Curated OER
Visual Arts, Literary Arts, and Performing Arts: Their Connection and Place in America's Minority Culture
Students explore the rich, varied, and full artistic culture of each of these three minority groups, Native Americans, Chicanos, and African Americans. They explore art through dance, music, literature, and many other different mediums....
Annenberg Foundation
Masculine Heroes
What were the driving forces behind American expansion in the nineteenth century, and what were its effects? Scholars watch a video, read biographies, engage in discussion, write journals and poetry, draw, and create a multimedia...
Curated OER
The Four Sacred Elements
Fourth graders observe the Four Sacred Elements image in PowerPoint as projected on a screen and discuss what they see and then summarize the details. They discuss what the image represents and how the Four Sacred Elements are an...
Curated OER
The State Of Wisconsin
Students investigate the state of Wisconsin and use sound to experience the concept differently. They listen to Native American songs of a tribe in the state. Also they listen to the frogs that live there in the classroom or out in the...
Curated OER
Native American Song and Dance
Students examine the importance of the drum and drumming in the cultural context of the Native American. Musical insturments and native dance is employed to support the focus of the lesson.
Curated OER
Native Americans at Rose Bay
Pupils examine the Timken Native Americans of the 1400s and their culture of hunter-gatherers. They study the necessary vocabulary using a number of activities.
Curated OER
American Indians
Fourth graders explore the American Indians and the music from their culture. They discuss the music of American Indians and compare that music with the music that we listen to today. Students create rainstick and perform their own...
Curated OER
Expression: Masks - Activity 1
Pupils create art plans for an "installation" after viewing a video of Native American mask making that centers around the Salmon rack idea. Emphasis is placed on collaborative work in this introductory lesson.
Curated OER
Views of the American West: True or False?
Students explain that a landscape painting may or may not accurately represent a specific place. They identify techniques that create the illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat surface.
Curated OER
The Cultural Significance of Naming
The Navajo would disagree with Shakespeare that the naming of things is irrelevant. Navajo people have to earn their names. Middle schoolers learn about the cultural significance of Navajo names in a lesson that uses a video and reading...
Curated OER
Rain Sticks
Artists of all ages construct a three-dimensional form and fill it with rice to make gentle, percussive sounds. They discover that Native South American tribesmen would harvest dead branches from cactus plants, fill them with small...
Curated OER
Creation Stories
Students read and research American Indian creation stories as a way to understand the origins of American Literature. They conduct Internet research utilizing Internet search engines. They create an online report page as well as write...
Curated OER
Art to Zoo: India-Where Remarkable Differences Are Ordinary
Students "visit" India to learn about its culture and the lives of children in India. For this India lesson, students conduct research and report on the lives of Indian children in the form of a mock interview between a journalist and...
Curated OER
Native American Friendship Dance
The performing arts offer artistic perception, creative expression, historical and cultural context and aesthetic valuing. This dance helps students understand dance history and develops cultural awareness. Students are given the...
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.
Curated OER
India: Where Remarkable Differences Are Ordinary
Students research India and Indian culture. In this Indian research lesson plan, students research and report on the lives of Indian children. The report will be in the form of a mock interview between a journalist and an Indian child....
Curated OER
People of the Plains:Music and Dance
Fourth graders are given a worksheet stating the goal of the day, different sections to visit, and time spent on each section. They are given the CDs, 4th graders are told to insert the CDs into the computer. Students go to The Plains...
Curated OER
The Four Corners Region of the United States Cultures, Ruins and Landmarks
Students who live in the inner city are introduced to the four corners region of the United States. In groups, they examine how the region differs compared to where they live and their culture. They develop maps of the area and locate...
Curated OER
Reading Images: Maconaquah
Students examine a portrait of Maconaquah and compose a list of things they observe about her. They look at her age, clothing, jewelry, and her emotions based on her facial expression. Conclusions are drawn as they "read" the pictures...
Curated OER
The Westward Movement
Students study the westward movement through examining stamps. In this westward movement lesson plan, students draw conclusions, determine cause and effect relationships and examine the westward movement of the United States by...
Curated OER
Creating a Pot: Repetition as a Unifying Design Element
Students use subjects, themes, and symbols that demonstrate knowledge of contexts, values, and aesthetics that communicate intended meaning in artworks.
Curated OER
Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Students make deductions about life in an internment camp by reading and comparing letters written to Clara Breed. Along the way, they consider the advantages of looking at a historical event from the multiple points of view of...
Curated OER
Introduction to the Panpipe
Students examine the panpipe and the cultures that use them in their music. They view photos of Peru and Bolivia and discuss their cultures, listen to recordings of music that includes the panpipe, and construct a panpipe using PVC...
Curated OER
Traditions of Tribal Sharing
Students examine the idea of tribal sharing in the Native American community. They read a story about Native Americans and note the ways they are helping others. They draw a picture showing one of these acts.