Curated OER
Using the Internet - Art and Design
An interesting resource that might work best in an upper level art course, this handout provides a list of nine websites where young artists can read and study about all forms of art. These online resources range from a dictionary of...
Art Institute of Chicago
Act It Out
Examine two works of art and use these pieces as inspiration for dialogues. The whole class discusses Renoir's Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise and Toulouse-Lautrec's At the Moulin Rouge. Then, in groups of either three or ten, pupils...
Smithsonian Institution
The Sounds of an Island: Jamaican Music for the Classroom
Introduce young explorers to the music and history of Jamaican culture through game songs and dances. As a bonus, class members get to play simple songs transcribed for the recorder.
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
West Side Story Suite and In The Night Fancy Free
West Side Story and Romeo & Juliet—two classics in their own rights that help young literature lovers better analyze different works. Learners research and compare the characters and story elements of West Side Story and Romeo...
Dick Blick Art Materials
Percussive Pods
Combine the study of art, music, and history with an activity that asks kids to craft rattles out of slabs of clay.
Sargent Art
Kandinsky - Inspired by Music
Who is Wassily Kandinsky? Introduce your young artists to the wonders of abstract nonobjective art through music. They'll listen to music as they cut, paste, and paint emotional works of art. The activity suggests the use of soothing...
Curated OER
Analyzing Two Dances and Making a Dance Map: The Nutcracker
Students discuss dance elements and create a dance map. They choose a dance theme and incorporate movement into their dance maps and choreography. They also experiment with different types of music.
Curated OER
Look, Listen and Learn
Students brainstorm what they know about the performing arts and research an artist or song and its related genre. Students work in groups to create an online banner to attract peers to their performing arts genre.
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Pilobolus
After reviewing dance-specific terminology and watching a clip from the dance troupe Pilobolus, learners create dances of their own. They pair up and use the teacher's cues to create creature dances that exemplify mood and shape....
Smithsonian Institution
Braiding Rhythms: The Role of Bell Patterns in West African and Afro-Caribbean Music
Africans transported to the Caribbean as part of the transatlantic slave trade brought with them a rich tradition of music and dance. Four lessons teach young musicians the rumba clave rhythm, cascara rhythm, and the 6/8 bell patterns...
English Language Support Programme
Traditional Irish Music
Celebrate sean-nós, céilí, and the lilting music of the Emerald Isle with a set of language arts activities! Learners complete word puzzles, vocabulary exercises, and comprehension questions about traditional Irish music.
Curated OER
Hot, Hot, Hot, Cold
Learners dance the image of falling snow. They move, swing, fall, and rise to music working to depict snow falling, the sun, and high/low movements. This is a well-thought out lesson that aids them in seeing movement as a form of...
Curated OER
Grand Canyon Suite
Take a trip to the Grand Canyon! Lesson one explores how Ferde Grofe painted a musical landscape of America when he wrote the Grand Canyon Suite. Learners then examine art that shows the Grand Canyon in lesson two. Finally, lesson three...
Curated OER
Self and General Space in Dance
Students explore the different themes and strategies of dancing by performing in class. In this physical education lesson, students practice moving specific joints and muscles as they train to perform a dance. Students...
Curated OER
Dancing Opposites (Size)
Students create movements that illustrate opposites. In this opposites lesson, students discuss what opposites do for writing and relate to dance. Students make movements based on their opposites.
Curated OER
Arts Impact and Math
Third graders incorporate math into dancing. In this algebra lesson plan, 3rd graders identify different shapes and patterns using dance movements. They relate the different creations to polygons as they incorporate the use of stretchy...
Curated OER
Clerihew Dances I
Third graders demonstrate locomotor movements and define non-locomotor movement. They discuss a story and perform a "name" movement.
Curated OER
Dance Showing Science Contexts of Movement: States of Matter
Fifth graders dance in different ways to show movement of states of matter. In this matter lesson plan, 5th graders make connected shapes with a partner, make flowing movements, travel rapidly, and more.
Curated OER
Traditional Japanese Dance
Students study introductory history and cultural purposes of selected Japanese dance forms. They analyze the philosophical beliefs, social systems, and movement norms that influence the function and role of Japanese dance in the lives...
Curated OER
Creative and Cultural Dance
Students study dance as a way to communicate and represent oneself in the world. They perform and articulate movement skills from the "dancer's toolbox". They solve problems in dance using the "dancer's toolbox" composing, witnessing,...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Theme and Variation
The dance elements of body, energy, space, and time are the focus of a lesson on movement and theme. The class follows along as the teacher shows them a new dance that has a theme. They practice the dance, and then change one element in...
Curated OER
Elementary My Dear Dancer-Foundation Lesson
Students participate in dance choreography. In this choreography instructional activity, students classify elements of choreography. Students collaborate in small groups and compose choreography.
Orlando Shakes
In the Heights: Study Guide
Before Hamilton, Lin Manuel-Miranda gained fame with In the Heights. A study guide prepares theater goers for a performance of the musical about a group of friends living in the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights....
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Color Moods
Can art be a mode of communication? You bet it can! Learners explore how colors are used to convey mood in art. First, the class listens to three very unique musical selections that convey three different moods. Then, they compare...