Curated OER
Visual Puns - Paper Mache Sculpture
Explore the pop art movement and create a sculpture in the pop art style based on a visual pun, or play on words. The scholar's work may use humor, allegory, metaphor, or be in the form of a parody. Visual examples are provided, and some...
Curated OER
Bridge to Terabithia: Visualizing to Optimize Comprehension
Good readers visualize. And in our image-rich culture it is imperative that children are provided with opportunities to practice this important skill. A selection from Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends and Bridge to Terabithia,...
Curated OER
Dali & Desnos
Students explore surreal art and poetry. In this visual arts lesson, students examine works by André Breton, Robert Desnos, Salvador Dalí, and Joan Miro. Students then apply the techniques in the works they analyze to their own poetry.
Curated OER
Texture Hunts and More: Madonna and Child with Saints
Students investigate different painting techniques by studying classic works of art. In this art history activity, students observe the famous Madonna and Child with Saints painting and describe the texture and images they notice....
Curated OER
Painting Faces: Interpreting Portraits
Over the course of four sessions, upper elementary learners explore the elements of visual art and portraiture and the work of Canadian painter Robert Harris (links included). (Paintings by any portrait artist will fit the plan; choose...
Curated OER
Exploring the Self
Students use different pieces of music and writings to explore the theme of self-reliance and individuality. After viewing a video clip, they discuss how the images made them feel. They keep a writing journal to evaluate their own...
Curated OER
Create a Flock of Birds One Pinch at a Time
Students create Mexican Pottery Clay project. In this natural history/art lesson plan students construct their own clay bird. Students make connections between visual arts and reading to follow directions. Students also reflect on the...
EngageNY
End of Unit 3 Assessment: On-Demand Writing— Photograph and Song Choices for a Film
Ready, set, write! Every great film begins with a script, and every presentation starts with a plan. Directors use their research and experience to compose an essay explaining the rationale behind their film's musical and visual choices...
EngageNY
Preparation for Performance Task: Practicing Presentations
Practice makes progress. Working in pairs, presenters rehearse and refine their presentation skills before the big day when they pitch their film choices. Rehearsing also allows for refining prompt cards based on peer feedback and...
Curated OER
3D Paper-Edge Figure Sculptures
Learners discover visual arts by creating sculptures in class. In this personal expression lesson, students research the Internet and examine different examples of modern sculptures and 3 dimensional art. Learners utilize paper stock,...
Curated OER
You Are What You Eat!
Young scholars create believable self-portraits incorporating selected food items as details, forms, and texturesThe compositional focus is a head-and-shoulders portrait appropriate to the food theme resulting in a humorous illustration....
Curated OER
Emotion in Art & Poetry
Fourth graders are introduced to famous works of art and begin to discuss the artist's work. Use art to explain and reflect their own emotions. The write about feelings in a work of art and make connections between art and other...
Curated OER
What’s your Name?
Youngsters work to build empathy, cultural understanding, and a sense of self as they uncover the story behind their own names. They read the book, The Name Jar, discuss immigration and how it feels to be in a new place. Then, they...
Curated OER
Exploring the Self
Students examine a variety of songs, poems, and books exploring and analyzing the theme of self reliance and being true to one's self. They write a poem, essay, or letter that captures their true spirit and individuality and then they...
Curated OER
Self Portraits
Third graders complete a unit on the writing process that focusses on the self-portraits of Rembrandt and Norman Rockwell. They create their own self-portraits and write autobiographical sketches. They also research the lives of the...
Curated OER
60's Pop Art: Multiples of Me
Students discover characteristics of Pop Art through slides and discussion of the 60's era and produce a pop art portrait of themselves using Clarisworks paint program and Hyperstudio.
Denver Art Museum
Putting Images into Words
Engage your class in art analysis of Indian Look-Alike by Melanie Yazzie. Using this work of art as inspiration, writers compose a poem or short story. After a peer review session, the teacher conveys information about the work of art as...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Illustrating Text
Ideas like this are highly effective for helping build better reading comprehension. The class listens to an excerpt from a grade-appropriate text, and they discuss what clues or words helped them visualize the scene. They then read a...
Art Educators of New Jersey
Exploring Eric Carle’s Painted Collage
Where does inspiration come from? Where do writers get their ideas? What about visual artists? A PowerPoint and a video introduce middle schoolers to children's author and illustrator Eric Carle and how he found inspiration in the work...
EngageNY
Performance Task: Final Draft of the Newspaper Article
It's time for the grand finale! Scholars complete the final draft of their newspaper articles for the End of Unit 3 Assessment. They share their article with a classmate for peer critique. After considering all feedback and including a...
Curated OER
Keep Finding the Positive
Fifth graders discuss how a positive self-image can improve their school community. In groups, they are given a set of card in which they examine the role of each. After being given the presenter card, they create a collage about their...
Curated OER
Pudd'nhead Wilson: Guided Imagery
Inspire thought around some of the themes of Pudd'nhead Wilson with a visualization activity. As you read a passage, learners close their eyes and picture the scene. A writing exercise and discussion follow.
Perkins School for the Blind
Tactile quilts that tell a story
Learners with multiple disabilities need to engage in projects that push them to know their full potential. They need to be able to express themselves in a variety of ways, and this very thoughtful lesson does just that. They make a...
Curated OER
Composition in Journals
Carlos Fuentes’s The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait and Jaspre Bark’s Journal of Inventions: Leondardo da Vince serve as models for an assignment that asks class members to create a personal journal they will use...