Lesson: Oceans: A Sensory Haiku
After exploring a virtual ocean with their five senses, students capture the sensory experience by writing haiku, bringing science and creative writing together as one.
Nature

Theme: Earth, Wind & Water
Is there poetry in the ocean? How can the wind inspire dance? How dramatic can a mountain be? Explore how the earth and weather inform people and the art they create.
Nature, Science

Lesson: Weather and Wind
This lesson introduces the expanding and condensing properties of air masses and the unequal heating of Earth as the force behind the wind.
Science, Nature

Lesson: The Whale Trail
In this lesson students will explore the world of gray whales.
Animals, Nature

Lesson: Exploring Weather Conditions Through Painting
Students will learn about how weather influences culture, daily life, and mood by examining paintings depicting different types of weather.
Science, Nature

Arts Quotes: Edward George Bulwer-Lytton
"In life, as in art, the beautiful moves in curves."
Nature, Literature

Arts Days: December 10, 1830: The Belle of Amherst
All the time she spent alone helped Emily Dickinson create some of the literary world’s most elegant and haunting poetry. As a girl, she attended school in nearby South Hadley, but was so homesick she dropped out and moved home. While she seldom entertained guests, she read widely and wrote tons of letters and poems—words that give us a glimpse into the workings of her heart and soul.

It was not until after her death in 1886 that her poems were published. Works such as “A bird came down the walk” and “Her final summer” (Dickinson almost never gave her poems titles, so they are generally referred to by their first lines), reveal her capacity for deep intellectual thought as well as an abiding love of nature.
Poetry, Nature

Theme: Plants and Seasons
How can the arts represent the change of seasons? Then watch as Japanese Shigeo Kawashima creates intricate geometric shapes from bamboo; Mali storyteller Yaya Coulibaly carves a marionette out of wood, Native American Keith Bear discusses how a tree branch becomes a flute, and listen to Andes manta recreate the South American rainforest with instruments made with natural materials.
Nature, Plants, Science, Animals

Theme: Animals
How does an actor become a chihuahua? How do you get a school of fish to perform on on a dry stage? Jump into the animal kingdom with both flippers!
Animals, Folklore, Nature, Puppets

Lesson: Medieval and Renaissance Art: Botanical Symbolism
For the medieval and the renaissance artists, flowers were part of a rich visual symbolism.
Europe, Visual Arts, Nature, Plants

Lesson: A World of Myths
In this lesson, students will explore how myths help to explain nature and science.
Greece, Nature, Science

Lesson: Animal Habitats
Pre-readers are introduced to animal habitats through story, song, and dramatic play using children’s books
Animals, Nature, Literature, Music

Lesson: Sunflowers
Students grow both sunflowers and their knowledge of science and art. After exploring the work of Van Gogh and other artists, students create their own artwork.
Nature, Plants, Visual Arts

Lesson: Mountain Creation: A Drama Exploration
After examining a poem about mountain creation from a Native American perspective and watching a scientifically-accurate film about mountain formation.
Nature, Poetry, Native America, Science

Lesson: Who Has Seen the Wind?
In this lesson students are introduced to and encouraged to explore characteristics of the wind through poetry and van Gogh’s paintings.
Nature, Visual Arts, Science, Physical Activity

Lesson: Get Dramatic: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
In this lesson students will explore the concepts behind the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle slogan through theater.
Nature, Theater, Science

Arts Quotes: Claude Monet
"My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece."
Europe, Visual Arts, Nature, Plants

Arts Quotes: Winslow Homer
"Talent! What they call talent is nothing but the capacity for doing continuous work in the right way."
America, Visual Arts, Nature

Arts Quotes: Henry David Thoreau
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined."
America, Literature, Poetry, Nature

Arts Quotes: Pablo Picasso
"Why do you try to understand art? Do you try to understand the song of a bird?"
Europe, Visual Arts, Nature

Arts Quotes: Pablo Picasso
"Nature does many things the way I do, but she hides them!"
Europe, Visual Arts, Nature

Arts Quotes: Paul Cézanne
"Painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one's sensations."
Nature, Visual Arts, Europe

Arts Quotes: M. Aumonier
"There is always music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it."
Music, Nature, Literature

Everyday Arts Challenge: Sky Sights
Look closely at the sky. Do you see any clouds that look like objects? Ask a friend if they see what you see.
Science, Visual Arts, Nature

Everyday Arts Challenge: Catch Me
Pretend you’re a frog, chasing a fly. Listen as it buzzes by your ear and watch as it flies around. Now try and catch it. How long does it take?
Animals, Theater, Nature