National Gallery of Canada
The Changing Composition
Play with dimensions and practice making a two-dimensional scene look three-dimensional. Class members view pieces of art and then make their own scenes by layering different materials and drawing in details. Check out all the tabs for...
National Gallery of Canada
My Treehouse
If you could build your own treehouse, what would it look like? Using a piece of contemporary art as inspiration, learners draw their own treehouses and add geometric and organic shapes. The lesson touches on Visual Thinking Strategies...
Chandler Unified School District
Art Masterpiece: Leonardo’s Inventions—Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci is the focus of a hands-on activity that encourages scholars to become inventors. Pupils brainstorm and sketch their idea, compose a detailed depiction using a mirror writing technique, and antique the paper for a...
Curated OER
How the Kangaroo Got Its Pouch
Students perform a play based on a legend. For this performing arts lesson, students read the legend Kangaroo Gets a Pouch and brainstorm ways to turn the story into a play. Students prepare for a short play, including costumes and...
Curated OER
Spray Bottle Paint Mural
Sometimes all you need is a quick and easy outdoor art project. Perfect for the end of the school year, this mural project allows kids to make a mess while creating art. They use spray bottles full of paint to "spray" paint a large sheet...
Curated OER
Monet and Impressionism
Monet is a great artist to study and impressionism is a wonderful art style to practice. Learners read about Monet then attempt to use impressionist painting techniques. Book and image links are included.
EngageNY
Performance Task: Readers Theater Performance
It's show time! Scholars finalize their learning by performing their Reader's Theater script of To Kill A Mockingbird. As groups of actors perform, the remaining pupils give feedback using a rubric. After all groups finish, each person...
BBC
The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky
Over the course of six lessons, scholars try their hand at composing and dancing after a thorough examination of the famous ballet, The Nutcracker, by Tchaikovsky. Participants watch and discuss the performance of two dances, create...
Smithsonian Institution
The Vocal Blues: Created in the Deep South of the U.S.
Bring the sounds of the deep South vocal blues to the classroom with a Smithsonian Folkways instructional activity. In preparation, scholars listen to and count the 12 bar blues patterns in several works and identify the I, II, IV, and V...
Florida Alliance for Arts Education
Theatre Arts
What skills do storytellers employ to bring to life the characters and events in their tales? After listening to a recording of a Haitian folk tale, class members consider how tone of voice, pace, and gestures can be used to enliven a...
Curated OER
Studio Art Lessons Based on Latin American Arts
Study three of the basic principles of design: l) designs should create a rhythmic pattern made up of related shapes, 2) colors should be repeated so as to not force the eye to remain with a single part of the composition, and 3) a...
Curated OER
Repeat After Me: Repetition in the Visual Arts
Students explore one of the techniques artists often use to highlight important elements within a painting's composition and to move a viewer's eye around the canvass from highpoint to highpoint.
Curated OER
An Introduction to the Relationship Between Composition and Content in the Visual Arts
Students investigate how artists create a story that provides a message or provokes emotions in a single image. The ways in which the composition of a painting contributes to telling the story or conveying the message is examined in this...
EngageNY
Performance Task: Create a Counter Ad
Do a 360. After completing their ad analyses, scholars now begin working on their counter ads. Once again, they use the model performance task for reference and guidance. When finished, pupils talk with one another about their work.
EngageNY
Final Performance Task: Sharing Visual Representations of Position Papers
Let's take a stroll! Scholars go on a gallery walk to view the visual representations for the performance task created by the class. They then view a variety of books about environment and sustainability and conduct book talks on the...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Introduction to Color: The Foundation of Art and Design
What is the most favorite color in the world? The series of lessons all about color and the color wheel, asks kids to research color, create an eye-spy activity, watch videos, and examine the color choices made by artists in their...
National Gallery of Canada
The Camera Obscura
You can create a camera with even the most unassuming materials. Learners view photographs and talk about the art. Some background information is included about the camera obscura for you to present before individuals make their own...
Addicted2Salsa
Pocket Salsa
Master the art of salsa dancing in the comfort of your own home (or classroom) with a high-quality and easy-to-follow series of videos. An instructor and his partner demonstrate all the basic steps, and a whole rhythm section gives...
Scholastic
Make Hooting Owls with Your Class!
Kids create their own hooting owls using the template provided and art supplies. Pair the activity with the book, 10 Hooting Owls as suggested here, or on its own as part of a unit on owls or nocturnal animals.
British Council
Hanukkah
How much do your students know about Hanukkah? Teach them about the sights, sounds, and traditions of the Jewish holiday with a language arts worksheet about Hanukkah.
Curated OER
Producing Beats
Turn your classroom into a music studio as groups work together to determine why music sounds different when performed live versus a recording. After listening to some different music, each group picks a poem, creates a recording, and...
Curated OER
SIGHT READING RHYTHM PATTERNS
The perception of rhythms by reading and the ability to auditorily discriminate these rhythm patterns by listening to them performed by the teacher is practiced here. your students will work to create an eight-beat long rhythm pattern.
Curated OER
Save the Music Concerts: Parts 1 & 2
Music aficionados classify pop music into by musical genres or styles. They evaluate the positive and negatives of collaborative performances, view segments of VH1's "Save the Music" concert, and discuss the difficulties of...
Curated OER
The Blues, B.B. King, Muddy Waters
B.B. King and Muddy Waters are two of the most famous blues performers of all time. In this music lesson, middle schoolers study the early careers and lasting musical contributions of both artists, each of whom carried the blues on to...