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 the arts to make learning meaningful and engaging in the elementary classroom. Lesson plans outline the processes students participate in throughout a project, and 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.
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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Environmental Public Awareness Murals
Students create murals inspired by the question, “How can we help take care of the earth?” Students embark on a study of the environment. They consider the current state of
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Creative Writing Artists’ Books
To assist in their creation of original monster stories, students formulate mixed-media artists’ books. These books function as place to house brainstorming, character sketches, story arcs, language, symbols, and pacing.
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Animal Poetry Collages
First graders explore the subjects of their South African animal research by creating animal poetry collages that exemplify their understanding of content and their developing figurative language skills. Addressing ELA
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Sculptural Star Book: Patterns and Objects in the Sky
As we investigated the Next Generation Science Standards, students created sculptural books about the cosmos. Specifically, we asked the question: What objects are in the sky and do they move?
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Mapping our Heritage through Creative Movement
Students embark on a geographical, historical, and cultural journey through concepts of place and belonging. Students analyze their place within their school, their community, and in the larger world. They
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People Who Make a Difference: Legacy Portrait Book
“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts
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Trade and Trajectory: An Exploration of Maps, International Relations, and Fruit
In researching the trajectory of fruits, vegetables, and products, from point of origin to their hands, students trace established routes and modes of transportation through the continents outlined in a
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