Curated OER
Create Your Own Classroom Olympic Games
Students create their own version of the Olympic Games. They compete in the games of their choice and keep score.
Curated OER
Woodlands Ribbonwork
Learners make art based on the ribbon work of the Woodland Indians. Background information on the art form and procedure are laid out in an easy to follow step-by-step format.
Indiana University
World Literature: "One Evening in the Rainy Season" Shi Zhecun
Did you know that modern Chinese literature “grew from the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud”? Designed for a world literature class, seniors are introduced to “One Evening in the Rainy Season,” Shi Zhecun’s stream of...
Curated OER
Discover Picture-Perfect Projects
Use classic, well-loved picture books as means of infusing visual and language arts in the elementary classroom.
Brooklyn Museum
HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture
Visual arts lessons don't always mean the children need to make art. Here, they will practice using their visual literacy skills to analyze four images through the compare and contrast method. The first two images deal with gender...
San Diego Museum of Art
Tapa-Inspired Pattern Painting
Middle schoolers are encourage to try their hand at traditional Oceania tapa art by crafting their own cloth using brown paper bags. Included in the resource is background information about the cultures of Oceania and their art.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Kate Chopin's The Awakening: Searching for Women and Identity in Chopin's "The Awakening"
The final lesson plan of a three-part series on Kate Chopin's The Awakening has scholars investigate life as a woman in late nineteenth-century America. They research the role of women in society through the eyes of the characters in the...
Curated OER
Flora and Fauna as Figures of Speech
What a lovely way to incorporate artwork into your language arts lesson. View artwork in illustrated manuscript pages, depicting insects, animals, plants, flowers, and ornate writing in the Getty Museum. Practice using figurative...
Curated OER
Modern Figure Sculpture
Alberto Giacometti is a renowned sculpture, made popular by his "tall, gaunt" figures. His sculptures have been interpreted in many ways: representing isolation, Holocaust victims, or of one standing against adversity. Giacometti says...
Curated OER
Monoprint Screams on Clay
Using a famous painting as a model, have your class create their own works of art. Learners take a look at the painting "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, discuss their thoughts on it, and use a similar process to design their own art. What a...
Curated OER
Metal Tooling with Colored Pencils
Take your art class back centuries to the art of metal tooling. This is an art technique also referred to as embossing, or repajado in Mexico and South America. This is a fun project to introduce a new technique and new materials. This...
Curated OER
Our Town
With the songs "My Hometown" by Bruce Springsteen and "Allentown" by Billy Joel, learners examine external versus internal conflict. When they have finished the first part of the lesson, they create their own poem (or song) about the...
Curated OER
Our Town: Using Song Lyrics in the Classroom
Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown” and Billy Joel’s “Allentown” motivate young lyricists to craft poems about their own home town. Groups compare the two songs, identifying details, symbols, and conflicts. Individuals then picture a place...
Curated OER
Grid Drawing Project Self-Assessment
This is a self-assessment for use with a grid drawing project, but could be modified to fit any number of similar projects. Learners answer each question as a way to reflect and assess their own art work. Learning how to objectively...
Science Friday
Pinhole Viewer
Take a peep into optics. Pupils watch a video about a large Polaroid camera before building pinhole viewers. The scholars then create different types of viewers and compare them to determine which provides the best image.
University of California
Anti-Communism at Home
Have you ever been accused of something without cause? The sixth installment of an eight-part series asks scholars to create a museum exhibit on the anti-communist activities in the United States at the start of the Cold War. To make...
Curated OER
Harlem Renaissance: Pivotal Period in the Development of Afro-American Culture
Students examine the time period of the Harlem Renaissance. In groups, they compare and contrast the type of art before and after the movement along with the state of society at the time. After reading a book on the topic of their...
Curated OER
From Remus to Rap: A History in Theory and Practice of the African-American Storytelling Tradition
Students examine the specific form and function of tall tales and toasts.
They discover the importance of performance in the telling of a story and the importance of rhythm in the telling of toasts. They create stories of their own, in...
Curated OER
Romare Bearden: Piecing Together A Viewpoint
Learners examine the history of Romare Bearden and her artwork. The lesson consists of some virtual field trips and projects. The lesson is designed to be taught as either a social studies or art lesson. The teacher could also teach this...
Curated OER
Langston Hughes
Young scholars identify similarities between Hughes' poetry and music (jazz and the blues).
Curated OER
Observational Drawing
Students create drawings using oil pastels that convey cultural, social and historical meaning. Drawings are evaluated on use of color planning, contour drawing, color blending, line and pattern.
Curated OER
Mosaic Masks
Young scholars discover the history of mosaics through teacher-lead lectures and discussions. Individuals spend 3-4 weeks creatively constructing mosaic masks using step-by-step design instructions.
Curated OER
Chuck Close Up Close
Students practice the art of storytelling using realistic art. They pick one illustration of a character in the book and create a story about the possible life he lived. The important details that are needed is the name, occupation,...
Curated OER
Forests and Treescapes with Romey Stuckart
Students discuss Romey Stuckart's painting, "The Cedar," paint a tempera or acrylic picture of a forest or treescape, using overlapping shapes, intense hues, and heavy brush textures, and discuss managed forest techniques preserve...