Teacher Resources
Deepen your classroom study of the Industrial Revolution, Empire, Plant Cycles, and the Environment with these educator packets featuring lesson plans and activity ideas for remote learning.
Our lesson plans and activities can be used by teachers and parents across the country. All lesson plans include suggested grade levels but can be adjusted to fit the needs of your students. Share your activities with us on social media @thomascolesite on Instagram and Facebook and we’ll post your children’s art and writing.
To schedule an in-classroom visit with a Thomas Cole Site educator, please email education@thomascole.org.
Schedule An On-Site School Visit
Contact UsCole 200: Thomas Cole and Trees
Lesson Plan- Thomas Cole, Hunters in a Landscape, 1824–1825, oil on canvas, 28¼ × 35½ in., Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Gift of Dr. Susan Gates Austin Warner, TC.2019.1
Emily Cole and Plants
Lesson Plan On-Site Learning: Family Plant Guide Natural Pigments Activity Emily Cole Bingo & Coloring Pages- This project has been funded in part by a grant from the Dorothy C. Radgowski Learning Through Women’s Achievement in the Arts Grant Program, provided through the Where Women Made History and the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios programs of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
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- Emily Cole, Untitled (Peonies), n.d., watercolor and pencil on paper, 11 3/4 × 10 1/8 in., Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Gift of Edith Cole Silberstein, TC.20002.2.19.45
Thomas Cole and Industrialization
Lesson Plan Digital Learning Experience- Thomas Cole, River in the Catskills, Oil on canvas, 1843, 27 1/2 × 40 3/8 in, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Martha C. Karolik for the M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Paintings, 1815–1865.
Thomas Cole and Empire
Lesson Plan- Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: The Consummation of Empire, Oil on canvas, 1836, 51 x 76 in. Collection of The New-York Historical Society, 1858.3.
Changing Landscape: Writing Prompt & Drawing
ActivityVirtual Views & Coloring
ActivitySlow Looking
ActivityCole’s Art Camp
Register HereProfessional Development Opportunities
Contact UsLearn how you can use American landscape paintings to teach curriculum topics through our Teacher Workshops. Watch HERE to explore our 2025 Teacher Workshop, American Identity, History & Art in 1825. Watch HERE to explore our 2024 Teacher Workshop, American Scenery & Indigenous Presence. Sponsored by the Warner Foundation Teaching American History Through Art Project.
Made possible with the generous support of the Warner Foundation and The Bay & Paul Foundations.
Additional support provided by New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and the Art Bridges Bridge Ahead Initiative.
