What a neat test! The class is asked to draw and color to create examples of eight elements of art. They focus on each element (line, value, shape, form, space, texture, primary and secondary color) by creating an original piece in each...

Introduce your young thespians to the elements of drama! Key vocabulary helps them through their first week of class. The presentation outlines parts of a script, stage direction, and strategies for reading a script. Tip: The strategies...

Students explore the element of "line." In this beginning art lesson, students listen to the book Harold and the Purple Crayon, then describe the types of lines Harold drew. Students identify straight lines,  jagged lines, curvy...

Focus on line and color with a postcard project. Learners view various works of art and discuss line and color before moving on to creating their own work. Using nature as inspiration, pupils decorate postcards and mail them after...

Discuss the lives of artists in the Lyme Art Colony in the 1900s with this resource. Young historians write and perform a short scene depicting individuals who lived in the Griswold boardinghouse, used by the colony artists. They use the...

Students canvass the important elements of art in the seven lessons of this unit. Story structure and in particular, color is perceived as essential to the development of the idea of a picture.

Kids look at a beautiful work of art to practice grammar, make connections from life to art, and sketching. They identify all the parts of grammar they see in the image, discuss what they see and do on a picnic, and then draw an imaged...

Now these are learning activities full of fun, art, and cultural exploration. Kids consider the art of storytelling through comic book images. They then look at the Tale of Genji as it was written in the 11th century. They discuss...

If anyone suffers from metrophobia—the fear of poetry—the PowerPoint on the elements of poetry may help alleviate their worries. The presentation introduces learners to poetic elements, including simile, metaphor, and personification....

Have you just visited an art museum? Or can you create a gallery in your classroom to visit? Pupils create an original drawing that reinforces what was learned in a visit to the art museum. They will view original art work and verbally...

Whether it's dark, delightful, or somber, set the mood with William Golding's Lord of the Flies. High-schoolers practice descriptive writing by creating the appropriate mood for an original scene, starring one of the book's main...

This 4-question handout addresses key elements of Act 4.4 of Taming of the Shrew. It is intended for small group discussion, followed by individual written reponses. The prompts require critical thinking and analysis.

Panel 58 from Jacob Lawrence's "Migration Series" of paintings provides middle schoolers with an opportunity to sharpen their observation and analytical skills. After engaging in a warm-up activity that introduces the concepts of...

Learners listen as a teacher models how to read a poem using The Negro Speaks of Rivers. They use the How to Read a Poem anchor chart to help guide their thought process on how a poem requires different reading than other text. While...

Poetry is all about sound and rhythm. The sound of the words, the rhythm of the lines, and the emotional atmosphere created by these elements and the literary devices poets use, compress whole stories into a few stanzas. The specialized...

If you need a lesson for your poetry unit, use two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ("Rain in Summer" and "The Slave in the Dismal Swamp") and a resource on Elements of Poetry. The lesson plan guides you through activities...

Unlike the mighty Casey, you can hit a home run with this activity that uses Ernest Lawrence Thayer’s “Casey at the Bat” as a model of a narrative poem. Young fans must identify the characters, the time and place, the sequence of events...

Introduce young writers to the process of writing a book. Start by reading a book of your choice and discussing the essential elements of any book such as the cover, story, and illustrations as well as who is responsible for each...

Imagine a project that informs and entertains. Replace book reports with a bulletin board that highlights all the important elements of a novel. Readers research the author, create a timeline of events in the story, write a...

Delve into the heart of dramatic dialogue with a unit focused on Oedipus the King by Sophocles. Having completed an online exploration about ancient Greece beforehand, ninth graders read the play's opening lines and analyze how...

How did jazz influence Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man? Class members read some of Ellison's non-fiction writings about blues and jazz, listen to records, watch videos, and engage in student-centered discussions. They then produce podcasts...

Making inferences and drawing conclusions is a key component to successful active reading. Encourage your class to use context clues and prior knowledge to infer different elements of a story, including the setting, plot, and character...

Focus on the literary elements of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince with a concept analysis sheet. With suggestions and explanations for many of the book's concepts, vocabulary, and other issues that may arise in...

Use this simple collaborative activity to introduce the definition, art, and poetry of romanticism. Educators will have to provide the poetry, images of the art, and the survey for the learners, but by using this resource, they won't...