Utah State University sent BTSALP specialists and classroom teachers “back to school” with strategies and lesson ideas to reach every learner. Arts Are Core: One World, Many Makers held on August 1, 2019 provided professional development arts-integration for K-6 classroom teachers, arts specialists, administrators and university students/pre-service teachers.
Educators participated in a full day of professional development exploring how the core curricula of Math, Science, Language Arts and Social Studies can be taught using the rich hands-on art forms of dance, drama, music and visual art. Participants delved into the foundation of arts-integration, unpacking all of the quality characteristics of best practice. They also walked away with enriched lesson plans to kick off the upcoming school year!
If this looked like fun, check out some of the other workshops coming up at Utah State University!
Jen Terry is a BTSALP Professional Development Partner and elementary art integration coach at Alpine School District. She believes that art integration transforms learning into purposeful experiences that are worthwhile for the teacher and student. Jen holds a B.S. from Utah State University in Early Childhood Education with a Visual Art emphasis and a M.Ed. in Integrated Curriculum from American College of Education. As a practicing artist, she is passionate about the arts and children’s literature. She is a curator of children’s picture books who works to bridge stories and inspire ideas in the hearts of children and educators.
Jen presented on the Best Children’s Books of the Year panel at Utah Valley University’s For the Love of Reading Conference held in October, 2018. Specialists in all art forms will find inspiration for integrated lessons within the pages of Jen’s “Best Books of 2018.”
This book is from a french author/artist and beautifully encourages unplugged exploration. A book about seeing the world through a different mindset and lens. The illustrations and color will leave you wanting to go out, play in the dirt and experience nature.
A heartwarming story about empathy and imagination. Pair with Sam, Bangs and Moonshine to bring the importance of being kind and that understanding is sweeter than judgement. Luyken’s illustrations really make you take the time to look over and observe Adrian’s “horse.”
Dreamers is a celebration of what migrants bring with them when they leave their homes. It’s a story about family. Also included are a brief autobiographical essay about Yuyi’s own experience, a list of books that inspired her (and still do), and a description of the beautiful personal images, textures, and mementos she used to create this book.
In creating this book, Valerio was inspired by the German Expressionist group known as Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), which formed in Munich in 1911 and included painters Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky. The colors and shapes in this book will inspire and make you get up and create your own colorful story. Valerio has created a wordless book that speaks volumes about how art can transform us beyond the sometimes dreary world of the everyday.
National Book Award winner, Jacqueline Woodson and two time Pura Belpre illustrator award winner Rafael Lopez have teamed up to create a poignant, yet heartening book about finding courage to connect, even when you feel scared and alone. We find when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway. The illustrations will move you just like in Drum Dream Girl.
Pair with Vivid: Poems and Notes About Color by Julie Paschkis. Why did Roman emperors wear purple? Which color is made from crushed beetles? Find out the answers to these and many more questions in this vibrant exploration of the stories behind different colors, and the roles they’ve play throughout history.
This is a collection of almost 100 original poems written by the award winning poet Naomi Shihab Nye in honor of the artists, writers, poets, historical figures, ordinary people, and diverse luminaries from past and present who have inspired her. This book celebrate the inspirational people who strengthen and motivate us to create, to open our hearts, and to live rewarding and graceful lives.
From world renowned autism spokesperson, scientist, and inventor Temple Grandin – a book of personal stories, invention, facts that will blow young inventors’ minds and make them soar. She creates a blueprint for different ways to look at the world. She gives a call to action, a call to imagination, and shows readers that there is truly no single way to approach any given problem – but that an open and inquisitive mind is always key.
Mass and Stead, two masterminds of classic middle grade fiction come together to craft this magical story about the enduring power of friendship. Clue by clue, Livy and Bob – a short greenish creature dressed in a chicken suit – will unravel the mystery of where Bob comes from and discover the kind of magic that lasts forever.
In this unforgettable, multicultural coming-of-age narrative, based on the author’s childhood in the 1960s, a young Cuban/Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed. Ruthie’s plight will intrigue readers and her powerful story of strength and resilience, full of color, light and poignancy, will stay with them for a long time. As Ruthie’s world shrinks because of her inability to move, her powers of observation and her heart grow larger and she comes to understand how fragile life is, how vulnerable we all are as human beings and how friends, neighbors and the power of the arts can sweeten even the worst of times.
This is an astonishing New York Times bestselling novel-in-verse by an award winning slam poet about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth.
The first day of the Arts Fusion camp was very informative and effective on getting us to stop, look, and listen to the world around us. First, we went out in nature and looked for patterns found around the SUU cabin. We noticed sound patterns and recorded them, as well as visual patterns found in trees and other natural objects. We made a lot of really interesting observations that I never knew about. We found that nature had laws and patterns it was governed by and all of the patterns had a specific purpose. I would love to take the students out on nature walks to find these patterns when they are studying their science core. Then we came back and drew thumbnail sketches of some of our observations. I would definitely love to do this with my art students. They would love to draw from live things they discovered on their own. It is a way to teach drawing skills intuitively while making a scientific record. I found that whenever we were doing scientific discovery in the camp we drew in conjunction with the activity.
In the action drawing, we were to listen to tribal drum rhythms and move our bodies to the beats and interpret through visual art what we hear. This could be a good activity with my arts students, however, like some others mentioned, I would have the students move their bodies to the rhythms first as a primer, then allow them 3 colors to use to make their piece of free form art. I found that I tried to represent the types of tones with colors as I drew. Some other teachers also suggested tying in the work of Kandinsky and the book, The Noisy Paintbox. It was a good lesson on trying to make a piece of art look good using the rules of design, while trying to be free and loose. This is hard on the brain using both sides.
Later in the day we learned about rhythm awareness with Matthew Marsolek. It was very informative, active, and fun. I enjoyed how he taught that you should vocalize the sounds first before you use your hand to make the sound on the drum. I enjoyed to rhythms that we played. I would like to use this in my teaching in a few different ways. I thought that it would work well as an attention activity at the beginning or end of a lesson. Focus is needed to perform this particular activity, and if we didn’t have drums we could use a pencil and desk or hands on knees or any other found object we had. The students would love to make different rhythms in this way.
The next day we talked a lot about biological organisms found around and in a pond. We looked at them closely and drew them first as they are and then in a nonsensical way. This was a very fun activity that I think my students would enjoy when learning about insects in the 2nd grade. It is a good way to introduce cartooning. I think the students would enjoy studying the live bugs before drawing them as well.
Then we went on a nature hike at the kids pond while making an event map. I enjoyed this activity and think the students would enjoy it as well. I thought this would be great when the 5th graders go to Bryce Canyon on a hike. I love the idea of documenting what they see and drawing. It is a great way to practice drawing skills while getting them used to see detail and value while in nature. I loved Hannah Hinchman’s examples and laid back approach to this. I found that just about everyone had a visual artist inside of them. I have also seen this approach used with remembering history facts for example or stories. So while the students learn about a subject you want them to remember they should draw pictures to help them remember the event in question. This was also a great activity to get us to slow down and notice all the billions of other things that are living and doing miraculous things while we lounge about the pond.
The last activity was more drumming by Matthew. I loved the activity where we closed our eyes and do a drum wave. This activity was very awesome and taught me that you are intuitive and our arms can just feel when the right time is to perform based on sound and physical vibrations around you. I could see the motion even though my eyes were closed. I think the students would love this activity and I may use it with the 5th graders when they talk about electricity and currents. You could have them make a circuit with their bodies and have parts where you have to cap it off and they have to take the electricity back through. I think I would also use the current drumming and different water sounds when talking about the water cycle with the 4th graders. I would love to make drums with my students since we will not have the use of the African drums.
I had a very enjoyable time at the camp and feel like it was a great success full of great information and ideas. I really appreciate all the time and energies that were put in to make it a success. Thank you so much!
