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.
Close Observations of Rocks and Minerals in the Geology Lab
Students become amateur geologists as they transform their classroom into a geology laboratory. They examine and evaluate specimens of rocks, minerals, and fossils from the Natural History Museum. Students explore
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Migration of the Overlanders: A Musical Representation
Throughout this project, students investigate and define the events leading up to the gold rush. From the moment John Polk encouraged families to move west for new opportunity, all the
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California History: Voices from the Past
In exploring early California history, students ponder, “What did the missionaries wish to accomplish? How did the Native Americans receive these new visitors? What relationships were formed among soldiers, missionaries,
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Exploring Ancestors and Culture through Movement
In this culturally rich creative movement project, students reflect, dance, write, and speak about their ancestors—the countries they came from, how they arrived in America, their stories and valued artifacts,
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Gold Rush Protagonists: Biographical Portraits Overview
By extensively researching the Gold Rush period and the effect this massive migration had on California towns and mining sites, students develop a biographical portrait representing one of the period’s
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Using the Visual Arts to Examine Characteristics of Fossils
In exploring a unit on fossils, students become paleontologists and botanists by trying their hand at a variety of art activities illustrating the fossilization of ancient plants and animals. “Fossil”
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Developing Observational and Engineering Skills in a Study of Plants
Combining and applying the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics with sculpture, students construct two-dimensional and three-dimensional models of plants at differing scales. Recording their scientific observations and inquiry of a
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The Magical Changing World
Students embark on a creative movement and visual art exploration into the wonders of our ever-changing planet. Through analyzing images, physical embodiment of a geologically themed story, and tangram picture
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Poetry Artist Book
In creating multitextured artist books, students learn about various elements of poetry through reading and writing poems filled with imagery, symbolism, rhythm, rhyme, and alliteration. Standards ELA: Reading: 1.0, 1.6, 1.7,
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Mapping the Human Body
Upper-level Special Day Class (SDC) students deepen their understanding of the body and its various systems by creating a life-sized, layered model of the human body. The skeletal, digestive, cardiovascular,
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Mixed-Media Group Collage
Kindergarten students create mixed-media collages in order to learn more about coastal landforms in conjunction with a multicultural unit on Australia. Working in groups and using butcher paper, students problem-solve
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Arctic and Antarctic: Fact or Fiction
What are the two poles of our planet, and how does the environment differ in those two places? Do the same animals live in the Arctic and in Antarctica? Students
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Animals and Their Habitats
SDC students create a classroom zoo comprising various box-sized animal containments that the students can take home at the end of the quarter. With the assistance of classroom aids, the
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American Revolution Art Book
Fifth-grade students explore the American Revolution by creating visual art books. Specifically focusing on the events that caused the revolution, students create book pages that artistically depict themes, events, and
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Using Nonfiction to Deepen our Understanding of Fiction
Students delve into the lives of bats, ants, reptiles, and owls through research about habitat, adaptations, predator/prey, etc. Students create realistic habitat collages and papier-mâché sculptures that reflect accurate depictions
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Rainforest Installations
First graders gain a deeper understanding of the layers of the rainforest and the animals that inhabit them by creating a multimedia rainforest installation. In addition to creating visual artwork,
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Wacky Body Machines
Second-grade classes use creative movement activities to develop understanding of physical science concepts such as motion, forces, and simple machines. Students become Wacky Machines, demonstrating work by carrying loads through
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Tales of Three
Kindergarten students write, design, illustrate, and present short works of narrative fiction modeled after traditional folk tales. Over the course of eight weeks, students utilize a variety of visual arts
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Maps, Maps, and More Maps
By making a book of maps, students explore map making and map reading to understand people, places, and environment. Students create maps of Olivewood Elementary, National City, California, the United
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Water: The New Gold
What is the water cycle? How do we get our water? How do people around the world get theirs? While pondering these questions, students explore not only how they receive
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