Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
Kodomo No Hi: Children's Day Celebration
Children's Day is a beloved Japanese holiday with many colorful and engaging traditions. On this national holiday celebrated yearly on May 5, children are honored for their strengths and given good wishes for happiness. Your younger...
Curated OER
A Soldier's View of the American Civil War
Study and research the American Civil War in this explanatory writing lesson. Middle schoolers complete six activities to learn about the American Civil War and soldiers' views of the war. The lesson includes several options to complete...
Curated OER
Introducing Synonyms to Early Writers
Upper elementary schoolers examine the concept of synonyms and how using a variety of vocabulary through synonyms can expand their writing skills. They revise a paragraph using synonyms located on the Visual Thesaurus and participate in...
Curated OER
Cartoon Stories
All ages love to engage in cartoon writing –- little do they know that they actually learn quite a bit from it! In an instructional session focused on literacy syntax and vocabulary, your pupils work cooperatively to draw six pictures...
Curated OER
Let's Discuss Current Events
Investigate articles from the daily news and share opinions with classmates. Using current events, learners view a news program without sound and predict what news is being discussed by analyzing the visuals. Then they read news articles...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Informational Writing: Lesson 2 of 5
Introduce expository writing to your elementary learners. Young authors write a three-paragraph informational paper using the steps of the writing process. They follow guided lessons to experience each of five steps. Included are tons of...
Curated OER
The Art of Description
Learners apply descriptive language to identify the five elements of art and the basic lines, geometric shapes, and angles in Marie Hull's, Sharecropper. They explain how the elements of a piece of work contribute to the story it tells....
Curated OER
It's All In How You Look At It
Students work collaboratively to create artistic renderings of digital photographs using a color value scale and grid techniques in this late-elementary school instructional activity based upon Ted Rose's book Discovering Drawing. The...
Curated OER
Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers
Learn about the events that helped shape the United States of America. Elementary schoolers explore the Civil War with six different activities. Each activity has a different focus: literature connections, primary sources, vocabulary,...
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Go Fish card game for recognition of vocabulary words
Students play Go Fish card game (with a teacher made deck of cards) for recognition of vocabulary words
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Art Styles - Portrait Triptych
Students select one photos and creates portraits of the photo in three different styles. After making the portraits, they describe the differences between them. They place their finished product on a triptych for viewing and practice...
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Literacy: Slowly, Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth
Students explore language arts by analyzing a children's book in class. In this vocabulary instructional activity, students read the book Slowly, Slowly, Slowly... by Eric Carle. Students identify the characters, setting and plot of the...
Curated OER
My Childhood Portrait
Students practice descriptive writing by viewing auto-portraits of young children. In this art analysis lesson, students examine an auto-portrait of their teacher as a young child and ask him/her questions about their youth....
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Dot To Dot Seurat
Students discuss the art of Georges Seurat and examples of Pointillism and create original works of Pointillism using colored, sticker dots. This lesson is intended for use in the elementary Art classroom and includes a short vocabulary...
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A Little Kandinsky For All
Students create abstract compositions based on the later works of Wassily Kandinsky using the primary colors in this early elementary Art lesson plan. The lesson plan emphasizes the use of color, lines, and shapes to create the abstract...
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The Palm of My Heart: Poetry By African American Children
Elementary students explore African American culture by reading children's poetry. They read the book, The Palm of My Heart which features poetry by an assortment of young African American boys and girls. Students define several...
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Cave Art Drawing
Students design an environment that resembles a prehistoric cave. They use ancient rock art as inspiration for their own artistic expression. They demonstrate their understanding of the vocabulary, tools, and techniques used in...
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Using New Vocabulary in Context
Sixth graders analyze new vocabulary from a narrative. In this vocabulary activity, 6th graders read a narrative and create a paragraph as a group using words from the text. Students then create another paragraph using the vocabulary...
Curated OER
How to Haiku: Poetry Reflecting the Feelings in Art
Students discover the elements and subjects of haiku poetry. They observe and describe the objects in a landscape painting. They write a haiku based on the feelings evoked by the painting.
National Park Service
Reduce Our Carbon Footprint, Let’s Compost!
Roll up your sleeves and get a little dirty with this elementary and middle school compost lesson. All you need is a large plastic container, a couple old newspapers, some organic waste, and a few hundred worms and you're ready...
Curated OER
Cross-Cultural Dialogue Lesson
Use the Peace Corps to explore a different place and different perspectives. Your class reads the personal narrative "Cross-Cultural Dialogue" by Roz Wollmering, completing an attached story frame sheet in preparation for a class...
Curated OER
Earth's Heavenly Treasures: Hummingbirds
Young ornithologists watch an informative video and use the Internet to gather data about the life, size, habitat, and migration of hummingbirds. The interdisciplinary lesson includes activities that target art, science, math, and...
Peace Corps
Celebrating Our Connections Through Water
Water is vital for survival, but how does it help global cultures flourish? Elementary and middle schoolers learn about the different cultures around the world that celebrate water and incorporate it into their festivals or traditions.