Curated OER
What Masks Reveal
Students explore the cultural significance of masks by investigating the role they play in ceremonies and on special occasions in societies from widely separated regions of the world.
Curated OER
Quinceaneras
Students explore traditions which are celebrated in Quinceaneras. They examine the Latin American culture, its beliefs and value systems. Students analyze vocabulary words. They write a story about Quinceaneras.
Curated OER
Social Studies: What Is Folklife?
Learners read an essay about folklife and record their thoughts in journals. After discussing the terms associated with the topic, they complete worksheets on types of folklife, pop, elite, and folk cultures. Depending on the age group,...
Curated OER
Music: The Earth Is My Mother
Pupils sing The Earth Is My Mother in English and discuss its meaning to the Oneida people. They copy the words in the Oneida language and practice singing it in their native tongue. Students discover how the song relates to the...
Curated OER
All Our Relations: A Learning Experience
Students participate in a group activity in which they each represent various components of a story about culture, collective human rights, and indigenous rights. As the story is read they create a life-size story web with yarn. Then...
Curated OER
Central Europe’s Glorious Ball Season Starts
Ninth graders examine the Ball season in Europe. In this European Culture ESL lesson, 9th graders read an article and answer guided reading questions. Students complete a graphic organizer on going to a ball.
Curated OER
South Korea
Students use primary and secondary resources in order to investigate the culture of South Korea. They use guiding questions that progressively lead them to higher order thinking to make connections from the information to how people live.
Curated OER
Community Celebrations
Sixth graders are introduced to cultural history and diversity that is present in the community in which they live by examining secular and sacred celebrations. Students create scrapbooks to chronicle their family's celebrations.
Curated OER
Stone Soup
Young scholars explain how various cultures affect the interactions that take place in a community. They compare and contrast families by where they live, the jobs they hold and the types of food they eat. Using examples, they sort goods...
Curated OER
Shadow Theater of the Mahabharata
Middle schoolers explore the Hindu epic, Mahabharata, by creating Javanese shadow puppets and performing significant scenes from the story. They combine their artistic ability with their desire to learn an important aspect of the...
Curated OER
Communicating with the World
Students practice their communication skills with people from other cultures. Using predetermined questions, they email their penpal and wait for their responses. They reflect on the value of the information given to them and complete an...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A “New English” in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”: A Common Core Exemplar
To examine the “New English” Chinua Achebe uses in Things Fall Apart, readers complete a series of worksheets that ask them to examine similes, proverbs, and African folktales contained in the novel. Individuals explain the meaning...
Curated OER
Fieldwork Basics Overview
Put your feet up and grab a cup of coffee before going through this extensive field work unit plan! Based on folklorist studies of traditional culture and ethnography, several activities focus on topics such as cultural sensitivity;...
Curated OER
Native American Storyteller Figure
Third graders explore cultures that use clay figures in the art of storytelling. They discover the importance of cultural history being passed through generations. They also form their own storyteller from a clay figure.
Curated OER
Colonial Identity
Students research and discuss the origins of the American colonies and explore how colonists were still influenced by English culture. As a follow-up project, students produce a portrait of an individual.
Curated OER
Northwest Native American
Third graders describe and come to the understanding the American Indians in this locations and their customs. They explain that the region and its natural resources affected how Native Americans developed their cultural practices.
Curated OER
Introduction to China
Compare and contrast the distinctive characteristics of art forms from various cultural, historical, and social contexts, and describe how the same subject matter is represented differently in works of art across cultures and time...
Syracuse University
Harlem Renaissance
The music and literature of the Harlem Renaissance defined American culture, including its poetry. Using a poem from the period, individuals explore its musical qualities and how it is reflective of the period. Then, they use what they...
Indian Land Tenure Foundation
Elders' Stories
Very young learners study the ways that oral traditions play such a huge part in the culture of Native Americans. They see how Elders pass along stories to the younger generations. If possible, a tribal Elder comes into the class to...
Curated OER
Georgia O'Keefe - A Unit for Grades 9-12
SYoung scholars view examples of O'Keef's work and watch a video about her life. They use colored pencil to create a 6" x 6" reproduction of a 2" x 2" square cut from a magazine picture, finding and using the most interesting shapes in...
Central Oregon Community College
Things Fall Apart Study Guide
“There is no story that is not true.” And Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, uses proverbs (“. . .the palm-oil with which words are eaten”), a compelling tragic hero, and historic events, to engage readers in the truth of his story of...
Curated OER
Bas Relief Paintings
Budding artists are introduced to a new medium for Bas Relief sculpture: block printing linoleum. They design and sculpt a dimensional piece of artwork, creating a variety of textures, lines and depths. This engaging lesson should excite...
Curated OER
Picture Perfect Poetry
Do your language arts students love to draw? Use this lesson to reinforce poetic techniques with illustration. After drawing what they think poem would look like with no words, middle and high schoolers work on several different...
Curated OER
Lao Design: Mask making
Students examine the concept of symmetry in Lao art and apply it to their own works. They construct full-face masks by copying the stencils onto colored paper. Students apply creative touches by painting and drawing on their assembled...