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    Art History and Writing Integration

    art-history-elementary-projects-lesson-plans-kids-activities

     

    MAKING TIME FOR ART

    As a primary teacher with a degree in visual art and art history, it’s so sad for me to hear that art programs across the country are being eliminated, art budgets being cut, and that teachers just don’t have time for art lessons because of increased pressure to get through other curriculum.

    Rather than missing out on enriching and engaging art lessons due to lack of time, use those art lessons as a vehicle for great writing! Students love to write about their own art experiences, and the lives of other artists. Click to see how we integrate art and literacy for happy students and amazing writing!

    I’ve experienced the same things in my own district, and so I am trying to think of art in a different way to come up with some solutions.

    PROBLEM & SOLUTION 1:

    Materials Are Too Expensive and Hard to Find.

    This is true for some art programs, but actually as classroom teachers we can create amazing art with kids without needing a lot of expensive supplies. Pastels, paint, scissors, glue, chalk, paper and a few other easy-to-find supplies is all we need. And you won’t need expensive art equipment either; you can improvise!

    For example: What do you do with a class full of wet paintings at the end of the day, and no drying rack? We use our stacked chairs as a drying rack!

    Use your stacked chairs as a drying rack overnight.

    PROBLEM & SOLUTION 2:

    Not Enough Time in the School Day.

    There is increasing pressure to spend more time on core academics, and art is sometimes seen as an afterthought. However, an art lesson doesn’t have to be long to be effective and engaging, especially if you can establish a system of distributing and collecting supplies and work.

    PROBLEM & SOLUTION 3:

    Pressure to Focus on Academics

    No problem – we can easily integrate our art with writing projects. For example, when studying art history, we’re also studying maps of the world, cultural information and world history all at once! Every lesson can be a vehicle for creative or descriptive writing.

    Click HERE to see how I use directed drawing as a writing prompt in my classroom each week.

    Click HERE to see how I integrate art into my math and science centers each week.

    PROBLEM & SOLUTION 4:

    No Background in Art History

    How can you teach about art history with no background or the time to learn it?

    Over the years, I’ve created art lessons about famous artists based on information gathered during my art degree. I shared these lesson with teachers in my school, and also with many student teachers over the years.

    Since these new teachers didn’t have time to collect information for these lessons, I wrote “scripts” for them to read aloud to students. They detailed everything about the artist, and questions I would ask during the class discussions.

    My lessons were used from k-5, so the scripts are age-appropriate for elementary, and the questions that are embedded facilitate an authentic conversation. This is so important because a main purpose of art is conversation and sharing of ideas!

    Teacher scripts for art history

     

    FAMOUS ARTISTS AND LITERACY

    I am a primary classroom teacher, and therefore responsible for all other subjects as well. However, each year we teach the comprehensive art program to a mixture of primary and intermediate students. We often invite older classes to join us, which I highly recommend!

    For example, the first lesson of Art History #1 is cave art. We found great pictures and virtual tours of cave art online, and read the script which describes how a young boy discovered the first cave drawings while searching for his lost dog.

    Art History for Little Ones with a read aloud script for teachers!

    Afterwards, we all helped to crumple up a large sheet of bulletin board paper to create a huge “cave wall”, and used charcoal and chalk to make our own versions of the drawings.

    We also made small versions of our cave drawings to put in our Art History Scrapbooks, and wrote a “Reflect & Review” writing template about what we had learned. Many students chose to write about the experience during writer’s workshop the next day.

    Art lessons are great, but even better when used as a writing prompt!

    MORE ART HISTORY TOPICS

    We also explore Egyptian hieroglyphics, Roman mosaics, DaVinci’s paintings and inventions, Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh and many others. I’ve used this program for 12 years now, and each year I add more photos and lessons, such as coloring sheets and word searches for early finishers.

    Art History for Elementary with teacher scripts

    You can read more about how this collection has been used by 1000+ teachers HERE .

    Thanks for the amazing feedback!

    art history review

    12 engaging art history lessons with 150 photos and read aloud scripts for teachers

    MORE FAMOUS ARTISTS & LESSONS

    Once we have completed those 12 lessons, we move on to Art History 2.

    This time we focus on more modern artists, and women artists, from North America and Europe. Since this was used by student teachers, I added step-by-step photos to make it truly “grab and go” with no prep.

    I also added more literacy integrations, such as mini-books about each artist, word searches, reflection writing, creative writing prompts, directed drawing pages, and coloring sheets for early finishers. They are so motivated to write about their own creations!

    Art History 2 has 30 easy lessons and literacy extensions for each artist. Photos show you exactly what to do, and teacher scripts to read aloud help direct your discussion.

    DISPLAYING ART IN YOUR CLASS

    As with Set 1, each lesson begins with discussion. The teacher script guides the conversation – there are questions embedded.  I use my projector to show images I find in simple google searches as reference. I also suggest specific paintings to search for within each lesson plan so you know what to search for when studying each artist.

    Use the projector to show students images of paintings by famous artists

    Art History 2 has easy lessons for busy teachers. Includes 30 lessons, teacher scripts to read aloud and photo instructions for the whole year.

    Next, I project the step-by-step photos so students can see how the project is made. This will saves me a LOT of time because I don’t have to create the example while students watch, and it leaves more of the processing of information up to them, as opposed to just copying the teacher. The beauty of art is how each students find his or her own expressive way to create!

    PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: SCRAPBOOKS

    Once the art projects are complete, they can be kept in scrapbooks or put up on display in the hallway. There are several literacy projects for early finishers or to extend your learning later in the week.

    Art History 2 has 30 easy lessons and literacy extensions for each artist. Photos show you exactly what to do, and teacher scripts to read aloud help direct your discussion.

     
    Pin this post for later!
    Read about easy ways to integrate art into your literacy writing block! It's a fun, low prep way to engage students in both subject areas (free lessons with teacher scripts included!)
     
     
     

     

    ART AND OTHER CULTURES

     
    Another way to fit art into your literacy curriculum is to focus on learning about art from other cultures. Through this study you can easily integrate geography and history, as well as cultural similarities and differences. My student love to learn about children in other parts of the world!
     
    We use this collection of lessons that come with read-aloud scripts for the teacher, so that you don’t have to do a lot of prep work about each country or continent before you begin.
     
     
    Art Around the World is a great way to promote literacy and art in the classroom, while also studying geography and other cultures

    The lessons are displayed in a step by step format so that students can refer to them as we go along. They can also be laminated and used as art cards in an independent art center or early finishers bin. My advanced students LOVE this center, and the nice thing is that there are both art and literacy components. This is a simple way to fill both my art center AND my literacy center for the week!

    Art Around The World explores art from different cultures using 18 easy art lessons and literacy activities.

    There are currently four collections to choose from:

    Art History 1, Art History 2, Art Around the World, and Seasonal Crafts Through The Whole Year.

    You can see them all by clicking below, or keep reading for details about Seasonal Crafts!

    Easy art lessons for elementary students. Includes lots of writing extensions and a teacher script to read aloud as you introduce the topic. Enough to fill your entire year with art!

    SEASONAL ART PROJECTS

    As a primary teacher, I can’t forget about seasonal crafts! Our room is full of bats, reindeer, snowmen, hearts, or rainbows depending on what season it is!

    Seasonal Crafts Whimsy Workshop Teaching

    I’ve put together all of my favorite crafts ideas through the year into one package. For me, they work in a binder and organized by the month. This way I can just find what I need and pull it out quickly. I have also laminated the pages to use the same way as described above, as an ART CARD in the art center. Seasonal writing templates are included for my literacy centers.

    Here are some pictures from my classroom!

    Seasonal Art projects EASTER from our collection of 70 seasonal crafts

    Seasonal Crafts Whimsy Workshop Teaching

    Seasonal Crafts Whimsy Workshop Teaching

    You can see the whole year of art projects by clicking HERE.

    Your crafts for each month of the year are DONE with this huge set of 70+ easy craft projects - all with step by step picture directions, a simple supply list and seasonal writing prompts!
    Your crafts for each month of the year are DONE with this huge set of 70+ easy craft projects – all with step by step picture directions, a simple supply list and seasonal writing prompts!

     

     

    ART AROUND THE WORLD AT CHRISTMAS

    If you’re looking for more crafts and literacy for the Christmas season, you can see them in this set. It contains an entire literacy booklet for each country, as well as crafts (with some extra bonus crafts in the most recent update!)

    Christmas Around the World has step by step photos for Christmas crafts and 12 writing printables for each country celebrations. (Free sample pages in preview)

    Lots of step by step photos for 8 crafts and 8 countries – plus 12 no-prep writing printables for each country!

     

    FREE TED HARRISON ART LESSON!

    Would you like to try an art lesson with your class?

    Click the image to download a free lesson from Art History for Elementary 1

    about Ted Harrison focusing on warm and cool colors.

    Free Directed Art Lessons for Ted Harrison with Writing Prompts included

    Free art lessons with a teacher read aloud script for busy teachers

     

    FREE VAN GOGH ART LESSON!

    Or you may wish to try this Vincent Van Gogh Lesson from the sets mentioned above. It focuses on noticing how light reflects, and needs very simple materials. And no mess!!

    Guided Art Lesson for Vincent Van Gogh with writing templates included.

    Pin this freebie for later!

    Free art history lesson about Vincent Van Gogh that includes a teacher script to read aloud! Easy prep and supplies, with writing prompts to match!

    I hope these ideas inspire the little artists in your classroom!

    If you’d like to take a quick look at all art lessons and seasonal crafts for your classroom, just click HERE!

    Pin this post for later!

    Read about easy ways to integrate art into your literacy writing block! It's a fun, low prep way to engage students in both subject areas (free lessons with teacher scripts included!)

    Arts & Crafts, Writing, Literacy

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    Reader Interactions

    2 Comments

    1. Lacey

      June 28, 2021 at 11:24 am

      hi! I must be missing it, but How do I purchase the Around the World lessons? What is the cost for the whole bundle? Does it come packaged with every single lesson and extra mini lessons for the year or do you purchase each one individually? Thank you!

      • Whimsy Workshop Teaching

        June 28, 2021 at 3:02 pm

        Hi there! You just click on the pictures of the bundle, or you can go here:
        https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Art-Around-the-World-Bundle-of-18-Art-Projects-Writing-Activities-for-Elementary-2622506

        You can also see an overview of all the resources for art on this page, which also has clickable links for everything:
        https://whimsyworkshopteaching.com/literacy-math-resources/art-history/

        All links will direct you to the purchase page on TPT. I hope that helps!

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