Arts Integration Projects for the Beginning of the Year

Do you know about the power of arts integration?  How it can level the playing field for your struggling students and challenge your gifted ones all at the same time?

Yea, me too!  And the beginning of the year is the perfect time to implement arts integration projects.  Let students get to know each other through their own expression.  You'll be amazed at what you learn too!

Below are five arts-integration projects to start your best year ever.  Many are based on read-alouds to help anchor students work and inspire their ideas.  

From My Many Colored Days

1.  Color Expression (Visual Art & Writing): There's a great, lesser known Dr. Seuss book titled My Many Colored Days. It connects emotions to various colors.  After reading aloud, allow students create their own artwork about a feeling they have concerning the start of the year.  Use whatever medium you feel comfortable with--crayons, colored pencils, watercolor, mixed-media, etc.  Have students write about their work.  For younger students, you could use a sentence stem such as "On _________ (color) days, I feel ____________."   For older students, you may expect a paragraph or an essay explaining their feelings about the new school year.  Great way to pre-assess student writing skills!

Name Mind Map Example
Photo from Babbling Abby Blog

2.  Name Art (Visual Art & Writing): Read aloud Chrysanthemum or The Name Jar to your class.  For younger students, let them create a mind map--on a large sheet of white paper students draw their name in the middle.  From their name, they draw arrows and write or draw facts about themselves--family members, pet, favorites, etc.  For older students, have them draw bubble letters for each letter of their name.  Inside each letter, let them write a short personal narrative about themselves.   For example, my first name is Sarah, so in my bubble letter S, I may write about what I did over the summer, in 'A' I may write about my favorite hobby, in 'R' a memory with my brother, etc.  Great to hang up for Back-to-School Night and for students to share with each other to make connections and new friends!

Can you spot the stone in this picture?

3. Acts of Kindness: (Drama & Reading): Read aloud Each Kindness with your class.  It's a beautifully written book comparing the ripples that a stone makes when thrown in water to how one simple act of kindness can have far reaching effects.  Have your students brainstorm ways they could be kind to a classmate.  You could record these on a chart or have students discuss in small groups.  Then, have students shape their body into a stone (crouched down onto the ground).  On a cue, have them slowly rise into a statue that shows their act of kindness. You could even set this to music for more dramatic effect.  Ask some students to verbally share what act of kindness they are showing.  Perfect way for an ELL class or students with limited English to express themselves.

4. Soundtracks (Music & Reading/Writing): This could be used with any text you like to start your year off with.  Some of my favorites include Those Shoes, Enemy Pie and The Invisible Boy.  After reading, have students talk in small groups about a soundtrack for these texts--'What songs remind you of the message from this book? Why?'  You could also play a few songs for students, classical pieces work great!  Then have them discuss which song reminded them most strongly of the text you just read and why.  This would be a great way to start a discussion of multiple answers to a question, as well as justifying your responses. Could easily be adapted into a writing assignment.


5. Curriculum Based Reader's Theaters (Drama, Reading & Content): Need to jump right into your curriculum?  Then check out one of my Curriculum Based Reader's Theaters!  They are short, humorous scripts that your whole class (or small groups) can practice together.  There are parts for individual students who feel comfortable enough to read right off the bat, as well as many 'All' parts where they whole class participates.  The best part? They're based on content objectives!  So students can practice their fluency while you teach important content.  It's a win-win!  

What arts integration ideas do you love to use at the beginning of the year?