't always easy to tell another person how we feel; and little ones have an even more difficult time identifying and expressing their emotions. They get a chance to discuss and explore how they can express how they feel in different...

Students explore culture and change through reading "Half Main, Half Limping Rabbit" by Nina Porzucki. In this literature and cultural activity, students discuss Dracula and other folk stories from Romania. Students identify the ways the...

Young sociologists are asked to read two photographs, identifying how the photographer uses point of view, color, pose, light, and shadow to express a stereotype of women or to challenge those stereotypes. Partners then create their own...

Identifying the tone of a piece of writing or the author's attitude toward the subject matter can be difficult for learners. Simplify the process with a lesson that begins with skits, moves to songs and their lyrics, and then to passages...

Students work through a Haiku Organizer to determine the characteristics they use to write eight haiku poems on a theme that they choose. They design presentation folders of their completed work.

Here's a handy two-page reference that briefly identifies major Greek and Roman mythological figures.

Photos can capture a complete story in a single image. Class members closely examine a photo of a homeless camp and attempt to read the story told by the picture. They then read the caption for the photograph and compare their notes with...

Take writing prompts to another level in this activity, which allows pupils to create scenes of dialogue based on the 1903 silent film, The Great Train Robbery. Useful for a language arts/history cross-curricular activity, the lesson...

Did you know that modern Chinese literature “grew from the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud”? Designed for a world literature class, seniors are introduced to “One Evening in the Rainy Season,” Shi Zhecun’s stream of...

Students identify the moods expressed in the work of several famous artists. They express an emotion in a painting through the use of color, line, and texture. Students analyze and reflect on the emotions expressed in their work and the...

Eleventh graders examine political, cultural, and social movements through music. In this 1960s American history lesson plan, 11th graders explore the music of the decade in order to better understand the complexity of the time period....

Fifth graders explore the history of women's right to vote and identify two of the leaders of the suffrage movement, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. After completing readings and discussions, they write an article for the newspaper about...

Students explore philanthropy in literature. In this cross curriculum literacy and character development instructional activity, students read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and note charitable acts described in the story. Students...

Students examine the effects of hearing loss. In this instructional activity on physical disabilities, students survey five older adults on hearing impairments. Students pool their data and compare their results with the results from...

Students discover the life of Benjamin Franklin by studying his inventions.  In this biography lesson, students identify the inventions of Benjamin Franklin and their impact on society today.  Students create a commercial in an...

A band of brothers or the Devil's agents? Nobel warriors freeing the oppressed or mercenaries working for the military/industrial complex? Groups examine poems from the Civil War, World War I, and World War II to determine the poets'...

Students are introduced to the characteristics of documentary photography. Individually, they cut out a paper frame and view their classroom through the "lens" and at different angles. After veiwing photographs, they practice...

Students listen to Haydn's "The Creation" and discuss the purpose of creation.  For this religious studies lesson, students reflect on the mood of Haydn's piece and view pictures of human inventions. They will then identify reasons...

Students contribute to discussions and identify how an artist elicits a viewer's response. They use William Henry Jackson's Pawnee Indian Village, photograph and painting. After analyzing this information, students use information gained...

Fifth graders identify specific works of art as belonging to particular cultures, times, & places, recognize & apply elements of art, learn techniques for working with each material, critique artwork, & discuss how artwork...

Students view the film "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe" and analyze it for stereotypes of mountain and hillbilly communities. They identify and discuss Appalachian values represented in the film and write a report on their observations.

Students study Greek culture, particularly as it relates to Homer's Odyssey. They examine how human activities shape the earth's surface and identify forces that influence a culture's beliefs and traditions. They determine that...

Learners examine an author's philosophical look at life through anecdotes he describes as a teacher in Uzbekistan. In this Uzbekistan lesson, students analyze a literary passage in order to identify, then practice using, similes,...