The Arts Go to School

Book excerpt: Discover the power the arts bring to every aspect of learning. Incorporating the arts in your classroom opens up new possibilities, expands the mind, creates a thirst for knowledge, and helps students become more open to the world around them, offering another way of thinking about, being in, and constructing our world. Too often classroom teachers face the challenge of teaching the arts without the background or support they need. The Arts Go to School explores every aspect of implementing and integrating the arts into both the curriculum and everyday life. It contains a wealth of classroom activities that help kids give form to their thoughts and feelings. This easy-to-use resource features chapters on each of the major art forms and shows teachers how to help students meet related curriculum outcomes: music--from composing songs and the elements of music to novel approaches to singing songs;visual arts-- from exploring pattern, shape, color, and texture to special events that feature mobiles, collages, and paper structures;drama-- from playing, moving, and imagining to communicating, improvising, and performing;dance-- from physical ways of conceptualizing to dance as a problem-solving exercise;media-- from being intelligent media users and using interactive media to taking a media field trip. The Arts Go to School offers a glimpse into dozens of exemplary classrooms where you can see, hear, and feel the arts bring learning to life. Checklists throughout the book provide handy reminders to key outcomes and guide teachers in thoughtful encouragement and assessment.