619.677.0751 Projects are co-designed by artist-teacher teams to meet the needs of individual classes.
The following projects demonstrate the power of art to make learning meaningful and engaging. Lesson plans are meant to serve as guides rather than comprehensive instructions. We hope that you find these projects inspiring. Adapt, modify or simplify these projects to best support your students in becoming active participants in their own learning.
School Map
What is the makeup of a community? Who are its members and what activities do they carry out? Where is our school located? These questions guide research on the geographical
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Matter, Properties, and Building on a Budget
Combining NGSS science and engineering perspectives, students set off on an exploration of the properties of materials and their suitability for specific purposes. Students begin by investigating solids and liquids,
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Unlikely Friendships: An Exploration of Characters, Settings, and Following Rules
Students write and illustrate a class book about two unlikely friends and the importance of following rules. Students analyze settings, characters, and scenarios in order to design, create, illustrate, and
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Patterns in the Sky
To align with their NGSS Earth and Space unit, and the enduring cross-cutting concept of patterns, students create artists’ books to describe the patterns that we can observe in our
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Symbols In Motion – A Creative Movement Exploration of Patriotic Symbols
The double-learning goal for this project is for students to gain a deeper understanding of patriotic symbols, their meaning and relevance, while also developing key life skills such as cooperation,
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Theatrical Explorations of Water and Extreme Weather
Students create pantomime, tableau, and news reports to aid their investigations into the phenomena of bodies of water, water’s use and conservation, and extreme weather’s effects on the earth’s landscape,
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Creating Scenes Inspired by the Book Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick
Inspired by Brian Selznick’s Wonderstruck, students identified pivotal moments in the story, created an opening tableau leading into dialogue extracted from existing text and/or images, and then performed their scenes.
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A Poetic Approach to Weather
What role does weather play in our lives? How do changes in the weather impact the world we live in, and even alter our thoughts and feelings? For many students,
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Kinder Life Science Dances
Kinder students engage in a rich learning journey combining life science with collaboration, creativity and plenty of dancing. Incorporating a variety of creative movement activities, with poetry, lyric writing and
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Diversity and Fragility—Dances from the Living World
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are the focus for this embodied life science learning journey combining core ideas and science practices with a rich diversity of dance-making activities. Using dance
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Dramatizing Slow and Rapid Changes to Our World
How does erosion and weathering affect our earth’s surface? What events in nature can change our landforms quickly? These are the questions that inspire students to investigate the effects of
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Scripting Stories about Animals and Habitats
Can animals adapt and thrive in different habitats over time? Drawing from life science, second-grade students compare the diversity of life in different habitats, comparing and contrasting characteristics of living
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Scientific Artists’ Books
In creating scientific artists’ books, fifth-grade students become keen researchers, thinkers, and analysts. Applying scientific observation to their illustrations and text, students investigate an array of topics from across the
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Interactive Earth Science Books
Second-grade students address NGSS standards pertaining to earth science by creating interactive science books. The books incorporate a variety of visual arts techniques and elaborate on the class study of
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Disaster Town
Kindergartners deepen their understanding of push, pull, and change of direction through building their own towns and navigating various disasters that strike their imaginary inhabitants. Students gain working knowledge of
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Light and Sound Waves Produced through Shadow Plays
Students participate in activities that illustrate their research into the phenomena of how light interacts with objects by traveling from place to place and how sound vibrates and travels through
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How to Build Your Own Country
Inspired by Valerie Wyatt’s How to Build Your Own Country, Grade 2 teacher Elaine Pompa was interested in having her students engage in artful activities to complement Social Studies lessons
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Garden, Insects, and Birds, Oh My!
A garden can be a meditative, calming space. The use of a garden theme allows students to understand nature from the ground upward. From topics that range from the dirt
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Matter All around (and within) Us
Students embark on an embodied learning journey through their NGSS Physical Science unit. Applying a range of improvisation and choreographic techniques, students create dances about their investigations into particles of matter,
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Investigating Mechanical Energy with Creative Commercials
Exploring the properties of mechanical energy and its forms (force, position and motion, ability to do work, potential and kinetic energy), students work together to compose song lyrics and theatrical
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