The Art of Illumination project is a great way for students in grades 5-12 to experience the medieval process of illumination as authentically as possible. After researching the history, people, and art of the Medieval Ages, students will have the opportunity to create an illuminated text of their own.

This is a collection of images from Medieval manuscripts depicting important stories from the Bible.

These porcelains from the collections of the Freer Gallery are part of a 1,500-year-old tradition of making porcelains in Jingdezhen, China. Porcelain production during the Kangxi period (1662–1722) expanded China’s export trade with Europe, sparked the Chinamania craze in the nineteenth century, and bolstered the East-West exchange that endures to this day.

The Smithsonian 3D Program is a small group of technologists working within the Smithsonian Institution's Digitization Program Office. We focus on developing solutions to further the Smithsonian's mission of “the increase and diffusion of knowledge” through the use of three-dimensional scanning technology, analysis tools, and our distribution platform.

This work is already transforming core functions of our museums. Researchers in the field can now come back not only with specimens, but also 3D data documenting entire sites. Curators and educators are using 3D data as the basis for telling stories and sending students on quests of discovery. Conservators are using 3D data to track the condition of a collection item over time using 3D deviation analysis tools, showing exactly what changes have occurred to an object.

Students will explore beauty in nature, learn the structure of the leaf/purposes of the leaf, learn draped slab forming technique, exhibit skills and craftsmanship in handling clay and exhibit skill in glazing.

Students will look at Oldenburg's "Mouse Museum, 1977" and discuss the function of museums, the idea of collections, and the meaning of "alter ego". Students will create their own representation of their alter ego. Each student will be provided an object and asked to draw that object and then to draw the object again but transforming it into something else of a vastly different scale. Students will reflect on what they collect and sketch out the design for a museum based on their collection including internal and external views of the buildings.

In this multi-day lesson, students will study the impressionist paintings of Claude Monet, create mixed media "pizzas," will study texture in pizza dough and will end the lesson eating real pizza.

In this set of lessons, students will study artists that use clay and will compare different art works made of clay. Then, students will create their own clay tiles and will demonstrate how to manipulate clay, fire their art and then glaze their art.

Each theme has its own set of learning activities with these sections:

EXPLORE: Starting points for thinking and research

RESPOND: Analysis and interpreting art

CURATE: Communicate ideas through a collection of artworks

CREATE: Express your ideas through artmaking

The learning activities are aimed at middle-years students and above. Teachers are encouraged to select and adapt the learning activities to suit the specific level and learning requirements of their students. Themes include: Melbourne; Landscape and Environment; and Identity.

Students will demonstrate the ability to draw vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines, recognize the difference between inside and outside, and will create a picture of themselves.

Students will learn and apply the basic fundamentals of weaving as they use construction paper to create a woven mat. They will incorporate basic measurement and geometric concepts as they create their individual projects.

Students will create portraits in the style of the Egyptians and students use correct proportion in drawing the facial features.

Students will paint a landscape where the body and nature are interconnected. Students will experiment with weight, gravity, tension and balance. Students will also watch a Neto video on Intimacy.

Students will go through a series of sensory experiments to learn to express subjective sensations. Students will transform the classroom into an installation piece and discuss how they interact and integrate with the altered space. Students will also design and create a living sculpture where they are each a part of the interconnected work.

Students will view Neto's "Coconut Water" 2008. Students will also conduct fieldwork collecting data around the school and in their own neighborhoods, document their fieldwork through video, photographs, or drawings, and share findings through a roundtable discussion. Students will also select a typical local product and write a manifesto as to its importance. Also, students will create a mural in the style of Neto's installations.

Students will create a realistic shoe drawing of their personal shoe including a background that visually explains where they have been, where they would like to go, or how they got to where they are now using the Elements and Principles of Art and Design (ex. line, shape, texture, space, form, emphasis). This lesson was developed by Laura Mitchell as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.   The students will write a poem inspired by Vincent van Gogh's Three Pairs of Shoes.         

Students will explore and describe the houses of Baie Saint-Paul, and other buildings (from photographs) using words for shapes and colors, identify the shapes of a gable roof in the painting and photographs, create a drawing of a house with a gable roof and finally, look for architectural elements in their own community.

Students will watch and discuss an exerpt from Garmendia's "Untitled Orbea" 2007. Students will explore, video, and discuss a relevant object from the school. Students will consider local traditions, events, habits, or an unusual behavior in their community and create an imaginary monument that represents their community. Students will also design furniture playing with the function of the object.

This lesson focuses on the importance of recycling paper, color mixing, and learning secondary colors.

Students will determine the central message, lesson, or moral of “The Stone Cutter”.  Students will recount key details of the text in a sequenced order and explain how those key details communicate the author’s message through a class discussion. Students will read a text independently and demonstrate their understanding by designing motivational posters that include the central message, lesson, or moral (life lesson) of the text. Students will speak clearly and in complete sentences at an understandable pace when using recounting to share relevant details of the text. Students will also illustrate the moral of The Lion and The Mouse.