Elementary Arts Integration Course
This website was developed primarily as a resource for teachers taking a university course in elementary arts integration. The current iteration of the course is as follows (and will be updated at the course continues to evolve). Each class lasts about two hours. Each masters level course includes two days in one.
Day 1: Introduction
The overall aim of our first day together, is to help everyone become comfortable interacting collaboratively and creatively together.
Name Rondo—A rhythmic name game developed by Kay Lehto in Las Vegas and has since taken on a life of its own. After teaching this in Missouri for five years, one of my students reported that she had learned it at summer camp (in Missouri!).
Head and Shoulders, Baby—A traditional singing/hand-clapping game. I introduce this game to get everyone up and singing/moving from the beginning. It also give a chance to explain the experiential nature of the class and the expectation that teachers will approach it as teachings: behaving as themselves as teachers (not taking on the role of children) and thinking continually about how to apply what they do in my class to their future or current classrooms.
Name and Gesture--"The group stands in a circle. The leader begins by introducing herself by her first name accompanied by a physical gesture. The whole group repeats the name and gesture. This process works around the group until everyone has said their name and performed their gesture. This process is then repeated but without the name this time. Then anyone who wishes takes a step forward and the rest of the group must say his or her name and perform that person's gesture." (From Augusto Boal's FORUM THEATRE for teachers: Notes from a workshop at Athen Conference 2000, by Susie MacDonald and Daniel Rachel)
Category Walk—A simple mixer with participants walking around the room and then grouping according to a given category (shoes, hair, where you live, etc.)
What Are You Doing?—An improvisation/pantomime game.
Presentation: Syllabus, Website, Core Curriculum, CORE Experiences—A powerpoint reviewing what we will do in this course and giving an introduction to the concept of CORE Experiences.
Masks--
Polygon Portraits—Participants create self-portraits using polygons cut from construction paper and glued onto a construction paper background. The point is to create an expression of one-self rather than a realist image.
Name Rondo—A rhythmic name game developed by Kay Lehto in Las Vegas and has since taken on a life of its own. After teaching this in Missouri for five years, one of my students reported that she had learned it at summer camp (in Missouri!).
Head and Shoulders, Baby—A traditional singing/hand-clapping game. I introduce this game to get everyone up and singing/moving from the beginning. It also give a chance to explain the experiential nature of the class and the expectation that teachers will approach it as teachings: behaving as themselves as teachers (not taking on the role of children) and thinking continually about how to apply what they do in my class to their future or current classrooms.
Name and Gesture--"The group stands in a circle. The leader begins by introducing herself by her first name accompanied by a physical gesture. The whole group repeats the name and gesture. This process works around the group until everyone has said their name and performed their gesture. This process is then repeated but without the name this time. Then anyone who wishes takes a step forward and the rest of the group must say his or her name and perform that person's gesture." (From Augusto Boal's FORUM THEATRE for teachers: Notes from a workshop at Athen Conference 2000, by Susie MacDonald and Daniel Rachel)
Category Walk—A simple mixer with participants walking around the room and then grouping according to a given category (shoes, hair, where you live, etc.)
What Are You Doing?—An improvisation/pantomime game.
Presentation: Syllabus, Website, Core Curriculum, CORE Experiences—A powerpoint reviewing what we will do in this course and giving an introduction to the concept of CORE Experiences.
Masks--
Polygon Portraits—Participants create self-portraits using polygons cut from construction paper and glued onto a construction paper background. The point is to create an expression of one-self rather than a realist image.
Day 2: Dance Core
Presentation: Dance Core—Introduces key concepts in the dance core as well as dance elements (body, action, time, energy, space).
Freeze Dance—Find a space and freeze, move specific body parts with alternating tempos, demonstrate axial and locomotor movement, explore various types of lines, tempos, and moods. I usually use a tambourine or drum to accompany the participants.
Verb and Adverb Movement—Move from one end of the room to the other demonstrating a verb and adverb pair. Divide into groups, create sequences, perform and let everyone try an guess what it was.
Statues—Create statues to express adjectives (e.g. gigantic, tired, graceful, confident). Discuss using entire body and space (high, middle, low).
Foil Sculptures—An extension of the statues experience, making quick sculptures out of aluminum foil.
Dance Analysis—Watch short dance performance online and discuss dance elements.
Dance Core Review—Look through the dance core curriculum in small groups and identify skills that may have been addressed today.
Ocarina—Begin playing the ocarina together (from here on out, we will practice the ocarina if there is time).
Freeze Dance—Find a space and freeze, move specific body parts with alternating tempos, demonstrate axial and locomotor movement, explore various types of lines, tempos, and moods. I usually use a tambourine or drum to accompany the participants.
Verb and Adverb Movement—Move from one end of the room to the other demonstrating a verb and adverb pair. Divide into groups, create sequences, perform and let everyone try an guess what it was.
Statues—Create statues to express adjectives (e.g. gigantic, tired, graceful, confident). Discuss using entire body and space (high, middle, low).
Foil Sculptures—An extension of the statues experience, making quick sculptures out of aluminum foil.
Dance Analysis—Watch short dance performance online and discuss dance elements.
Dance Core Review—Look through the dance core curriculum in small groups and identify skills that may have been addressed today.
Ocarina—Begin playing the ocarina together (from here on out, we will practice the ocarina if there is time).
Day 3: Visual Art Core and Drama Core (9/15)
Elements and Principles of Design
Art Analysis—Identify art elements and principles in illustrated books. Group reports. Books include:
Op Art—Use markers to create a two-dimensional optical illusion.
Visual Art Core Review—Look through the visual art core curriculum in small groups and identify skills that may have been addressed today.
Art Analysis—Identify art elements and principles in illustrated books. Group reports. Books include:
- Lon Po Po, by Ed Young
- Animalia, by Graeme Base
- Sleep Like a Tiger, by Mary Logue and Pamela Zagarenski
- Outside Over There, by Maurice Sendak
- Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears, by Verna Aardema and Leo and Diane Dillon.
- Flotsam, by David Wiesner
Op Art—Use markers to create a two-dimensional optical illusion.
Visual Art Core Review—Look through the visual art core curriculum in small groups and identify skills that may have been addressed today.
Sarasponda—A traditional stick game with nonsense lyrics.
Brainstorm: Drama Core—What are the elements and principles (characteristics) of drama?
Echo and Answer—Imitate and create rhythm patterns.
Found Sounds—Create grooves as a class and in small groups using sounds discovered in the classroom.
Soundscapes—Create and record collections of sounds to depict a place.
Tableau—Experience the possibilities in frozen pictures.
Drama Core Review—Look through the drama core to consider what we addressed or could have addressed with today's experiences.
Brainstorm: Drama Core—What are the elements and principles (characteristics) of drama?
Echo and Answer—Imitate and create rhythm patterns.
Found Sounds—Create grooves as a class and in small groups using sounds discovered in the classroom.
Soundscapes—Create and record collections of sounds to depict a place.
Tableau—Experience the possibilities in frozen pictures.
Drama Core Review—Look through the drama core to consider what we addressed or could have addressed with today's experiences.
Day 4: Music Core & Arts Integration (9/22)
Brainstorm: The Arts in Everyday Life—Where do you encounter the arts (dance, drama, music, visual art) in everyday life?
Brainstorm: Music Core—What elements make music music? (e.g. beat, rhythm, melody)
Four White Horses—A traditional singing game from Trinidad and Tobago. Develop new hand-clapping patterns and apply them to familiar songs.
Repeat a Song—Demonstrate/discuss what to do to maintain attention/motivation when repeating a song. Outline ways to repeat a familiar song.
Creating Soundtracks—Add sounds to embellish a book.
Ocarina—Keep playing.
Music Core Review—Look through the music core curriculum to see what standards were addressed today or could be addressed.
Five Steps to Curriculum Integration—Choose a standard, determine if it's a skill or content, combine with another content area, develop/choose a CORE Experience, extend the experience to address additional content areas and standards.
Application—In small groups, develop arts integrated CORE Experience ideas.
Brainstorm: Music Core—What elements make music music? (e.g. beat, rhythm, melody)
Four White Horses—A traditional singing game from Trinidad and Tobago. Develop new hand-clapping patterns and apply them to familiar songs.
Repeat a Song—Demonstrate/discuss what to do to maintain attention/motivation when repeating a song. Outline ways to repeat a familiar song.
Creating Soundtracks—Add sounds to embellish a book.
Ocarina—Keep playing.
Music Core Review—Look through the music core curriculum to see what standards were addressed today or could be addressed.
Five Steps to Curriculum Integration—Choose a standard, determine if it's a skill or content, combine with another content area, develop/choose a CORE Experience, extend the experience to address additional content areas and standards.
Application—In small groups, develop arts integrated CORE Experience ideas.
Day 5: Language Arts and Social Studies (9/29)
Original Instruments—Show and tell with homemade musical instruments.
Grooves—Create grooves and accompaniments through a variety of means.
- as a drum circle
- with dances
- from recordings
- as Skiffle (with karaoke)
Leaf Creatures—Gather leaves and other materials outside to create a collage image of an animal, real or imagined.
Storytelling—Listen to a story and then discuss stories on a related theme.
Discussion: Text and the Arts—Consider text in the arts, text about the arts, and arts as text.
Songs that Teach—Explore a create a variety of songs to familiar tunes used to remember information about another subject area (ones, tens, and hundreds place; food chain, clouds).
Dance a Story—Experience a process for developing a dance sequence to tell a story.
Song Lyrics—Learn Chocolate and analyze text in Big Yellow Taxi
Review the Language Arts Core—Look for additional ways to integrate the arts with language arts.
Day 6: Language Arts and Social Studies (10/6)
Puppet Shows—Show-and-tell original puppets, explore puppet voices, and develop puppet shows.
We attended the diversity conference and participated in Forrest Crawford's presentation on Call and Response protest songs.
We attended the diversity conference and participated in Forrest Crawford's presentation on Call and Response protest songs.
Day 7: Math and Science (10/13)
Share Stories
Skip Counting
Base Ten Blocks—Explore design elements while using base ten blocks.
Jumping Frog—Use origami as an opportunity to discuss angles.
Habitats—Learn about a variety of habits through clay sculpture and song.
Straw experiment
Mirror Movement—Move with others to experience forms of symmetry.
Movement with Props
Skip Counting
Base Ten Blocks—Explore design elements while using base ten blocks.
Jumping Frog—Use origami as an opportunity to discuss angles.
Habitats—Learn about a variety of habits through clay sculpture and song.
Straw experiment
Mirror Movement—Move with others to experience forms of symmetry.
Movement with Props
Day 8. UCIRA Conference (10/27)
Day 9. Science and Social Studies (11/1)
When I Was a Baby—Adapt this traditional chant to learn about life cycles.
Folk Dances—Heel-toe Polka, Galopede, El Juego Chirimbolo, Canoe Dance
Poem Ostinatos—Embellish a poem with beat ostinatos, rhythm ostinatos, and color.
Mandalas—Create symmetrical patterns using a variety of media.
Finger Plays—Engage in some traditional finger plays.
Pantomime—Explore some standard "pantos."
Day 10. Arts Integration Conference (11/10)
Days 11 and 12. Share CORE Experiences
Summer 2017
The morning class (summer 2017)developed or discovered these CORE arts experiences and engaged the class in them:
Negative/Positive Space—Discuss some common illusions and then create your own using paper, stencils, and colored pencils. Connects with language arts and writing.
Commercials—Explore how commercials appeals to one's sense of ethics, logic, and emotion (ethos, logos, pathos) to persuade. Also explore how music combines with drama and visual art. Connects with language arts and social studies (consumerism, sustainability).
Vocabulary Skits—Develop skits to explore denotation and positive and negative connotation in given words. The audience responds with physical gestures representing positive or negative connotation or denotation. Connects with language arts and social studies.
Musical Mad Libs—Replace adjectives, verbs, and nouns in Frosty the Snowman in groups. Connects with language arts (parts or speech and group collaboration).
Illustrations—Given a card with a red dot on it, students are asked to create a story and create an illustration (using the dot) to represent a main idea or theme from the story. Clearly connects with language arts. Students could read "The Dot." The idea of creating a picture from a given pattern or shape has a lot of possibilities and could extend to social studies and science.
Story Alterations—Choose a story and change an important element, like a main character, event, or the ending. Tell or act out the story adaptation. Connects to language arts and potentially social studies.
Subtraction Song—(to the tune of Ten in a Bed) "100 apples in a tree and Fred (noun) picked (verb) three (number). Picked three. Picked three. So we all picked three and there were 97 left." Students change the noun, verb, and number and add actions to the song. They could also change to addition, etc. and change the apples in the tree to something else. Connects to language arts and math. Depending on what is added or subtracted, this could also bring in science or social studies. (Lyrics created by Reyanna Durfee and Wendy Boren)
Upside-down Drawings—Foster a growth mindset. Don't tell the class that we are doing an art project. Using a Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, have the students draw portions of an upside-down portrait line drawing. So, the students aren't thinking about making the drawing look like something, but are simply drawing shapes and lines.
Line Dance—Connects to math relative to angles, degrees, space, and time.
Newspaper Dance—Dancing on newspapers folded in halves, fourths, etc. From Mrs. King's Music Class. This is similar to a process for teaching math and dance, developed by Malke Rosenfeld.
Rhythm Sticks—"Bread and butter, marmalade and jam. Let's tap our sticks as ______ we can" (Youtube Video). The class also explored a stick passing pattern and performed it with Yankee Doodle. It also worked with an original song that teaches about prepositions, also to the tune of Yankee Doodle.
Dance Like Sounds—Move bodies into shapes to represent a variety of sounds (e.g. glass breaking, "boing" or other springy sounds, and then progressing into classical music). Freeze and see what shapes were developed. This can connect to social studies as students explore the social and historical contexts for the music. Language arts connections could include descriptive words, as well as compare and contrast. For a twist, have the students do the opposite of what they hear or use colors instead of music for the dance stimulus.
The afternoon class (summer 2017) developed or discovered these CORE arts experiences and engaged the class in them:
Pokey Bear—Incorporate other types of bears and elements of their habits, changing the lyrics to play the game in new ways. Connects to science and language arts.
News Play—Create a newscast about a historical event. Include an newscaster, a field reporter, and eyewitnesses. Integrates social studies and language arts (also science if the event is science-related).
The morning class (summer 2017)developed or discovered these CORE arts experiences and engaged the class in them:
Negative/Positive Space—Discuss some common illusions and then create your own using paper, stencils, and colored pencils. Connects with language arts and writing.
Commercials—Explore how commercials appeals to one's sense of ethics, logic, and emotion (ethos, logos, pathos) to persuade. Also explore how music combines with drama and visual art. Connects with language arts and social studies (consumerism, sustainability).
Vocabulary Skits—Develop skits to explore denotation and positive and negative connotation in given words. The audience responds with physical gestures representing positive or negative connotation or denotation. Connects with language arts and social studies.
Musical Mad Libs—Replace adjectives, verbs, and nouns in Frosty the Snowman in groups. Connects with language arts (parts or speech and group collaboration).
Illustrations—Given a card with a red dot on it, students are asked to create a story and create an illustration (using the dot) to represent a main idea or theme from the story. Clearly connects with language arts. Students could read "The Dot." The idea of creating a picture from a given pattern or shape has a lot of possibilities and could extend to social studies and science.
Story Alterations—Choose a story and change an important element, like a main character, event, or the ending. Tell or act out the story adaptation. Connects to language arts and potentially social studies.
Subtraction Song—(to the tune of Ten in a Bed) "100 apples in a tree and Fred (noun) picked (verb) three (number). Picked three. Picked three. So we all picked three and there were 97 left." Students change the noun, verb, and number and add actions to the song. They could also change to addition, etc. and change the apples in the tree to something else. Connects to language arts and math. Depending on what is added or subtracted, this could also bring in science or social studies. (Lyrics created by Reyanna Durfee and Wendy Boren)
Upside-down Drawings—Foster a growth mindset. Don't tell the class that we are doing an art project. Using a Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, have the students draw portions of an upside-down portrait line drawing. So, the students aren't thinking about making the drawing look like something, but are simply drawing shapes and lines.
Line Dance—Connects to math relative to angles, degrees, space, and time.
Newspaper Dance—Dancing on newspapers folded in halves, fourths, etc. From Mrs. King's Music Class. This is similar to a process for teaching math and dance, developed by Malke Rosenfeld.
Rhythm Sticks—"Bread and butter, marmalade and jam. Let's tap our sticks as ______ we can" (Youtube Video). The class also explored a stick passing pattern and performed it with Yankee Doodle. It also worked with an original song that teaches about prepositions, also to the tune of Yankee Doodle.
Dance Like Sounds—Move bodies into shapes to represent a variety of sounds (e.g. glass breaking, "boing" or other springy sounds, and then progressing into classical music). Freeze and see what shapes were developed. This can connect to social studies as students explore the social and historical contexts for the music. Language arts connections could include descriptive words, as well as compare and contrast. For a twist, have the students do the opposite of what they hear or use colors instead of music for the dance stimulus.
The afternoon class (summer 2017) developed or discovered these CORE arts experiences and engaged the class in them:
Pokey Bear—Incorporate other types of bears and elements of their habits, changing the lyrics to play the game in new ways. Connects to science and language arts.
News Play—Create a newscast about a historical event. Include an newscaster, a field reporter, and eyewitnesses. Integrates social studies and language arts (also science if the event is science-related).
Paper Cylinder Sculptures—Create a sculpture with paper cylinders hot glued onto a cardboard base to express a vocabulary word. The paper cylinders are made by wrapping a piece of paper around a pencil and using a glue stick to glue down the last inch or so. This could connect to any other content area depending on the context. Take a gallery walk to see each other's art. The image is an expression of "B" completed by a mom and her six year old daughter.
Music Listening--Listen to contextual information about a composer (available at https://www.classicsforkids.com/ along with written text) and play bingo with facts about the composer (to motivate close listening). The biography includes music written by the composer. In our class today, we learned about John Phillip Sousa. Connects to language arts (listening) and social studies. Boat Building—Construct boats out of aluminum foil and see whose boat can hold the most Scrabble tiles (or other objects like pennies). Connects with social studies and science as well as providing an opportunity to explore design form vs function. We could create a graph showing how many objects each boat could hold. |
Autumn Leaves—Paint a tree full of colorful leaves. The trunk is painted with fingers and the leaves with balls of aluminum foil. Read and write poetry about autumn. Also, there are clear science connections.
Story Adaptations—In groups, create skits to show a variety of adaptations of a single story. In other words, each group has a different version on the same story and their performance needs to highlight the adaptation. Connects drama with language arts. Because the student are working from picture book, this experience could also include some art analysis. Also, today's stories represented adaptations from around the world, so there is a clear social studies connection as well. |
Haiku Dance—Groups choreographed movement to express the three lines in haikus. Students could also write their own haikus to express through movement. Connects to language arts, social studies, and science.
Noun Song—"A noun is a person, place or thing, place or thing, place or thing. A noun is a person place or thing; give me an example" (tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb). Actions: person (point to self), place (hands come to peak like a roof), thing (point to something in the room). Students can also make up their own action. The lyric writer is unknown. Connects music with grammar.
Noun Song—"A noun is a person, place or thing, place or thing, place or thing. A noun is a person place or thing; give me an example" (tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb). Actions: person (point to self), place (hands come to peak like a roof), thing (point to something in the room). Students can also make up their own action. The lyric writer is unknown. Connects music with grammar.
July 2018 Arts Integration Class
These are some ideas from our graduate level arts integration class. The class participants included 16 students who are current and prospective teachers.
Blind Painting—The students paired up, sitting, back to back. One person described a picture of a sea creature that they were looking at on iPhone and the other person painted it (with tempera paint). The descriptions could refer only to things like color, line, shape, proportions, placement, etc. |
The Earth Turns Around—We first learned song to the tune of Farmer in the Dell:
- First verse: The Earth turns around. The Earth turns around. Once a day, every day; the Earth turns around.
- Second verse: The moon goes 'round the Earth. The moon goes 'round the Earth; Once a month, every month; the moon goes round the Earth.
- Third verse: The Earth goes 'round the sun. The Earth goes 'round the sun. Once a year, every year; the Earth goes round the sun.
Virginia Reel—We learned this dance, walking it through two times and then adding accompaniment. We used this Youtube video for accompaniment.
Rounds—One of our students played guitar and engaged the class in singing a rounds: Row, Row, Row Your Boat. We repeated the song by keeping the beat and then singing in a variety of voices. Then we used the same song to skip count by 2's, 4's, and 5's (which we also sung in a round.) |
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Solid, Liquid, Gas—In a large masking tape square on the floor, we formed into H2O molecules and demonstrated how these molecules would function in a solid liquid and gas. Then we did another simulation with the Solid, Liquid, Gas (They Might Be Giants) song on Youtube, with everyone dancing like individual atoms in solids, liquids, or gases at the appropriate times in the song.
Watercolor Portraits—We traced pictures of people from our phones on tracing paper. Then we folded the tracing paper twice each direction to create a grid, drew a corresponding grid on our watercolor paper, and transferred the outline with pencil. We explored a wide array of watercolor techniques to complete the portraits. These techniques included using salt, rubbing alcohol, toothpicks, wet-on-wet, creating gradations, dry brush, toothbrush, and masking tape.
Vocabulary Word Pantomime—This lesson began with everyone in a circle. Each student drew a vocabulary word from a bag and then acted it out. The words were all movement words extending "shades of meaning" (saunter, spring, trip, etc.). The class guessed each one. Then the students divided into groups and each group was given a bag of props. They had to come up with a skit that integrated the props and the forms of movement in the first activity. Then they discussed how the props and movement helped guide the creativity. |
Autobiography Maps—Finally, we created autobiography maps to share life experiences, histories, and interests. We looked at some examples at Ms. Lopez in the Art Room.