Curated OER
The Ancient Art of Shadow Puppet Plays
Shadow puppetry has an ancient past, it is also a great way to build oral expression and reading fluency. Young thespians research folk tales, compare and contrast reality and fantasy, then create and perform a shadow puppet play based...
Curated OER
Read Aloud/ Narrative Analysis
Fourth graders read passages of Koya's Cousin Del before answering questions in a discussion setting. They listen to a variety of musical pieces before detailing how the music makes them feel in a short piece of writing. They share their...
Curated OER
My Own Backyard
Students explore and react to the painting The Road to Santa Fe. For this interacting with art lesson, students locate various objects in the painting. Students copy the angle of objects by using their bodies. Students...
Curated OER
Expressing Feelings
Students practice pantomime movements. For this body awareness lesson, students discover how to convey emotions through physical movements. Students practice conveying happiness and sadness through...
Film Foundation
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: What Is a Movie?
Watching is not the same as seeing. Transform viewers from passive watchers to active students of film with this 34-page packet, filled with lessons and activities that use Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to examine the technology, the...
Curated OER
Reader's Theater Lesson Plans
Reader's Theater lesson plans get students reading in a fun and motivating way.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: A Bird's Tale
Who wouldn't love to get a letter from a blue bird? Elementary art enthusiasts analyze the social and historical context of Ason Yellowhair's Navajo piece, Bird and Cornstalk Rug. They examine the construction and images on the rug...
Curated OER
Costume Exploration
What a great lesson, upper graders are sure to love. They explore costume design and the relationships between theatre, culture, and history. They research three time periods, write a response about two of them, then create a composit...
Curated OER
Marvelous Moods
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...
Curated OER
Getting the Meaning in Pop Music
Critical thinkers compare the impact of visual versus aural perception in how they comprehend artistic intent. They consider the meaning of a set of pop lyrics first by reading them, then by listening to them orally, and finally viewing...
Curated OER
The Finer Things in Life
Momoyama and Edo are periods in Japanese history that can be defined culturally and artistically. Learners explore and discuss how the samurai used sword guards and grip enhancers. Pupils read the story "The Inch-High Samurai," examine...
Curated OER
Finding Meaning in the Badge
Children who are three to five years old study two rank badges from the Qing dynasty to develop an understanding of social rank, language skills, and symbolism. The instructional activity is discussion-based and requires learners to...
Curated OER
Monet's Magical Garden
Young scholars study classic paintings by masters like Monet. In this art history lesson, students listen to the story Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert and sing flower songs with the rest of their class. Young scholars examine the...
NWT Literacy Council
Readers Theatre Scripts
Engage and entertain young learners with this collection of readers theatre activities. With over 25 different scripts, a wide range of topics are covered from simple counting and rhyming exercises to adaptions of popular children's...
Curated OER
Concepts of Beauty Put Into Words
Studying haiku poetry with your English class? Delving into Japanese history with your world history class? Here is an authentic and creative way to explore Japanese culture more deeply. Pupils will compare and contrast two tea caddies...
Curated OER
Story Retelling
Students explore storytelling by participating in an image analysis activity. In this story structure lesson, students read the book Cookie's Week by Tomie dePaola and retell the story to their teacher in sequential order. Students...
Denver Art Museum
The Poetry in Non-Events
The photograph, Nellie and her Italian Soda is viewed and discussed by the class. They are instructed to use the photograph as inspiration to write a poem about non-events, or things that are beautiful in every day life. Pupils use...
Curated OER
Stop Signs, Musical Notes, Letters & Logos: Designing Symbols
Students develop an awareness of environmental print, such as signs, logos, brand names, and other print and non-print items that the children see and read in their neighborhood each day. They then engage in active problem solving as...
Curated OER
Memory & Song, Malagan Figures from New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
Students investigate the uses of images, shapes and colors in classic art sculptures. In this art analysis lesson, students observe Malagan Figures, a type of sculpture from New Guinea, and describe the different ideas and images...
Curated OER
Christopher Columbus
Help first graders gain an understanding of the beginnings of our nation by learning more about Christopher Columbus. They begin by listening to a read aloud of Christopher Columbus and His Voyage to the New World (another title...
Curated OER
Cool Cats Counting
Students practice number sense with the book Cool Cats Counting by Sherry Shahan. In this number lesson, students listen to the book and count from 1-10 in English and Spanish. They practice their alphabet, rhyming words, and...
Curated OER
Cultural Logo Design
Students create a logo design to express their own identity. In this logo design lesson, students list ten words to describe who they are and choose two of them to use in a logo. Students draw images and choose various forms of...
Curated OER
A Personal Narrative on the Immigration Experience
The students create a personal narrative on their experiences with immigration. In this lesson, students are asked to read and understand examples of narrative writing as well as evaluate lyrics from Ben Folds Five to determine elements...
Curated OER
Language, As Experienced Through Pin-Hole Photography
Students read about and discuss photographic principles and, under the direction of the art teacher, construct individual cameras from heavy black cardboard and thin sheet metal with a hole for the lens and black tape for the shutter.