Curated OER
Design Your Own Building
Students explore the use of design principles in the real world. They evaluate how problems can be solved using design principles. In groups, students design the floor plan for a building of their choice.
Curated OER
A Newer, Better, Older Me
First graders engage in a lesson that is concerned with self-respect and interpersonal relationships. They create a character clover as an art project that lists positive character traits and specific attributes of strength. Then...
Curated OER
Studying Haring's Public Mural: "Crack is Wack"
Students examine and discuss Keith Haring's mural, Crack is Wack, and his political and personal motivations to create the mural. They plan, design and create a mural that addresses social issues.
Curated OER
Art -- The Secret to Freedom
Fourth graders create a coded message in a quilt. In this art activity students demonstrate the communication used by the Underground Railroad. Students work in a group to make a quilt with a code in it.
Curated OER
Civil War Play Lesson Plan
Students act out the Civil War through reader's theater. In this performing arts lesson plan, students research the Civil War and find costumes, props and scenery appropriate to the time period. They become characters from the Civil War...
Curated OER
Exploring Neighborhoods through Art
Students explore neighborhoods. In this color and social studies cross-curriculum instructional activity, students listen to Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson, then compare and contrast neighborhoods. Students mix primary...
New York Public Library
What's for Lunch?: New York City Restaurant Menus
Do you remember the days when a cup of coffee cost five cents? At A.W. Dennett restaurant in 1894, you could buy a five-cent cup of coffee and as well as a five-cent slice of pie to accompany it. The menu from that year is a primary...
Stanford University
Letter from Birmingham Jail: The Power of Nonviolent Direct Action
What strategies are most effective in changing an unjust law? Class members examine the tactics used in the Birmingham Campaign of 1963 (Project C) to achieve social justice and social transformation. After examining documents that...
Shakespeare in American Life
Tom Hanks and Caliban: Survivor Superstars
Here’s a clever way to combine language arts and social studies. Shakespeare’s The Tempest is believed to have been inspired by the wreck of the Sea Venture on Bermuda in 1609. The class views a brief scene from Castaway in which Tom...
New York City Department of Education
Colonial America and The American Revolution
How did the founding of the American colonies lead to a revolution? Use the essential question and sample activities to guide learners through a series of history lessons. Additionally, the packet includes effective strategies to...
Santillana USA
Celebra Kwanzaa
¡Celebramos Kwanzaa! Celebrate Kwanzaa through the fictional story Celebra Kwanzaa con Botitas y sus gatitos to delightfully explain the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Dual language learners participate in reading and vocabulary...
Curated OER
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution: The American Revolution
The contributions of African-Americans to the American Revolution are the focus of this Social Studies and language arts lesson plan. After reading and discussing Linda Crotta Brennan’s The Black Regiment of the American Revolution,...
National Gallery of Canada
Build a City of the Future!
Tap into your pupils' imagination by asking them to design futuristic, ideal cities. They must discuss and take scale and size into account, looking at some model pieces of art for inspiration and analysis. The final product for each...
Dream of a Nation
Big6 Research Project
Do research projects at your school look like a class of eighth graders staring at a blank screen? Use the Big 6 research method to guide middle schoolers through the process of finding a topic, searching for and evaluating sources,...
Curated OER
Lesson: Emory Douglas: Revolution in Our Time, Part 2
I love lessons like this because they let kids see the power of art, poetry, and activism in times of social injustice and unrest. They'll analyze the art used by Emory Douglas in the production of the Black Panther newspaper and...
Curated OER
Lesson: Ayman Ramadan: Koshary min Zamman
Examine the avant-garde movement and artists who explore the ideas of the Situationist. The class view imaged of Ayman Ramadan's installation pieces, learn about modern-day Egypt, and research other artist who use art to express social...
US Mint
Symbols in My Eyes
Explore the hidden meanings behind the images on US currency with this elementary school lesson on symbolism. Starting with a class discussion about symbols, children go on to brainstorm different objects that represent the Unites...
Curated OER
Marvellous Mosaics
Introduce your class to the beauty found in Muslim mosques by engaging them in a culturally inspired mosaic art project. They view and discuss the nature of the mosaics found in mosques and then they use scraps of colored paper and black...
Teaching Tolerance
Community Puzzle Mural
Every piece of the puzzle is important. A lesson gives individuals the opportunity to create artwork that spreads a message of inclusion and tolerance. Class members work in teams to create pieces of the mural that form a larger picture....
Curated OER
Lesson: Jeremy Deller: Conversing about Conflict
Bridge cultural awareness, community, government, and art with an introspective and thought-provoking lesson. Upper graders become globally and socially aware as they analyze and explore the art of Jeremy Deller. They consider his images...
Curated OER
Lesson: Unmonumental: Fragmentation, Fragility, and Consumer Culture
Looking at art is the first step to analyzing it. And, if you can analyze art, you can analyze anything. Kids examine several pop art pieces that represent consumerism in modern culture. They discuss multiple facets of each piece and...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Acting Out Respect and Compromise
Puppets showcase the importance of being a good friend. Following a discussion about positive character traits, scholars create a paper-bag puppet and role-play scenarios with a peer.
Curated OER
The South, the North and the Great Migration: Blues and Literature
Here is a complex lesson plan that interweaves the history of the Jim Crow South and the Great Migration with the study of poetry, art, and blues music from the Harlem Renaissance. The plan helps young historians develop a deep...
Curated OER
Our States, My State
Here is a very nice lesson on the shape of the United States, and the shapes of the individual states for your young geographers. They utilize worksheets embedded in the plan to color in a variety of states and to become familiar with...