Professional Learning

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.

By Doug Keely

August 29, 2012

Credit: Zachary Fink

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

Bates Middle School - school's website

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: