About the Arts, Care & Connection Lesson Collection: Arts for Learning Northwest collaborated with Oregon teaching artists on this collection of arts integration modules designed for K-5 students, with integrated social emotional learning content in the areas of dance, visual arts, theater, and music.

This unit is presented as a progression of tasks that allow students to explore movement through a variety of creative tasks. Students will move in personal and general space, while exploring elements of shape, size, speed, force, flow, and time. To promote student confidence and willingness in dance, teachers should isolate the dance elements before asking students to apply these elements using imagery or partner/group tasks.Photo Attribution: KCBalletMedia (Photography: Brett Pruitt & East Market Studios)References:Graham, G., Holt/Hale, S. A., & Parker, M. (2013). Children moving: A reflective approach to teaching physical education. 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.Joyce, M. (1994). First steps in teaching creative dance to children. California: Mayfield Publishing.

This unit is presented as a progression of tasks that allow students to explore movement through a variety of creative tasks. Students will move in personal and general space, while exploring elements of shape, size, speed, force, flow, and time. To promote student confidence and willingness in dance, teachers should isolate the dance elements before asking students to apply these elements using imagery or partner/group tasks.The National Standards and Grade-Level Outcomes in this unit are referenced from the "National Standards & Grade Level Outcomes for K-12 Physical Education."SHAPE America Outcomes:KindergartenPerforms locomotor skills in response to teacher-led creative dance. (S1.E5.K)Maintains momentary stillness on different bases of support. (S1.E7.Ka)Forms wide, narrow, curled and twisted body shapes. (S1.E7.Kb)Contrasts the actions of curling and stretching. (S1.E10.K)Travels in general space with different speeds. (S2.E3.K)Recognizes that when you move fast, your heart beats faster and you breathe faster.3 (S3.E3.K)Follows directions in group settings (e.g., safe behaviors, following rules, taking turns). (S4.E1.K)Identifies physical activities that are enjoyable. (S5.E3.Ka)Grade OneCombines locomotor and nonlocomotor skills in a teacher- designed dance. (S1.E5.1)Maintains stillness on different bases of support with different body shapes. (S1.E7.1)Demonstrates twisting, curling, bending and stretching actions. (S1.E10.1)Differentiates between fast and slow speeds. (S2.E3.1a)Differentiates between strong and light force. (S2.E3.1b)Identifies the heart as a muscle that grows stronger with exercise, play and physical activity. (S3.E3.1)Accepts personal responsibility by using equipment and space appropriately. (S4.E1.1)Describes positive feelings that result from participating in physical activities. (S5.E3.1a)Grade TwoPerforms a teacher- and/or student- designed rhythmic activity with correct response to simple rhythms. (S1.E5.2)Balances on different bases of support, combining levels and shapes. (S1.E7.2a)Differentiates among twisting, curling, bending and stretching actions. (S1.E10.2)Combines balances and transfers into athree-part sequence (i.e., dance, gymnastics). (S1.E11.2)Varies time and force with gradual increases and decreases. (S2.E3.2)Identifies physical activities that contribute to fitness. (S3.E3.2b)Practices skills with minimal teacher prompting. (S4.E1.2)Identifies physical activities that provide self-expression (e.g. dance, gymnastics routines, practice tasks in games environments). (S5.E3.2)Photo Attribution: KCBalletMedia (Photography: Brett Pruitt & East Market Studios)References:Graham, G., Holt/Hale, S. A., & Parker, M. (2013). Children moving: A reflective approach to teaching physical education. 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.Joyce, M. (1994). First steps in teaching creative dance to children. California: Mayfield Publishing.

This article discusses an example of a practical use of the square root of 2 by explaining how this irrational number figures in printing two pages on one side of A series-sized paper. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.

Meet Bay Area artist Mike Shine, who discusses his carnival-inspired paintings, and his recent large-scale stencil murals. He makes art for people to enjoy, both superficially and in depth, and condemns much of modern art because of the context needed for interpretation. He wants his art to be able to be interpreted, regardless of how it is interpreted. He wants it to transcend cultural and language barriers. Check out how his art is made in this video.

Working as engineering teams, students design and create model beam bridges using plastic drinking straws and tape as their construction materials. Their goal is to build the strongest bridge with a truss pattern of their own design, while meeting the design criteria and constraints. They experiment with different geometric shapes and determine how shapes affect the strength of materials. Let the competition begin!

Students learn the value of writing and art in science and engineering. They acquire vocabulary that is appropriate for explaining visual art and learn about visual design principles (contrast, alignment, repetition and proximity) and elements (lines, color, texture, shape, size, value and space) that are helpful when making visual aids. A PowerPoint(TM) presentation heightens students' awareness of the connection between art and engineering in order to improve the presentation of results, findings, concepts, information and prototype designs. Students also learn about the science and engineering research funding process that relies on effective proposal presentations, as well as some thermal conductivity / heat flow basics including the real-world example of a heat sink which prepares them for the associated activity in which they focus on creating diagrams to communicate their own collected experimental data.