Learning Activities

Students will use their knowledge of the parts of a plant to discuss what a plant needs to survive. Students will manipulate their three-dimensional plant to show the importance of all the parts of a plant. Students will use a variety of materials to create their 3D model. Examples of materials include pipe cleaners, paper towel rolls, paper, tissue paper, play dough, clay, etc. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will watch Pixar Short Films and describe the characters, settings, and/or events in the films.
Students will determine the theme of the short films and describe how the theme was portrayed in the film.
Students will describe and explain how messages are created and portrayed through media arts productions.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will learn about tactile characteristics in art by painting a flower in the style of pointillism. Georges Seurat invented pointillism, a painting style made up of using carefully placed dots to create images. Students will paint their flower using a cotton swab, with dots connecting throughout the image. Once the painting is dry, they will be able to feel the tactile characteristics of the image through the dots.

To understand the tactile characteristics of the project, students must understand the vocabulary that goes with it. We will cover the vocabulary words: primary color, secondary color, texture, smooth, rough.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will review and solve multiplication of numbers less than 100 using word problems and arrays by creating a prompted work of art.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will review the concept of ratios by creating a work of art based on ratio relationships.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will demonstrate their knowledge of human body systems by creating a work of art that displays the included organs and their functions.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Van Gogh’s masterpiece, The Starry Night, is a great tool for teaching the elements of art including line, shape, and color. In producing their own version of The Starry Night, students can learn about overlapping, primary and secondary colors, how line shows movement, and color value. In this activity, students will recreate The Starry Night using oil pastels.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

The teacher will begin the activity with a read-aloud of A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle. Next, the teacher will allow students to use the text features, specifically illustrations, in the picture book to describe the plot of the story. Then, the teacher will lead students on a "nature walk" around the school to collect items to create an imaginary house. Lastly, the students will design an imaginary home using the natural objects found on their walk while individually following sequential steps.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will view and discuss Van Gogh's painting, The Bedroom. Next, students will elaborate on Van Gogh's art by creating a list of items to include in a depiction of their bedroom to organize and develop their artistic ideas. Lastly, students will construct a representation of their bedroom using torn paper scraps.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

This activity is designed to be presented after Van Gogh's Bedroom-Part 1: Discuss and Create.

In this activity, students will refine their artwork created in the prerequisite activity by examining their actual bedroom. Students will make a list of items they need to add to their artwork to embellish their finished product. Lastly, students will revise their artwork by adding details to enhance the meaning of their artistic expression.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will construct hanging mobiles in the style of Alexander Calder using coat hangers and assorted materials while exploring the principles of balanced and unbalanced forces.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

In this activity, students will study the music of the Civil War to identify social, economic, and political conditions that affected the citizens of the United states during the Civil War. Students will explain how a performer performs a piece of music differently when he/she knows the social, cultural, or historical background of the piece.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Music directors organize concert programs in a variety of ways. In this activity, students will examine how the elements of music and expressive qualities are used within music selected for performance to contribute to the overall structure and intent. They will explore how music directors bring together music from a variety of cultures, styles, historical time periods, or genres to form a cohesive program. This lesson will prepare them to create their own concert programs.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

This is an art activity adding oil to watercolor paint to reinforce the concept that oil and water don't mix. Students will be shown that no matter how hard they try these two liquids will avoid each other at all costs. The oil will either float on top or through the watercolors or, if applied to the paper first, prevent the watercolors from absorbing into the paper. Students will be able to make real-world connections between this art activity and what happens during a real oil spill. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

School-based music ensembles perform concerts at various times during the school year. In this activity, students will create a program for an upcoming concert by one of their school's ensembles. Students will compare and contrast how the elements of music and expressive qualities are used within the music selected for performance to contribute to the overall structure and intent of the concert. In creating the program document, students will also address the specific purpose of the concert, interests of the audience, and the educational experience of the event.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

In this activity, students will collaborate in groups to create a dance phrase using their Keith Haring Dancing Drawings as a picture map. 

This activity is to follow Keith Haring Dancing Drawings.

Students will assign a sequence to their Keith Haring Dancing Drawings for their choreography. They will give each of their drawings four counts before moving to the next pose. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will identify fast and slow while listening to a song. They will demonstrate contrasts in tempo by using locomotor and non-locomotor movement. Finally, they will be able to label fast as Presto and slow as Largo.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will listen to a variety of song clips with varying tempi. Using a worksheet, the students will circle the correct tempo. Students will identify contrasts in music.  

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

This is an art activity to reinforce which materials allow light to pass through. This activity should be completed after teaching a lesson on opaque, translucent, and transparent. Students can complete this project individually, with a partner, or in a group.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

This activity should be completed after teaching a lesson on animal adaptations and camouflage. Students will choose an animal and create an artwork by using a series of patterned dots to "camouflage" or blend their animal into the landscape. After completing their artwork, students will examine their artwork and demonstrate their scientific knowledge by answering reflection questions in their science journal. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will identify words that use one sound/syllable and two sounds/syllables.  Students will compose 8 beat rhythm patterns using random items from a box.  The students will have a fun time making silly rhythm patterns with their random items.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will use iconic notation to compose four-beat melodic patterns. The icons have the letters S, M, and L to represent So, Mi, and La. After students compose a melodic pattern, they will share their musical composition with the class.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will read iconic and traditional notation for So, Mi, and La melodies. Students will transfer iconic notation into traditional notation on a modified music staff.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will use quarter notes to compose a four-beat melodic pattern using Mi, So, and La. The students will compose a melodic pattern using a modified staff. The students will perform their composition for the class.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will explore musical sounds using instruments found in the classroom to create a sound story for the song "I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly." Students will choose instruments to represent the different animals in the story. When the story is sung or spoken, they will play their chosen instruments whenever they hear their assigned animal.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will read Michelle Markel's picture book, The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau. Students will discuss the main character of the book, Henri Rousseau. Students will discuss how people's reactions to his artwork have changed over time. Students will create an individual imagined jungle word list to be used as a prompt for a jungle drawing. They will elaborate on their individual imagined jungle word list by creating a jungle drawing that contains a subject and background.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will make artistic choices in movement and vocalizations to connect and share the essential vocabulary in describing the beginning of civilization in the Indus River Valley as a "flashmob" for other students within their school. Through this method, teachers will front load tier three vocabulary instruction to support literacy in reading informational text. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students apply the observation and critique skills of a visual arts student to analyze ancient artifacts in world history. They share reflections and questions to encourage deeper thinking among each other. Students write their analysis in paragraph form, meeting grade-level or higher organization and content expectations. Students share their observations.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will use creative movement to show the chord progressions in the 12 bar blues.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

This lesson will meet the needs of analyzing two different versions of the same drama/theatre story. By creating a Venn diagram, the students will determine the visual and aural differences and similarities of Annie (1982) and Annie (2014).

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

The students will work in pairs for this activity. Each student will receive the same open scene to memorize, evaluate, and determine the given circumstances for. The students will use Uta Hagen's Six Steps to create the given circumstances for the open scene. The students will perform the open scene with the given circumstances that they developed together.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit. 

Students will explore sounds using plastic cups and rubber bands to simulate a stringed instrument. Students will experiment with the vibration of sounds by plucking the bands and listening to the sounds. They will change the string’s tension and gauge to create different pitches. Finally, students will work with a partner to create a melody on their stringed instrument.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Through this activity the students will collaborate, problem solve, and decipher the blocking that creates a scene. The students will develop the physical and vocal traits of their characters in the scenarios based on the blocking.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students explore how body language can show a story (i.e. how someone is feeling, character traits, etc.). This warm-up helps students take note of how their bodies move and respond to different given circumstances. This exercise also helps students to begin thinking about how to physically portray something as abstract as a feeling. Students will move around the room and be instructed to sit in different chairs in different ways. The teacher will provide all of the different ways to sit. Students will then be asked to use the chair as a different object (hat, cane, suitcase, phone, shield, etc.)

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will explore sounds using rulers to simulate a barred instrument. Students will experiment with the vibration of sounds by pulling up on the rulers to make them vibrate and create sounds. They will change the ruler's length to create different pitches. Finally, students will work with a partner to create a melody on their barred instrument.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.