Lesson Plans and Resources for Arts Integration

Dance in science, pop art in Spanish, or photography in math — there’s no end to the ways arts can be integrated into other curricula. Educators from Bates Middle School, in Annapolis, Maryland, share arts-integrated lessons and resources that you can use in your school.

All teachers at Bates Middle School are expected to use arts integration in their classrooms. Science teacher Stacey Burke (center) and her colleagues share some of their arts-integrated lessons below.

Resources on This Page:

• Arts-Integrated Lesson Plans
• Professional-Development Presentations
• Arts-Integration Templates
• Additional Documents from Bates Middle School
• Maryland Department of Education Arts-Integration Glossary
• Useful Websites on Arts Integration

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Lesson Plans

Sample arts-integration presentations, lesson plans, quizzes, and other documents from various teachers and classes at Bates Middle School.

• 6th Grade Science: Rotation and Revolution
• Presentation - lecture on rotation and revolution
• Lesson Plan - lesson plan on solar system, sun, and galaxy
• Dance Assignment - dance choreography that students need to incorporate into their project
• Task Cards - elements of dance to be used to demonstrate rotation and revolution
• Exit Ticket - student-reflection worksheet for rotation and revolution
• Quiz - sample quiz given at the end of the lesson

• 6th Grade Science: Creative Comparison between Planets and Painting
• Presentation - lecture on physical characteristics of planets integrated with color value concepts
• Presentation - presentation on Ars Ad Astra Project and warm-up routine for observing and imagining
• Worksheet - blank worksheet used for creative comparisons exercise

• 6th Grade Social Studies: Monochromatic Mapping
• Presentation - lecture on monochromatic mapping

• 7th Grade Intro to Spanish: Pop Art and Spanish Vocabulary
• Overview - students study the elements of pop artist Roy Lichtenstein and create comic strip using basic Spanish vocabulary
• Presentation - lecture on pop art
• Presentation - presentation and warm-up routine with Lichtenstein's art and activity using Spanish dialogue
• Worksheet - tree map on colors, shapes, and lines and how they contribute to the artwork
• Worksheet - worksheet used to plan comic strip with Spanish dialogue and visual description for each panel
• Student Reflection - self-reflection worksheet for students to review their comic strip

• 8th Grade Math: Photo Story
• Presentation - lecture given on photographic composition for photo story project
• Lesson Plan - goals for photo story and how students will use principles of design to represent linear relationships
• Rubric - grading rubric for the photo story project
• Storyboard - blank storyboards used for digital photo story projects

• 8th Grade Visual and Language Arts: Portraits
• Presentation - presentation on characteristics of portraits from different art movements, including cubism, fauvism, impressionism, pop, and realism
• Lesson Plan - outline of a project in which students will compose a personal narrative detailing a life event
• Activity - matching cards game in which students match artwork to correct art movement
• Student Reflection - self-reflection worksheet on characterization and portraiture
• Personal Analysis - worksheet for student analysis of their self-portrait

• 8th Grade Science: Dance and Acceleration
• Presentation - lecture on velocity and speed, dance, and movement
• Overview - outline of a project in which students utilize the elements of dance to calculate and graph acceleration
• Worksheet - worksheet for dance challenge in which students calculate and compare speed by measuring dance movements they choreograph

Professional-Development Presentations

Professional-development presentations provided by Pat Klos, arts-integration specialist for Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Annapolis, Maryland

• Active Strategies
• Activity - PD activity about different active strategies that integrate dance, song, and other mixed media with science, math, language arts, and social studies

• Art History
• Presentation - lecture on 20th-century artists and art movements

• Writing and Visual Arts
• Presentation - lecture identifying and demonstrating art-inspired writing strategies
• Presentation - presentation and warm-up routine for writing and visual arts lesson

• Principles of Design
• Presentation - lecture on principles of design, including balance, emphasis, unity, and proportion
• Presentation - lecture on objective versus nonobjective art
• Foldable - foldable with all the principles of design
• Worksheet - worksheet for principles of design to use with selected artwork

• Artful Thinking
• Artful Thinking is an approach to teaching creative thinking developed by Harvard's Project Zero in collaboration with the Traverse City Area Public Schools in Michigan.
• Presentation - lecture on implementing Artful Thinking routines that will help students
• Artful Thinking Routines - various routines used for artful thinking, including, games, comprehension, and analysis

Arts-Integration Templates

Blank templates for arts-integration documents used at Bates Middle School

• Curriculum Mapping - used to document content standards, opportunities for arts integration, and assessment/reflection
• Content Standards - used to document performance on content standards where arts integration was or was not incorporated into the lesson
• Content Log - log for teachers to track arts-integrated lessons, what worked and why
• Graphic Organizers - various graphic organizers that can be used for arts integration
• Lesson Seed - starter document to define art and content standards for an arts-integrated lesson and connected objectives
• Teacher Reflection 1 - self-reflection document for teachers to evaluate lesson plans
• Teacher Reflection 2 - self-reflection document for teachers to evaluate what students learned and what worked in arts-integrated lesson
• Student Reflection 1 - self-reflection document for students on what they learned about both art and content standards
• Student Reflection 2 - another example of a self-reflection document for students

Additional Documents from Bates Middle School

• Bates Bell Schedule - daily bell schedule
• Bates School Improvement Plan 2008-2010 - school improvement plan from 2008, the year Bates began arts integration
• Bates School Improvement Plan Overview - summary outline of school improvement plan objectives
• Fine Arts Standards - connected objectives for visual arts, dance, drama, and music

Maryland Department of Education Arts-Integration Glossary

Glossary of arts-integration terms provided by Maryland's Department of Education

• Visual Arts - terminology used for visual arts
• Dance - terminology used for dance
• Music - terminology used for music
• Theater - terminology used for theater

Useful Websites on Arts Integration

Arts Education in Maryland School Alliance - advocacy group for integrating the arts into content curriculum, professional development opportunities, resources for teachers, and funding opportunities

Artful Thinking (Project Zero) - program designed to be used by everyday teachers; focuses on experiencing and appreciating art rather than making art

Arts and Science Council - organization whose goal is to build appreciation, participation, and support for the arts, science, history, and heritage in Charlotte-Mecklenburg

The Kennedy Center ArtsEdge - the Kennedy Center's free digital resource for teaching through and about the arts

The Kennedy Center ArtsEdge Lessons Plans - lesson plans provided by ArtsEdge, The Kennedy Center's free digital resource

Masterpiece to Mathematics: Using Art to Teach Fraction, Decimal, and Percent Equivalents - article from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics detailing how students created their own optical art and connected it to rational numbers through mathematical and visual representations of rational numbers

Arts Integration Solutions - nonprofit that looks to transform the education system by bringing arts integration to every child, in every classroom, helping them succeed in math, science, literacy, and life

More Edutopia Resources on Arts Integration:

• Edutopia's Arts-Integration Pinterest Board
• Edutopia's Why Arts Education Must Be Saved
• Article: The Arts Are Essential
• Article: Preserving Paintings Teaches Art, Chemistry, and More
• Article: Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It Best
• Video: Music and Dance Drive Academic Achievement
• Article: Tucson Schools Enhance Learning with the Arts
• Video: Art Works: Integrating Creativity in the Curriculum
• Article: Cross-Training: Arts and Academics Are Inseparable