High quality no-cost Arts Integration Modules

This module explores the ways in which arts integration supports the development and use of the 4Cs and increases access to the curriculum for all students, including English Language Learners. Participants will explore connections between the arts and other content area standards, careers, creativity, principles of learning, DOK, and Bloom’s Taxonomy.

The basic elements of social and emotional learning (SEL) as described by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), and the ways in which the visual and performing arts can be utilized in the context of classroom SEL are explored in this module. 

Participants will explore the foundation of the visual arts through the elements of art and principles of design and the use of fundamental art-making techniques and materials. An emphasis on teaching literacy using the visual arts is supported with instructional strategies that include visual thinking strategies, See-Wonder-Think, and Question Formulation Technique. Guidelines are offered for aligning questioning activities with students’ developmental stages.

Participants will gain a basic understanding of the integration and benefits of dance and movement activities in the elementary classroom. Exploration of dance elements (space, time, energy), selected kinesthetic principles, and basic choreography will help educators identify the ways in which dance practices and dance vocabulary can be integrated with other areas of the curriculum. Strategies and activities that integrate dance and movement with other content areas are offered and modeled.

Participants will gain a basic understanding of the integration and benefits of music activities in the elementary classroom, exploring the elements of music, listening and performing practices, instruments, singing, and music notation and composition. An overview of the developmental stages for children’s vocal abilities is included. Strategies and activities that integrate music with literacy and other content areas are offered and modeled throughout the module.

Participants will gain a basic understanding of the integration and benefits of theatre and creative dramatics in the elementary classroom. Beginning with a focus on “play”, the module guides learners through the tools and practices of actors, including non-verbal communication through pantomime and tableaus as well as verbal communication activities that help students build their “stage voice”. 

Participants will explore the use of digital storytelling to support K-6 student literacy, beginning with an introduction to the elements of movies and filmmaking, which includes animation, the elements of story and plot, and the principles of basic film production and digital storytelling. Throughout the module are activities and examples that can be used by the participant and applied in the classroom. 

In this module, participants will gain an understanding of the relationship between STEM and STEAM education, and the critical elements of both. An overview of the process approaches that characterize the building blocks of STEAM is provided, identifying the ways in which practices in the arts, engineering, science, and project-based learning converge. Recommendations for creating Makerspaces are given. A walk-through of the California Visual Arts standards, and the Common Core Standards.