simply listening to The Planets, I would have students choose one
learn. My job is to design the project well enough that the content
movement, research the correlating planet, and allow them to create
students are itching to discover is our curriculum.
art representing the information they learned using evidence from
the text as well as inspiration from the music. (To plan an integrated
project or lesson such as this, I recommend using Education Closet. It
provides resources to streamline and focus projects once you have a
lesson seed.)
Today, I introduced a project
based on the artist Romare
Bearden in combination with the
book Me & Uncle Romie: A Story
Inspired by the Life and Art of
If the purpose of the arts connection is to provide background
Romare Bearden, by Claire
knowledge and/or exposure, it takes very little to have a successful
Hartfield. The end goal: Students
outcome. However, in larger integration projects, in addition to
are to create a collage, in the
careful, strategic, and creative planning, I have found that
style of Romare Bearden’s “The
organization of the project is key to ensuring student growth and
Block”, that depicts a block in
accountability. Presenting
the details of the entire
project upfront gets
students excited, which
automatically increases
engagement. After learning
the guidelines, students
need to gain information in
order to complete the
project. They actively seek
out the content necessary
to help them complete their
project. I love seeing this
happen, because it seems
like such a natural way to
their neighborhood.
In addition, students must write a narrative with their collage as the
setting. To complete this project, third graders must first learn what a
collage is, then explore Romare Bearde