Curated OER
We Can Dance!
Students explore a variety of creative body movements and practice speaking the terms used to demonstrate the movements and shapes. The creation of a video provides an opportunity to learn the vocabulary and practice their speech.
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Children of War
Take a closer look at the impact of war in this language arts and social studies lesson. Middle schoolers use primary sources to conduct research as they relate to the effects of war on children. They compare and contrast the effects of...
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Museum Gallery
Children of all ages examine original art in an art gallery. They view art at an art gallery, then view reproductions, and compare and contrast the two works of art.
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Puppet Scenes
Explore character, plot, and setting through dramatic puppet play. Second graders discuss basic story elements and then practice making a character with their sock puppets. After they've crafted a dynamic puppet, they pair up to create a...
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For the Love of Publication!
What is a ‘Zine? Although the referenced PBS video that launches this study of self-published magazines is not available, the activities detailed and the step-by-step directions for creating ‘Zines would engage young writers. This...
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Let's Go Exploring!
Use a Courbet painting of a cave or tunnel opening to reinforce the importance of descriptive writing. Writers of all ages use sensory details to describe what the scene depicts as they pretend to be in the painting. Then they imagine...
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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...
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Those Fabulous Fables
A video leads off this activity on fables, introducing the class to this important form of traditional storytelling. The group defines fable and hears an explanation of the origin of this type of folk tale. They summarize the story they...
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City Streets: A Fold-up of a Street Lined with Buildings
After walking in a nearby neighborhood, have your class create this amazing city street pop-up. They study the facades of the buildings they see, focusing on geometric line, shape, and architecture. They then draw, cut, and create a city...
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Reliving History through Slave Narratives
Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...
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Trees In Nature And Art
Students study the use of trees in art. In this investigative instructional activity students create art using leaf rubbings and develop a classification method for trees.
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19th Century Chandelier
Students discuss the lines, shapes, and patterns used to decorate a 19th century chandelier. In this visual arts lesson, students examine the lines and identify the patterns on the chandelier. Students create a papier-mache sculpture...
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ASTHMA POSTER CAMPAIGN
Young scholars examine the condition, triggers, and ways to cope with asthma, compare their previous knowledge of asthma with new information presented in an educational video, and use information about asthma to the creation of an...
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An Irritiating Creature - a poetry lesson
Students think about and evaluate the meaning of a poem. It also encourages students to be original and creative in their thinking as they read, analyze and illustrate their story.
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Writing About Art: Objective vs. Subjective
High schoolers examine the sculpture "Head With Horns" by Paul Gauguin. In this perspectives instructional activity, students discuss what the terms "objective" and "subjective" means. High schoolers are shown the sculpture and write...
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Looking at Portraits: Portraits in Line
Young scholars use Van Gogh's Portrait of Joseph Roulin as inspiration for their own portraits for their friends. In this portrait analysis lesson, students explore portrait art and analyze Vincent Van Gogh's use of line in his art....
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Israel
The class creates and performs a movement performance of the creation story found in the Jewish tradition. This lesson begins with the research of Israeli culture and culminates in a performance of the narrated creation story....
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Masks of Many Cultures: Celebrations of Life
Bring art and society together with this highly creative and interesting lesson. Learners research various uses of masks in ceremonies. They then create a ceremony of their own and a mask to go along with it. They film themselves...
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,...
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Shoe Box Turtles
Turtles are the stars of the show in a creative instructional activity designed for very young learners. In it, learners are shown pictures of real turtles. They discuss the shell and the head, then they compare them to other animals....
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A Story on a Vase
Students analyze a scene depicting Herakles and the Hydra. In this Greek art lesson, students read Greek myths and choose one scene from a myth to illustrate. Students use tempera paint and a scratch technique using a wooden stylus.
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Imagining China Through Words
Students create a drawing from a written description to examine images of China in European art. In this art analysis lesson, students create a visual image from a written description of an object. Students compare their image to the one...
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TV and Teaching
Students write a story centered around their favorite TV show. In this story writing instructional activity, students share their favorite TV shows and discuss their favorite characters. Students draw pictures that illustrate a story in...
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The Poetry of Chinoiserie
Learners study Asian works of art and Japanese haiku. They then take this knowledge and create an original haiku in response to other works of art.