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Grade Band:
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Arts Subject:
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Other Subject:
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| A Character Lifebox
Students create a "life box" for a character in the play Shakespeare Stealer, based on the book (and Kennedy Center play) of the same name.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| A Lens into the Past
This lesson which supports the YFP Production of Dreams In The Golden Country uses photographs to visually describe the transition from old world to New World experienced by immigrants to the United States.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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A Listening Doll
Students discuss the process of storytelling and listening, and create a listening doll.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| A Question of Style
Students will explore a variety of stylistic approaches for staging comedy, then informally stage the opening scenes in Shakespeare's As You Like It.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| A Simple Melody
Students will learn the notes of the treble clef staff, play simple melodies, and complete a short melodic composition.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| A Suitable Job for a Woman
Students identify the model for the character, Amelia Martin, by
discovering information about four women: Abbie Burgess, Louisa May Alcott, Ida Lewis, and Clara Barton.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| A Variety of Unwise Characters
Students interpret folktale characters by reading a Puerto Rican tale and comparing it to other tales and the characters found in them.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| A Way with Words or Say What?
Students use drawing and pantomime to analyze words and phrases invented by Shakespeare.
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| A World of Myths
Students explore myths that explain science and nature, and create graphic representations of them.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Acoustical Science
This unit explores the connection between size and materials used to create a musical instrument, and the pitches and tones the instrument makes.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Acting Up, A Melodrama
In this lesson, students practice melodramatic movement.
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Music, Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Adapting a Musical
This lesson explores the implications of developing a musical from a literary text or an historical event.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Adjective Monster
Students will be introduced to adjectives and explore how descriptive words are used to creatively tell stories. Students will choose an adjective to describe a monster, and then create their own monster using paper sculpture techniques.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| All Around the Baseball Field
Explore baseball by constructing a mock baseball field using an assortment of materials including pattern blocks, tiles and a variety of geometric shapes.
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Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| All the News That's Fit to Print
ESL students read several versions of Cinderella and create an English-language newsletter based on the story.
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Dance, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| America, A Home for Every Culture
Students will explore how various cultures have contributed to making the United States a unique and diverse country.
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Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| American Puritanism: The Nature of Guilt
This unit examines the consequences of personal conscience in conflict with rigid societal perceptions of what is "right" in human behavior. Using Puritanism as a focus, this conflict is articulated in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and selected plays of Tennessee Williams.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| An American Scene Painter
Following the example of artist Charles Burchfield, students create original watercolors from observations recorded in personal journals.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Analyzing Photographs: From Theory to Practice
in this lesson, Analyzing Photographs: Putting Theory into Practice, students will examine works of art and learn tools to analyze and discuss photography.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Analyzing the Structure of Williams' Cat
This lesson is an exploration of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, with emphasis on Williams' use of characteraization and dramatic structure, and his techniques for engaging the audience.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Animal Habitats
Early primary students will learn about animal habitats through song, movement, and creative dramatization.
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Music, Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Art Show with the Masters!
Through research and understanding of a selected famous artist and examples of their work, students will create an artistic interpretation, exhibit their work, and act in an impersonation of the artist.
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Arthur Miller and The Crucible
This lesson examines the consequences of personal conscience in conflict with rigid societal perceptions of what is "right" in human behavior, as articulated in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.
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Dance, Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Artists as Explorers
Students gain an understanding of humans' need to explore by creating a "journey map" to depict the accomplishments of an artistic explorer.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Arts Careers
This lesson exposes students to several careers in the visual arts through the use of "arts stations".
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Arts of the Gilded Age
Students will explore the varied art forms of the Gilded Age, then develop a creative piece to perform, present, and/or exhibit as a studio project.
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Dance, Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Bibbidi Bobbidi Tunes
The elements of Baroque music are introduced as students compare "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" to a Bach-inspired version of the song.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Brass Instruments and Pitch
Students will create their own "brass" instruments, and make predictions about how pitch changes based on the distance air travels in the instrument.
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Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Broken Worlds
Students engage in a series of activities comparing Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape and Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, and conduct a comparative analysis of the two plays.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Can You Measure Up?
Primary students will learn measuring skills as they explore cooking, movement, and creative dramatization.
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Characterization in Literature
In this lesson, students explore various methods authors use to create effective characters.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Cheerful Hearts and Willing Feet
This lesson encourages students to explore the methods Louisa May Alcott uses to develop characterization in Little Women.
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Dance, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Children of War
Based on the Scholastic Book The Journal Of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559, students explore the realities and effects of war by examining children's diaries, journals, and letters.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Chinese Instruments
Students identify and classify Western and traditional Chinese instruments, then create an instrument from recycled materials.
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Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Chivalry and Courtly Love
Through exploration of the Arthurian codes of chivalry and courtly love as portrayed in various media formats, students will examine the way in which these ideals have influenced modern concepts of love, friendship, and honorable behavior.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Cinderella Trilogy
Students will compare and contrast different versions of the Cinderella story.
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Civil War Music
Students compare and contrast Civil War songs of the North and the South.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Color Me Dark
Inspired by the Scholastic book Color Me Dark and the Kennedy Center production of the same title, this five-lesson curriculum unit will provide learning activities to help students understand the experiences of these African-American people and their families during The Great Migration—as well as help them learn the history of this period and relate it to their present-day lives.
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Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Comparing and Contrasting Fables
Students will apply literal, interpretive, and critical thinking skills to two versions of a fable.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Comparing O'Neill and Williams
Students engage in a series of activities comparing Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape and Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Comparing Tales through Performance
Students identify similarities and differences between contemporary and traditional versions of The Three Little Pigs.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Composing for The Nightingale
Students explore David Maddox's music from The Nightingale and create an original composition personifying the nightingale.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Corridos About the Mexican Revolution
Students will be introduced to causes of the Mexican Revolution and key revolutionary figures through the study of a particular Mexican song form, the corrido.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Counting Crows
Fusing math and art, students analyze Aesop's fable, "The Crow and the Pitcher" through puppetry and experimentation.
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Creating a Wall Story
In this lesson, students create a wall story as a means of retelling a story.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Creating an Original Opera
In this lesson, students will learn about opera’s dramatic and musical elements, and discover the similarities and differences between opera stories and students' own lives.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Creating Comic Strips
Students create comic strips to express ideas for which words alone are insufficient.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Creative Voices of Harlem
In this lesson, students learn about the artists of the Harlem Renaissance.
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Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Culture and Society of the Gilded Age
Students will research everyday life and culture during the Gilded Age, then create a short theatrical piece, based on their research, with historically-accurate characters, setting, costume, and props.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Dalí & Desnos: Surrealism in Poetry and Art
Students will learn about the writers and artists of the Surrealism movement. Students will analyze imagery in poetry and visual art of the period, then create a poem incorporating surrealistic techniques.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Dancing A Christmas Carol
Students read the classic Dickens' tale A Christmas Carol and recreate the dance the "Roger de Coverly" described in Chapter (Stave)2.
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Dance |
Language Arts |
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| Dancing through Poetry
Students will review methods and create performances in which poetry can be expressed through dance metaphorically.
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Dance |
Language Arts |
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| Decades Mural Project
Students will create murals about the events and trends of a decade of the twentieth century.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Discovering National Parks
Students explore connections between art, the environment and political activism.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Discovering Peace
Students explore peace through vocabulary, discussion, pantomime, illustration, and group construction of a "Peace Quilt."
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Dreams in the Golden Country
This unit introduces students to American immigration paths and time periods, Ellis Island, and immigration waves of the late 19th to early 20th century.
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All |
Language Arts |
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| Dressing Up
Students research the clothing of the 1860's and pantomime getting dressed up.
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Dvorak in America
Students study Antonin Dvorak and his extended stay in America.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Dystopian Worlds
Students read Dystopia, discuss issues raised about the individual's role in society, and design a book cover that reveals the themes of the novel.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Elements of Fables
Students will be introduced to fables and learn to identify the major elements of the genre
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Elements of Folktales
Students discuss the differences between literary and media versions of folktales.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Elements of Myths
After reading myths that explain natural phenomena, students identify elements of the literary form and create their own science-based myth.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Eugene O'Neill on Page and Stage
Students study the text of Long Day's Journey into Night and explore the impact of reading the play silently versus acting out and staging parts of the play.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Every Picture Tells a Story
This unit explores how illustrations contribute to storytelling, as well as the techniques that illustrators use to tell a story.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Examining Tone in Parody and Tragedy
Students will analyze Romeo and Juliet and determine if the death of Juliet could be considered to be a parody.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Exploring A Streetcar Named Desire
Students study setting, plot, character development in Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire and discuss its impact on American theatre, then participate in group reading and analysis of the play.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Exploring American Tall Tales
Students study the elements of tall tales, write responses to these tales, and perform them as monologues.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Exploring Neighborhoods through Art
The book Harold and the Purple Crayon is used to launch an exploration of colors and neighborhoods.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Exploring Pioneer America
This unit focuses on post-colonial westward expansion of United States territory, and introduces an explanation of westward exploration and expansion.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Exploring the Expository Scenes in Macbeth
Students will examine the function of exposition, and develop multiple interpretations and visual and aural production choices for Shakespearean scenes. Students will then read, rehearse, and perform scenes from Act I of Macbeth.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Fables
This unit introduces students to traditional fables. Students learn about the qualities that make a tale a fable and read representative selections. Students also engage in storytelling activities and dramatic presentations of traditional and original fables.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Fairy Tale Tunes
Students create music for a mini-musical of their stories from the book they created in the Fairy Tale Variations lesson.
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Music, Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Fairy Tale Variations
Students create the book for a mini-musical based on The Frog Prince and The Frog Prince Continued.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Fancy Fencing
This lesson introduces students to the art of stage fighting.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Fiction Writing
This unit introduces students to the elements of fiction and writing techniques used in fiction writing.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Fiction, Creating Characters
Students explore characterization as an element of fiction.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Fiction, Plotting the Story
Students explore plot as an element of fiction.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Fiction, Setting the Story
Students explore how authors manipulate settings as an element of fiction.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Folk Art as Communication
Students choose a type of folk art to represent a method of communication, and present a research paper on it.
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Dance, Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Folktale Theatre
This lesson engages students in basic techniques for creating a character through movement and voice.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Form and Theme in the Traditional Mexican Corrido
Students will analyze the themes and literary devices used in the traditional Mexican musical form of corridos.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Fractured Families in American Drama
Using comparative analysis techniques, students explore A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and Long Days Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill, centered on tensions and tragedies in two American families.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| From Greece to Main Street
Students will define elements of Greek Revival Architecture in America by comparing buildings of today to those of yesterday.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| From Moccasins to Tap Shoes
Students will learn the basic dance steps of various American dance styles. Later, the dance lessons are incorporated into a writing activity.
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Dance |
Language Arts |
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| From the New World
Join Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Antonin Dvorak as they journey to America and discover a new world of music.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Giving Voice to History
Students learn about the detention of Japanese Americans during World War II.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Graham's Appalachian Spring: A Study
Students will study Martha Graham's seminal work, Appalachian Spring,analyze the historical themes, and explore the relationship of the music and the set design to the structure of the choreography and narrative.
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Dance, Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Graphs of the Heart
Students will examine four of Martha Graham's key dance-dramas, and learn about the symbolic and mythological sources, and the relationship of set design and collaboration to the choreography and narrative of Graham's work.
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Dance, Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Greek Mythology: Cultures and Art
Students learn to analyze and critique as they gain insight into Greek culture through the exploration of mythology.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Greek Theater
Students will discover the origins of our own modern theater in the ancient Greek Theater by learning historical facts, studying the evolution of theater, and presenting a choral reading of Greek playwrights.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Guantanamera: A Poem and a Song
In this lesson, students analyze the Cuban folk song "Guantanamera."
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Harlem
This unit introduces students to Harlem, starting with black migration from Africa and from the American South to the North, to the Harlem Renaissance (including jazz musicians, visual artists, writers, and poets), and on to aspects of daily Harlem life.
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Dance, Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Harmonic Composition, An Essay
This lesson introduces students to jazz or the blues by reading and writing about a jazz or blues musician.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Harold and the Purple Crayon
This unit uses Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon to explore neighborhoods, principles of color, and map reading.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Harriet Tubman Integrated Unit: Lesson 1
Students use a variety of sources, including photographs and artwork, to research and report on Harriet Tubman's life and accomplishments.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Harriet Tubman Integrated Unit: Lesson 2
Students depict a scene from the life of Harriet Tubman, in the style of Jacob Lawrence.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Haunting Music
Explore the "dark side" of classical music through famous works by Berlioz and Saint-Saëns.
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Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Heroes
Students recognize the positive character traits of heroes depicted in various art forms.
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Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Historical Timeline
Students create a historical timeline and an important personal event timeline based on the historical fiction book and play, A Light in the Storm.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| How Romantic! Parallels in Music and History
Students will explore the ways music reflects contemporary society by focusing on popular music of the 19th and early 20th centuries—orchestral music of the Romantic era. After students conduct research online about musical instruments, they will create an advertisement about a musical instrument and its connection to history.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Identity Boxes
Students will research the lives and background of Lucas Samaras and Joseph Cornell and present themselves by creating their own identity box.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Illusion and Reality in American Drama
This unit examines the divergent themes and innovative forms of three of America's most celebrated playwrights: Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Immigrant Contributions to America
Students will recognize the various contributions of immigrants to the United States.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Immigrating to America
Students perform dramatizations depicting what it was like for new immigrants to come through Ellis Island at the turn of the century.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Inlaid Slip Decorated Tea Bowls
The book A Single Shard is used to introduce the unique celadon glazes and slip inlay techniques utilized by 12th century Korean potters.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Inspired by Muses, Graces, and Fates
The Muses of ancient Greece inspired poets, playwrights, dancers, actors, musicians, and scientists. In this lesson, students identify the character traits of each Muse, Grace, or Fate, and study written and artistic renderings of them. They then create a line or two of literature, as well as dance, music, and choral speaking performance based on a specific Muse, Grace, or Fate.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Into the Woods, Jr.
This unit uses the Grimm Brothers' Book of Tales and Stephen Sondheims musical Into the Woods to help students create their own musical versions of Grimm's tales.
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Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| It's All in the Translation
Students will examine the important role translation plays in interpreting the dramatic literature and theater of the ancient Greeks. Students compare and contrast four different translations of the Greek tragedy, Hecuba.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Jazz Dance and Music
Students will learn about jazz music and jazz dance, explore basic movements of jazz dance, and then create a poem inspired by jazz music.
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Dance, Music |
Language Arts |
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| King Arthur: Man or Legend?
The Kennedy Center Production of Excalibur leads students to further study about the legend of King Arthur as depicted in stories, poems, and artwork.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Landscapes of the Mind
Students will explore four of Martha Graham's choreographies inspired by women, and analyze the expression of emotion and structure of narrative through written and verbal assessment.
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Dance, Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Learning about Maps and Colors
Students develop basic geography skills by reading and creating neighborhood maps.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Legend and Life of Rudolf Nureyev
This unit explores how creative expression, artistic freedom relate and forces of social change forged Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev’s rich contributions to dance and choreography.
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Dance |
Language Arts |
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| Let's Talk About Painting
This lesson introduces the elements of the arts and the appropriate vocabulary for discussing paintings.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Lewis and Clark: Artful Recordings
Influenced by the production Lewis and Clark: West for America, students research, study and draw, plant and animal species discovered and recorded during the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Lewis and Clark: Prized Possession
Students will learn about Sacagawea, Native American wampum, and the concept of a prized possession.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Lift Every Voice and Sing
This lesson explores the origins of the poem and song "Lift Every Voice and Sing."
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Light in the Storm Unit
Inspired by the Civil War-era story A Light In the Storm, these lessons introduce students to the Fenwick Island Lighthouse, Civil War Music, and the events of the time period. The lessons my be taught as a group or individually.
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Listen to The Nightingale
Students learn music vocabulary and use it to assess music from The Nightingale.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Little Women Unit
Students will recreate the melodrama used in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, explore costuming, and create a model stage design.
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Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Louisa May Alcott Unit
This unit takes a fresh look at Louisa May Alcott as a literary artist.
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All |
Language Arts |
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| Magicicada: A Life Cycle
Students will learn about the Magicicada, and they will create collage cicadas and poems using facts about cicadas along with origami replicas.
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Making a Rainstick
Students learn about the history of the musical instrument called a rainstick.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Mark Twain, the Lincoln of Our Literature
In this unit, students will explore the American "voices" through which Twain translates, assails, contours, and celebrates aspects of American life and the American character.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Masks and Aesop's Fables
Aesop’s fables are over 2,600 years old, but the stories—and their morals—are still relevant today. In this lesson, students will learn a fable, make simple masks, and retell the story as part of a Greek chorus using masks.
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Media Awareness
This unit introduces grades 5-8 to the concept of images, as presented through print and television advertising.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Media Awareness, Lesson 1
Students will use their favorite items (games, CDs, etc) to explore advertising concepts and target audiences.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Media Awareness, Lesson 2
Students bring advertisements from home to discuss purpose, target audience and value of advertising.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Media Awareness, Lesson 3
Students complete their advertisements, then work in teams to develop their development and marketing strategies.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Medieval and Renaissance Art: Botanical Symbolism
In this lesson, students explore how botanical illustrations contribute to the telling of story in a 12th, 13th and 14th century religious painting.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Melodies & Math: Telephone Improvisations
In this lesson students will use the keypad of an online telephone to improvise melodies using 4/4 and 2/4 time, create instruments to accompany their numeric melody, and stage a collaborative class performance using each group’s composition.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Mixed Media Messages: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
In this lesson students will explore varied aspects of recycling, identify and draw recycling symbols, create a mock television commercial focusing on the benefits of recycling, and create a stage set backdrop made of recycled materials.
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Moccasins Are Made for Dancing
Tomie DePaola's Native American legends lend themselves to the study of Native American dance movements.
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Dance |
Language Arts |
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| Monsters
Through Beowulf students investigate views about "monsters" in society, then design and present their own conceptions of monsters.
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Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Mountains: A Drama Exploration
Students use creative dramatics to demonstrate an understanding of the three ways mountains form.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Moving Tales
Students are assigned a Grimm Brothers’ tale, which they read and then perform through movement.
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Music as a Storyteller
Students learn about music's ability to convey elements of storytelling, such as plot, tone, and characterization, in the Kennedy Center's production of The Nightingale.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Music Composition
This nine-week unit in music composition covers elements of rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic composition.
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All |
Language Arts |
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| Musical Harlem
Students learn about the musicians of the Harlem Renaissance.
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Dance, Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| N.C. Wyeth: The Art of Illustration
Students learn about N.C. Wyeth and illustration, and examine a number of works by the artist.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Native American Chants and Movement
This lesson challenges students to create expressive movements inspired by Native American chants and poetry.
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Dance |
Language Arts |
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| Navajo Weaving
Students explore patterns of Navajo weavings and create and perform a traveling pattern based on them.
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Dance, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Nightingale Sounds
This integrated unit correlates with the John F. Kennedy Center’s adaptation of a dance-theatre production of Hans Christian Anderson's The Nightingale.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Noh Theater
Students study the art of the Japanese Noh theater and act out a Noh play. In learning about the history, theatrical elements, music and dance, and costuming, they are also comparing and contrasting these to the other theater elements they have studied involving Greek, Elizabethan and Modern Theater.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Nureyev: After Petipa
Students study how Nureyev's life and work were affected by social, cultural and political forces in Russia.
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Dance, Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Nureyev: Bringer of Light
This lesson focuses on Nureyev’s artistic endeavors and achievements in the dance world of the West.
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Dance, Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Nureyev: The Unconquerable Will
This lesson focuses on how creative expression developed in the West, particularly in dance.
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Dance, Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Oceans: A Fact Haiku
The sound and movement of ocean waves may be called poetry in motion. This lesson uses the ocean to teach students about a form of Japanese poetry. After learning about haiku, and hearing haiku, students listen to the ocean to inspire them in writing their own haiku.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Olympic Athletes and Moments in Time
Through the use of research, mock interviews, and tableau, students will learn about a selected Olympic athlete.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Olympic Emblems
Students will analyze several decades of Olympic emblems, and work in Design Teams to develop an Olympic emblem for a specific time and place, utilizing elements and principles of design.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| One Story, Many Tales
ESL students practice their reading, writing, oral and technology skills as they learn about folktales.
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Organizations that Create Change
Students design a flyer for an organization they belong to or would like to join.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Peace 1: The Quilt Story
Students use pantomime to communicate places they find peace.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Peace 2: Writing and Illustrating a Diamante Poem
Students discuss and use vocabulary related to the concept of peace., then create a peace poem using diamante structure.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Peace 3: Making a Quilt
In this lesson, students learn and use vocabulary related to quilts and quilting.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Peace 4: Quilts
Students will explore quilt-making around the world, then decide on a design and create their own peace quilts.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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| Percussion Instruments and Pitch
Students will make predictions and explore how pitch changes based on the materials used in instrument construction
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Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Pioneer America: Folklore and Tall Tales
Through improvisational activities, students are introduced to the folklore of the pioneers; specifically, the tall tale.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
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| Pioneer America: Pioneer Living
Students learn what life was like for early American pioneers and create a tableaux depicting a pioneer scene.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Playing in the Orchestral Team
Students will learn about musical instruments in an orchestra by exploring the Perfect Pitch interactive. Students will compare and contrast aspects of baseball and orchestras. They will write a creative story from the perspective of a musical instrument that would convince a composer to choose the instrument for the "orchestral team."
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Music |
Language Arts |
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| Playing with Puns
Students will compare puns and wordplay in The Shakespeare Stealer and Twelfth Night.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Poets Got Them Blues
Through the analysis of blues lyrics, students will identify poetic elements in blues songs and draw connections between the two artistic mediums.
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Music |
Language Arts |
|
| Portrait of Place, Portrait of a Family
Students learn about portraying places and life stories, both literally and metaphorically, through text and performance.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Prairie Magic and Territory Folks
Students closely examine several aspects of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!.
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Dance, Music, Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Prometheus Bound: Rebel with a Cause
The primary focus of this lesson is the close study of the text of Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound. Students review some of the principles of ancient Greek drama found in Aristotle’s’ Poetics and explore some examples of well-known myths used as seminal sources. Study questions are provided, as well as topic suggestions for writing assignments, oral presentations, and special projects.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Puppets on the Move: China and the Silk Road
Students will gain an understanding of the dynamics of trade in China, culminating in student-produced shadow puppet performances.
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Reading a Fable
Students recognize the fable as a literary form.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Reading Illustrations
Students explore how illustrations contribute to the telling of a story.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Reliving History Through Slave Narratives
After reading slave narratives recorded in the 1930s by the Federal Writers' Project, students research slavery and tell a story based on their findings.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Reviewing Good Playing Habits
In this lesson, orchestra students contrast good playing position with poor habits that they may have developed over summer.
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Music |
Language Arts |
|
| Rhythm & Improv, Jazz & Poetry
Students will listen to and analyze jazz music, and then identify jazz characteristics in poems by Yusef Komunyakaa, Sonia Sanchez, and Langston Hughes. Students will also incorporate these elements in their own original poetry.
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|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| Rhythm and Art
This curriculum unit presents an introduction to the concept of visual rhythm, and explores the intersection of visual and auditory rhythm.
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Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Rhythm and Art: Connections
Students use postcards to match geographic locations to music and works of art.
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Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Rhythm and Art: Gesture Drawing
This lesson explore the connection between visual music and art.
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Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Rhythm and Art: Individual Report
In this lesson, students conduct Internet research to help build an appreciation for rhythm in visual arts and music.
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Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Rhythm and Art: Painting
This lesson explores connections between music and visual art.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Rhythm and Art: Rhythm Collage
Students will produce collages of paper cut-outs, reflecting elements of rhythm in music.
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Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Russian Folktales
Students are introduced to the folktale genre and study Russian folktales.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Science Meets Artistry: The Work of Cai Guo-Qiang
Students will discuss the work of artist Cai Guo-Qiang, and they will understand the technological, logistical, and artistic factors for creating performance-oriented works in public spaces.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Scratch Dance
After gathering factual information on an insect of their choice, students will create and perform an original poem, and in the process learn how a poem can be used to communicate information.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Searching for Cinderella
Students identify a story line, event, or characteristic and use it create a madrigal about the "Cinderella" tale.
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|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| Set a Poem to Music
Students will set a favorite poem to a rhythmic meter, and assign an original melody to the rhythm.
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|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| Shadows & Light, Science & Puppetry
Students will learn how light interacts with matter, by creating and performing shadow puppet plays.
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Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Shakespeare Stealer
This four-lesson unit centers around the play The Shakespeare Stealer, and the book of the same name.
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Dance, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Show Business
This lesson puts the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein in the historical context of the development of American musical theater.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Sing Me a Song About the USA
Students compose a song related to a specific geographic area of the United States.
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Music |
Language Arts |
|
| Social Witness During World War II
Students will analyze the role of perspective and bias in poetry and photography, looking in particular at documentary photography of World War II.
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Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Sondheim's Into the Woods
After studying Sondheim's works, students will create a libretto and script for an original musical based on The Grimm Brothers' fairy tale, The Frog Prince.
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Music, Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Sondheim: Creating a Context
Students explore the musical theatre genre and examine ways that musicals reflect cultural context.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Sondheim: Secret Metaphors
This lesson explores Sondheim's experimentation with diverse structural designs.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Sondheim: Voice of Cultural Change
This lesson explores Sondheim's contributions to musical theatre in the context of the dramatic changes in American life and culture.
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Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| South Pacific—War Stories
The music and story of South Pacific takes students back to the days of World War II, as they explore connections between the work of author James Michener and the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein.
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|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| Southern Puritanism and Tennessee Williams
This lesson continues the exploration of "Puritanism" as an influence on the development of modern American drama by focusing on elements of narrative, theme and characterization in selected works of Tennessee Williams.
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|
Dance, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Steps of a Giant: Martha Graham
This unit is dedicated to exploring the work of Martha Graham, one of the most innovative and celebrated dance artists of the twentieth century.
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Dance, Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Street Games
Students experience street games of Harlem by learning about and playing established games.
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|
Dance, Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| String Instruments and Pitch
Students will create their own string instruments, and explore how pitch is altered.
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|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| Studying J.S. Bach
Students write an essay comparing Bach’s struggle to achieve musical independence and growth with their own experiences.
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|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| Sundiata, Mali's Lion King
This lesson introduces the legendary Malian king Sundiata Keita through mask-making, an element of traditional Malian festivals.
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|
Dance, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Swing Your Partner!
Learn the origins of square dancing in the U.S. along with experiencing the dance form and the actual calls, culminating in learning to write a friendly letter about the experience.
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|
Dance |
Language Arts |
|
| Syncopated Duet
Students will compose a duet that contains syncopated rhythm sequences.
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|
Music, Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Tall Tales Today
In this lesson, students are exposed to several traditional tall tales, then prompted to write an original tall tale set in contemporary America.
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|
Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Tappin’ to My Tune
The third lesson on American Dance forms takes us to the origins of Tap, exploring its history.
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|
Dance |
Language Arts |
|
| Tchaikovsky in America
Students learn about the Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and his visit to the United States.
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|
Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Teaching Shadow Puppetry
Students will explore the art, scientific data, history, production and magic of shadow puppetry.
|
|
Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Telling a Story through Dance
This lesson uses The Nutcracker to introduce the concept of telling a story through dance and pantomime.
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|
Dance |
Language Arts |
|
| The Art Collector
Students select works of art for an imaginary personal collection and justify the selection of each piece.
|
|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| The Art of the Wyeths
This unit includes research and studio lessons focusing on the illustrations of N.C. Wyeth, the watercolor drybrush paintings of Andrew Wyeth, and the portraiture of James Wyeth.
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|
Dance, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| The Brownies' Book, Past and Present
This lesson focuses on The Brownie's Book, a magazine published by the NAACP from 1920-1921.
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|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| The Election Process and Political Cartoons
Students learn about the history of political cartoons, and design a political cartoon about a fictional candidate.
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|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| The Election Process and the Campaign Trail
Students will learn about the electoral process, plan a campaign tour for a fictional presidential candidate, and compose a campaign song.
|
|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| The Gilded Age
This unit explores the history, architecture, arts and culture of American high society from the 1890s-1920s, during the Gilded Age.
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|
Dance, Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| The Great Migration
Students create a mural to learn about the migration of African Americans to Harlem.
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|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| The Innovative Voice
Students will learn about the structures and themes of seminal Martha Graham works, create movement combinations using elements from Graham choreographies, and synthesize their exploration in written journals and assessments.
|
|
Music, Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| The King and I and the Source of Emotions
Students explore the use of music to produce emotions in an audience or to demonstrate characters' emotions.
|
|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| The Many Colors of Individuals
Students will examine the effects of labeling people.
|
|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| The Memory Play in American Drama—Part I
Students will explore Tennessee Williams' classic,The Glass Menagerie, to study the concept of memory from a personal perspective, and then as an element of modern American drama.
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|
Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| The Memory Play in American Drama—Part II
This lesson explores the function of memory as a dramatic and structural device in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, and compares it to Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie.
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|
Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| The Music & Meaning of Mexican Corridos
In this unit, students will examine the historical and cultural significance of corridos and will compose original corrido lyrics.
|
|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| The New York School: Action and Abstraction
Students will learn about the writers and artists of the Abstract Expressionism movement. Students will analyze imagery, style and technique in the poetry and visual art of the period.
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|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| The Poetics of Hip Hop
Students will analyze form in Shakespearean sonnets, works of American poets, then analyze hip hop music to determine common characteristics. Students will also write their own poetry.
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|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| The Rest Is Silence
Students will examine how Shakespeare's use of split lines and shortened lines of iambic pentameter creates meaning by reading, analyzing and staging the opening scene of Hamlet.
|
|
Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| The U.S. Presidential Election Process
In this unit, students explore the electoral process in U.S. presidential elections, then create a campaign tour with posters and a song, and learn about political cartoons.
|
|
Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| The Work of Stephen Sondheim
This curriculum unit brings students in touch with the remarkable contributions of Stephen Sondheim to musical theatre.
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|
Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| The Wright Way
Through various research and understanding, students will learn about Frank Lloyd Wright—his work and his legacy.
|
|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Those Fundamental Things
This lesson focuses on specific formative steps Rodgers and Hammerstein contributed to the development of American musical theater.
|
|
Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Today I Feel . . .
After discussing books about feelings, students tell their own stories, using facial expressions, gestures, and changes in voice to express emotions.
|
|
Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Tolerance: Comparing Cultural Holidays
Students compare the traditions, music, and visual art associated with the U.S. celebration of Halloween and Mexico's Day of the Dead.
|
|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Trees in Art and Nature
Students learn about trees, comparing those depicted in Van Gogh's paintings to those found in nature. Leaf rubbings are created as a final activity.
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|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Tuneful Bugs and Birds
ESOL students read and write poetry and listen to music about bugs and birds.
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|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| Twain: An American Humorist
This lesson examines the diversity and intricacy of Mark Twain’s humor.
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|
Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Twain: Icon and Iconoclast
Students examine Twain's work in the context of pre- and post-Civil War America.
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|
Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Twain: Steamboat's a-Comin'
This lesson examines the mystique of rivers as inspiration for creative expression. It also provides students with a glimpse of the powerful influence the Mississippi River and its environs had on Mark Twain’s writings.
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|
Music, Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Twain: Tom Sawyer—Mythic Adventurer
This lesson focuses on the content and style of development in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
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|
Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Uncivil Civilization in The Hairy Ape
Students examine the bleak view of modern civilization, as presented in Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape.
|
|
Theater, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Understanding Tenement Life
Through historical photos, students explore what life was like for poor immigrants living in tenements at the turn of the century.
|
|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Uppity Farm Animals
Students will analyze problems and create solutions by dramatizing the story, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type and the poem, "Farmer Brown Has a Problem."
|
|
Music, Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Utopian Visions
Students read Sir Thomas More's Utopia and perform a monologue from the perspective of an inhabitant of his ideal society.
|
|
Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Vivaldi, The Composer
Students use the Internet to learn about Antonio Vivaldi, and use Venn diagrams to compare his life to Franz Josef Haydn's.
|
|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| Vivaldi, The Music
In this lesson students hear string instruments and learn terms for musical dynamics.
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|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| Walk in My Shoes
Students examine a variety of shoes to design a durable dance shoe.
|
|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| What a Character!
Students analyze a character's traits, actions and motives, and then use the tools of a storyteller (face, body, and voice) to bring the character to life.
|
|
Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| What Blame to Us if the Heart Live On
This lesson focuses on various ways the content of selections of William Faulkner’s prose and Tennessee Williams’ one-act plays illuminate aspects of the psychological climate of the South following the Civil War.
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|
Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| What Does this Song Really Say?
Students listen to, sing, and read the lyrics to various African-American spirituals.
|
|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| What is a Surrey?
This lesson explores the magic of the vocabulary used by Oscar Hammerstein in his lyrics.
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|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| What Makes a Hero?
Students will write a working definition of a hero and present it creatively to the class.
|
|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Who Can Vote for President?
Students learn about the role and history of voter eligibility, and create a campaign poster that encourage voter participation.
|
|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Wonka's New Product
Students propose making a new candy by writing a persuasive letter to the character of Willy Wonka.
|
|
Dance |
Language Arts |
|
| Woodwind Instruments and Pitch
Students will make predictions and explore how pitch changes based on the length of the air pipe.
|
|
Music, Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Writing an Original Fable
Students will write original fables using the stages of the writing process and, in small groups, perform their fables as skits.
|
|
Theater |
Language Arts |
|
| Writing Folktales
Students write and illustrate folktales, and create a story book.
|
|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Writing Myths
Students read a Native American myth, analyze it, and relate it to other myths and their own experience.
|
|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
|
| Yo-Yo Ma, Master Cellist
Students learn the parts, history, and construction of the cello, and listen and respond to music by Yo-Yo Ma.
|
|
Music |
Language Arts |
|
| You Too Can Haiku
Students will write their own haiku, which they will publish on a Japanese-style scroll.
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|
Visual Arts |
Language Arts |
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