What is Arts Integration?

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I teach at an arts integrated school.  In fact, it is the only arts-integrated public school in the state of Hawaii.  We still teach required curriculum - Hawaii is a one-district state with mandated curriculum for math and ELA.  But at our school, we use the curriculum as the content to teach the standards and use arts integration as strategies for HOW we teach that content.  One main focus is on professional development.  We need to learn from teaching artists how to teach through the arts.  We need to be inspired.  Our professional development also brings the artists into our classrooms so we can see how they work with students.  And sometimes it leads to mentoring.  We all know that sitting in a one-hour professional development does not make the biggest impact on our students.  It's revisiting the content, talking about it with peers, seeing it in action, and then being coached on it after we've given it a try.  That's the model my school employs.  At each meeting, we are expected to get up out of our seats and do the work we ask our students to do everyday.  We dance, we sing, we act, we draw, we write.  If I can't get out of my comfort zone with my colleagues, how can I ask my students to do it with their peers? It's amazing how empowering it is.

Many of the teaching artists who visit my school are from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC.  Here is how the Kennedy Center defines Arts Integration:
The part that really sticks out to me is that in order for integration to occur, you have to have evolving objectives in both the subject area and art form.  Reading about the Statue of Liberty and then painting her is not integration.  It's a great art enhancement.  For it to be integration, you would need to have visual arts standards that you are focusing on, as well, not just social studies.  In first grade, one of our visual arts standards is about the elements of art: line, shape, color, texture, and form.  I could focus on her color (mint green) and have students mix primary colors to create her green patina.  We could then do a science experiment with pennies to find how copper oxidizes.  The final project might very well be a drawing or painting of the statue, but after learning about color with an art perspective and her color from a science perspective, students would have a much deeper understanding and more connection to the content.

When creating a work of art (dance, drama, visual arts, poetry, etc), students naturally go through a creative process.  This process can be entered from any stage and doesn't follow the same path each time.  We all have heard it, art is messy.  But that's the beauty of it.  By not following the same exact process, we can surprise ourselves.  And that element of surprise is what is intriguing about art.




ARTSEDGE is a wonderful collection of lessons that you can try for integration purposes.  I find that ELA and social studies lend themselves to integration very easily.  Those standards are a great place to start.

Go try a lesson and let me know how it goes!


Part of the first grade standards for Hawaii state social studies is to learn about American Symbols! My teaching team puts together these adorable books that I want to show you and provide some resources for where you can put together your own!  I've included lots of pictures, lots of links to products and freebies that I use, and also a freebie I put together for you that you can download at the end of this post!


We start by singing a silly song I found on YouTube by KinderBlossoms.  We then do a simple foldable in our Science and Social Studies Books.


I use the organization idea from my gal Corinna at Surfin' Through Second to separate my notebooks.  You can download the song freebie here.


We then make US Symbols books that I prep and comb bind ahead of time.  We use a combo of pages from Lindsay at Teacher Bits and Bobs and craftivities.  Each day we introduce a new US symbol, write about it, and make a craft.  We start with the world's oceans and continents, then focus in on our state in the US, Hawaii.  I like to play a continents and oceans song from YouTube, too.  I can't find the one I usually play, but there are a lot of good ones if you search on the site.   


These are some of the crafts we've done in the past. 


However, I switched some of them up this year.  We made the eagle and Liberty Bell crafts from Mrs Ricca's freebie President's Day packet.



For the Statue of Liberty, I did a directed drawing.  I love this one from Art Projects for Kids and also this one that is just her head.  The kids' paintings turned out beautiful! The parents loved seeing this project at Open House!

Speaking of Lady Liberty, I like to throw in this fun experiment when we learn about her to find out why she is green if she is made out of copper.  The kids love it! I bought this pack and use the worksheets in our science and social studies journals from Kindergarten Boom Boom, and also these directions from Buggy and Buddy.  I printed this out and put it by our experiments during Open House.  You can download it here.

For the flag, I cut white rectangles as the background, smaller rectangles for blue, red stripes, and then glitter for the stars.  

For the Pledge of Allegiance, I use Lori's freebie, just shrunk down to fit on the page.

There are a couple pages we made ourselves.  That includes symbols for our state and school, the White House, the world, and an assessment.


We also did a Lady Liberty OCDE Project GLAD® Pictorial Input Chart.  I'm becoming an OCDE Project GLAD® trainer, so I try to practice the strategies any chance I get!  The kids were fascinated that you can walk inside the statue and see out from the crown! I also wrote a poem that I included in my freebie.  

Via Pinterest

You can download my freebie with a poem, interactive journal, crafts for the world, state symbols, and the White House, as well as an assessment for free on my Google Drive!

How do you teach the US Symbols? 



I love decorating, both my home and my classroom.  When it comes to classroom decor, I have used Schoolgirl Style for the past 4 years.

It started in my 2nd grade classroom on the island of Lanai in 2013 when I used the Rainbow Chalkboard collection.  I love the bright colors and it mixed perfectly with my black fabric bulletin boards, freshly painted black bookcases, and bright colored accents.

I even used some of the signs to label areas in the computer lab

When we moved to Maui and I got a transfer to a school in Lahaina teaching first grade, I wanted an under the sea Eric Carle theme to match my new ocean rug from Kid Carpet.  So I combined the Bugs and the Ocean collections. 

Then, I learned about our neighborhood school (I had been commuting 45 mins to an hour each way).  It's arts-integrated, a newer building with AC, and full of passionate teachers.  I needed to be a part of it! They offered me fifth grade and I happily accepted the challenge.  I went for the Flamingo Watercolor collection to create a calming, yet fun environment.  I used the same curtains from my Lahaina classroom and I brought the ocean rug up to 5th grade, too.  The kids liked laying on it to read because it is so soft.  I also kept the same library bins, although I had to get almost all new books. I added a bunch of alternative seating options, such as pillows, a pub height table with stools,  a lowered table with stools, a elastic strip chair, and a large bean bag.

Front of the room.

Notice the READ letters on the wall from my 2nd grade classroom on Lanai and the fabric bunting on the windows from my 3rd grade classroom in Oregon!

Other corner showing the library.

I loved working with upper grades and re-learning the standards myself.  I can say that I am SO much better and more confident in math than I ever have been! Thank you visual strategies! But at the end of the year when my principal needed to move an upper grade teacher to a new section of 1st grade and asked me, I jumped at the chance to be with the little ones again.  My husband wasn't so happy about helping me move classrooms, yet again, but cest la vie.

I brought back the black fabric for my bulletin boards and wanted to mesh the Rainbow Chalkboard collection with the Watercolor Flamingo form last year.  The result was actually Melanie's newest collection: Color My Classroom! It's perfect, too, because of all the art cutouts!

Notice the library bins, READ letters, curtains, and ocean rug are back. 

I love this mail sorter.  Been going strong for 7 years now.

I brought down the elastic band chair, bean bag, and free Craigslist table from 5th grade.

Writing nook and shared supplies

Adorable tent from Target and sturdy, yet comfy cushions from Luv Chicken. 

In my fifth grade room I used the background watercolor papers to create my own cursive letter alphabet to hang.  

Well, I accidentally printed two sets!! I got permission from Melanie to give away the 2nd set, since I definitely won't be needing it in 1st grade.
 

If you are interested in winning, enter the rafflecopter below! Good luck! GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.



Today I am teaming up with some other awesome bloggers to bring you By George Dollar Deals for President's Day!


We have all set one of our products to be $1 for TODAY ONLY! 


I set my Presidents Day Literacy Centers for 2nd grade on sale!  There are four different center activities, including a full color version as well as a black & white version!  Each center includes a directions page, cards to manipulate, and a recording sheet. Perfect for your Word Work station! You can reinforce Common Core skills, all while integrating a Presidents Day theme for social studies! 

Fact & Opinion: covers standards RL.2.6 and W.2.1

Collective Nouns: covers standard L.2.1a

Possessive Nouns: covers standards L.2.1b and L.2.2c

Contractions: covers standards L.2.2c




Click this link to see which other products are on sale for $1 for the By George Dollar Deals! 

Happy Presidents Day!