Teachers help children to experience art by challenging their fifth graders with the responsibility of an art project. (Author/RK)

A checklist is provided to help civilization teachers identify relevant aspects of the visual arts. The goal is comprehensive treatment of works of art by focusing on the aesthetic dimension, social context, and the artist's experience. Activities are suggested for integration of aspects of the arts while practicing language skills. (Author/MSE)

Explores summer seasonal weather activities for inside and outside the classroom. Offers instructions for hot days, cloudy and wet days, and rainy days, and include lists of supplies, age appropriateness, and instructions. Activities address the following learning areas: (1) intellectual; (2) physical/health/movement; (3) social; and (4) art and…

Presents a lesson plan developed around the work of architectural muralist Richard Haas. Discusses the significance of mural painting and gives key concepts for the lesson. Lists class activities for the elementary and secondary grades. Provides a photograph of the Haas mural on the Fountainbleau Hilton Hotel, 1986. (GG)

Presents a lesson that introduces students in grades K-three to sources of design inspiration in contemporary urban settings. Using Don Eddy's painting of a jewelry store window display, asks students to describe and analyze the interplay of shape, pattern, and color. Suggests studio activities, including an activity in which students build a…

Illustrates the skill and inspiration of master art teacher, Frank Wachowiak, by presenting three lessons for children: "Fruits and Vegetables" or "Leaves" in crayon resist, "X-ray Trees" in crayon engraving and "Angels or Self-portraits" in tempera. Lessons emphasize the use of patterns and textures, as…

Relates several art activities that can be used as learning experiences to enhance the goals of the social studies and the arts. Stresses that art and architecture can be used to enrich the social studies program as they serve as evidence of the subject being discussed. Directions for two activities are included. (LS)

Provides words and pictures to help understand how the concept of the artists' workshop can enhance writers' workshops in the elementary or middle school classroom. (RS)

Maintains that young children enjoy talking about art and should be given opportunities to do so. Recommends using Parsons' Aesthetic Development Theory as a flexible framework and guideline for discussion. Includes several transcribed discussions between the teacher and her pupils. (MJP)

Describes a project at the Christa McAuliffe Elementary School in Kern County, California, which allows sixth graders to use video technology, computer graphics, and famous works of art to create music videos. Completed videos were shown at a schoolwide visual arts festival. (MDM)

Presents the experiences of an art teacher during the first year of teaching art to elementary students. Discusses methods of developing a creatively fulfilling art class, including how the artroom was transformed into the "Paintbrush Palace" and how the teacher became "Queen Paintbrush." (DB)

Suggests that early childhood teachers should eliminate boring, repetitive activities from their curriculum and engage students' minds in activities that stimulate thinking and reasoning. Instead of making paper snowflakes, for example, children might discuss and examine the characteristics of snow, study weather, and engage in other creative…

This article outlines the steps in an art activity on the elements of landscapes and touches on the topic of perspective. In the activity students create three-dimensional secret gardens of their own out of construction paper. The activity is based on Claude Monet's painting and his garden in Giverny (Normandy, France). (SM)

This curriculum guide presents ideas for classroom use with migrant students. Instructional bulletin board ideas are provided for reading, oral language, and math. Ideas for decorating window shades are illustrated for each of the nine months of the school year. Examples of shades that reinforce specific skills are also presented. A section on…

One of a series of activity guides designed to aid teachers in developing the thinking skills of primary grade students, this publication offers a variety of learning activities and resource materials. The activities and resources include: a calendar which lists important days and birthdays in December; poems; facts and an activity about Hanukkah;…