Engaged Learning Project

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Art in a Word: 

Art Form: Visual Art

Core Content Connection: English Language Arts (ELA)

Objective: Practice imagination and creativity skills. Also to help students with spelling.

Energy Level: Low
Props: None
Materials: Paper and colored pencils/crayons are needed. You can do this as a small group 
                  activity.

Activity:

   Students take a vocabulary word and turn each letter into a representation of its meaning (ex: the Google logo). They will draw a picture for each letter of the word. Then on the back of the page they will use the word in a sentence and define it.

Art Walk:

Art Form: Visual Art

Core Content Connection: ELA

Objective: Help students explain how images contribute to and clarify a text. Use visual art 
                   to answer what the key details are.

Energy Level: Low

Props: None

Materials: Picture book

Activity:

     Take students on a looking “walk” through picture books to spark their curiosity before reading. Select books with rich illustrations that help tell the story. Coach kids to “read” the pictures, using questions such as: “What do you see?” or “How did the artist use color?” ask questions about characters, setting, and plot, using the images. Insert upcoming vocabulary when possible. Option: Record important words on a chart. Use the chart as a writing ideas reference.

Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Quickdraws: 

Art Form: Visual Art

Core Content Connection: ELA

Objective: Help students make predictions or describe the structure of a story visually.

Energy Level: Low

Props: None

Materials: Paper and pencils or colored pencils or crayons.

Activity:

     Have students sketch before, during, or after reading/read aloud. Students will make drawings to make predictions or show the main events of the story. You can also use it for students to show the beginning, middle, and end of a story. Then have students either confirm, reject, or modify their ideas during or after reading.

Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Listen and Draw: 

Art Form: Visual Art

Core Content Connection: ELA

Objective: Help students practice giving descriptive details and listening using art.

Energy Level: Low

Props: None

Materials: Paper and pencils. Break students up into partners.

Activity:

Students will partner up and one student will be given a vocabulary word or an object. Their partner must not know what the word or object is. Partners should then sit in their chairs back to back and the student who was given the word or object must do their best to describe it (give directions on what to draw) without using the word itself or it’s definition. It’s the partners job to do their best to draw what their partner tells them to draw in order to guess what the word or object is. They should only focus on visual details such as shapes (ex: geometric or organic shapes).
Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Art Mapping:

Art Form: Visual Art
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Use visual art and critical thinking to answer questions about the key details in a text.
Energy Level: Low
Props: None
Materials: Art prints, paper, and pencils/colored pencils/crayons.
Activity:

     Choose art prints to plan narrative writing or oral storytelling. Example: Portraits for characters, a landscape for the setting, and an abstract or nonfigurative work to devise problem conflict possibilities for plat. Teach students to establish the problem quickly. Have students be descriptive about the setting and characters. Variation: Use first for circle storytelling (pass the print around with each student adding to the tale), followed by individual writing (ex: use are viewing to collect ideas for writing).
Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Performing Books: 

Art Form: Drama

Core Content Connection: ELA

Objective: Use verbs through acting to understand meaning and develop imagination.

Energy Level: Medium

Props: Any desired props

Materials: Book with verbs

Activity:

     Find a book that goes with the lesson that contains plenty of verbs for students to either pantomime, or act out, as the book is being read aloud. Read the book aloud with the students and have them listen for verbs and tell you which ones they heard. You can either choose ahead of time if you wish to have students act out the entire book or only certain parts of the book. Go through the book slowly with students only having them act out small sections to allow them to practice their movements. After going completing each section have students act it out from the beginning while you read the story aloud.

Spelling Mime: 

Art Form: Drama

Core Content Connection: ELA

Objective: Practice imagination and creativity skills. Also helps students practice spelling.

Energy Level: Medium

Props: None

Materials: A list of words for students to spell.

Activity:

     The students will mime each letter or a thing that starts with each letter, of a vocabulary word or other words. Optional: groups can be formed and each given their own word that they can perform. Example: TWIST = tip, wave, iron, sleep, and typing. 

Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Word Types: 

Art Form: Drama

Core Content Connection: ELA

Objective: Give students practice spelling words and act out types of words.

Energy Level: Medium

Props: None

Materials: Create a list of words with students.

Activity:

     Brainstorm types of words and examples (ex: homophones, antonyms, rhyming words, and silent e words). Form groups of four. Call out a category. The leader in each group pantomimes original examples while the rest write what they think is mimed, in order. Call time. Groups check with the leader and a new leader is chosen. Call the next category. You can also have them do the weeks spelling and challenge words.

Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Verb Mime: 

Art Form: Drama

Core Content Connection: ELA

Objective: Practice verbs using movement to understand their meaning.

Energy Level: Medium-High

Props: None

Materials: Have a list of verbs and a basket (or something you can use to draw the words out of).

Activity:

     Brainstorm actions (verbs) or ways to move that have been discussed. Put words in a basket. Each person picks one and “becomes the verb,” while others guess the name. This can be done in pairs, such as all in group A twist, while those in group B observe and switch. 
Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Point of View (POV) Roles:

Art Form: Drama
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Help students recognize different types of POVs and use creativity.
Energy Level: Medium
Props: Only desired props.
Materials: A story to assign roles, or characters, to students.
Activity:

     Students choose a character in a story or are assigned roles. Then, students read or listen to the story and answer questions in role (orally or in writing). For example, using Mirette on the High Wire (McCully, 1992), students become touring artists staying at the rooming house and answer the following questions (before the final high wire act).
1. What have you noticed about the man? How does he make you feel?
2. What do you think about his friendship with Mirette?
3. Why do you think he stays to himself so much?
Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Alphabet Dialogue:

Art Form: Storytelling
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Practice listening skills, building on others' talk, creativity, and critical thinking.
Energy Level: Low
Props: None
Materials: Sit in a circle with students.
Activity:

     There will be 26 lines of dialogue, unless you choose to leave out X and Z and others that might be challenge for students or leave them in. The student with letter A will begin the dialogue with the first word beginning with an A then the second person with letter B would continue the dialogue with a word beginning with B and so on until the entire alphabet is done. To make it more challenging and fun you can go out of order and call out which letter will reply next.
Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Daffynitions:

Art Form: Storytelling

Core Content Connection: ELA

Objective: Use of creativity and critical thinking to determine meaning of words.

Energy Level: Low

Props: None

Materials: Dictionaries, break students into small groups.

Activity: 

Separate the class into several groups to find unusual words. Each team member will write their own definition for the word but only one member will write the correct definition from the dictionary. Each team will stand, and members will read their definitions in turn and try to convince the audience that each has the correct one. The audience has to try and guess which team member has the correct definition. The audience can applaud afterwards to vote on which definition they believe is correct.

Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Showtime:

Art Form: Storytelling
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Help students to recount a story using imagination and team work skills.
Energy Level: Low-Medium
Props: None
Materials: A book, break students into groups.
Activity:

     After a book study, challenge small groups to create a commercial, jingle, news update, or news break about a theme/big idea. Number groups for performance order. Give ten minutes to plan. The whole group reassembles and the show begins.
Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Sound Stories:

Art Form: Storytelling
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Help students identify repeated words or phrases and determine their meaning.
Energy Level: Low
Props: None
Materials: Write or find a story or poem.
Activity:

     Find or write a story or poem that contains repeated words (ex: character names). Brainstorm sounds for repeated words and post. Each time repeated words are read, students respond with a sound. To prepare, rehearse each cue word. For example, Jack: “oops” and sad face, Jill: giggle and play with curl. Some stories and poems are present with sounds, such s “Laughing Time” in Jay’s book by the same title (1990), which has animal names paired with different laughs. McGovern’s Too Much Noise (1966) and Murphy’s Pease at Last (1992) are recommended. Variation: Add actions. Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Bare Books:

Art Form: Storytelling
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Practice spelling words by writing imaginative stories and creating illustrations.
Energy Level: Low
Props: None
Materials: Blank books for students to us to write and illustrate.
Activity:

     Create or buy blank books students can use to create their own story using some of the vocabulary words they are working on and illustrate their stories. They can be given a specific topic to write on or have to incorporate certain words such as the weekly spelling words. Can buy blank books at www.barebooks.com.

Performing Books:

Art Form: Dance and Movement
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Students will gain a deeper understanding of verbs and be able to interpret a story 

                   through dance.
Energy Level: Medium-High
Props: Any desired props
Materials: Book containing plenty of verbs, space for movement.
Activity:

     Very similar to the activity in drama. A book should contain plenty of verbs for students to be able to create movements to and go along with the lesson. The difference between this activity and the one in drama is that students do not act out what is happening in the book. They should interpret verbs through dance and movement. For example: the rabbit quickly hopped away. This does not mean students should hop on both their feet around the room, rather they should be making quick movements that may incorporate leaps. Go through the same process of reading small sections and dancing each out and then attempt to put the entire book and dance together.

Syllable Shapes:

Art Form: Dance and Movement
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Students will gain a deeper understanding of syllables through body movement.
Energy Level: Medium
Props: None
Material: Space for movement
Activity:

     Have students change their dance elements according to the number of syllables in a word given to them. If a word has two syllables then they would make two different movements or shapes. Example: Hammer, students create a movement for ham and transition into another movement for mer.
Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Body Spelling:

Art Form: Dance and Movement
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Students will use dance to learn how to spell and show critical thinking.
Energy Level: Medium-High
Props: None
Materials: Space for movement
Activity:

     Students will be given a word to spell but must spell it by moving in a floor pattern that creates pathways to shape each letter. For example, if given the letter S to spell students would dance in a curved pattern to create the shape of an S.
Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Line by Line: 

Art Form: Dance and Movement
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Will help students understand figurative language and information from a text though 
                   movement and communication with peers.
Energy Level: Medium-High
Props: Any desired props
Materials: A poem or story and space for movement.
Activity:

     Read about a poem or story. Give each student or small group a line to explore movement possibilities (ex: rhythm of the words, emotions, images). Encourage more than pantomiming. Next as a narrator reads, students dance their line.
Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Moving Tableau:

Art Form: Dance and Movement
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Students will be able to show understanding of key story details through movement. 
                   Strengthen listening skills.
Energy Level: Medium-High
Props: Any desired props
Materials: A book or story and space for movement. Form small groups.
Activity:

     Challenge small groups to use body shape and space to show a key story or text concept (ex: grief, celebration, loneliness). Freeze in the shape. On signal, each person unfreezes and does appropriate moves to a count (ex: count of three).
Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Sing to Spell:

Art Form: Music
Core Content Connection: ELA 
Objective: Practice spelling and become fluent through use of common songs.
Energy Level: Medium-Low
Props: None
Materials: Music to sing to (optional)
     Music resource: Elementary Songbook

Activity:

     Use tunes students will recognize to sing the letters of each spelling word. Ex: “You Are My Sunshine” for a five-letter word, “Happy Birthday” for six-letter words, and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” for words with seven letters. Above is a resource you can use for music to have students sing along to.
Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Spelling Word Songs:

Art Form: Music
Core Content Connection: ELA 

Objective: Students will use imagination and creativity to create songs using spelling words to 
                   understand their meanings.
Energy Level: Low-Medium
Props: None
Materials:   
     Music resource: Elementary Songbook
Activity:
     Incorporate weekly spelling words into songs by writing short songs that will help students remember their meanings. Can use each vocabulary word in one song or have different songs for each.
                    Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Singing Syllables:

Art Form: Music
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Break words into syllables using music. Students will be able to decode words, 
                   practice rhythm and work with others.
Energy Level: Low-Medium
Props: None
Materials: Space to sit in a circle and songs to sing to.
     Music Resource: Elementary Songbook
Activity:
     Have students sit in a circle and select one student to be the "listener" and have him/her leave the circle and wait in the hall or cover his/her ears. Select a word that has at least two syllables and divide the class into the appropriate number of groups and assign each group a syllable to sing to a selected tune (e.g. Row, row, row, your boat). Invite the "listener" back into the circle and have each group sing their syllables to the selected tune as the listener tries to identify the word they are singing. When the listener is successful, select a new listener and a new word.

Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Echo Me:

Art Form: Music

Core Content Connection: ELA 

Objective: Use music elements to show how words and phrases supply rhythm and meaning.

Energy Level: Low-Medium

Props: None

Materials: Nursery rhyme, book, or poem

   Music Resource: Elementary Songbook

Activity:

     Use echoing to explore applying the music elements of dynamics, pitch tempo, beat, accent, and rhythm to change word meaning. First, recite the alphabet or a nursery rhyme in a normal manner. Repeat and talk fast or slow, and use a high-pitched voice or deep, bass voice. Break everything into distinct separate syllables, or put the accent on every third word. Challenge students to echo you exactly. For example, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” could become a mystery or a proclamation by varying delivery. Also try dialects and foreign accents. Next, ask for volunteers to choose a text to interpret with the class echoing. Variation: partners can draw rhymes or verses from a basket and take turns echoing.
Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Emotion Art:

Art Form: Music/Visual Art

Core Content Connection: ELA 

Objective: Students will be able to effectively be able to express emotions and feelings through 

                  music and art.

Energy Level: Low

Props: None

Materials: Range of different music, paper, paint/colored pencils/crayons.

     Music Resource: Elementary Songbook

Activity:

     Use oil pastels for students to create abstract art using colors, lines, and shapes to convey how they think the music feels. Allow students to share their art and talk about how are elements were used, like writing to represent words.
Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts by Claudia E. Cornett

Elimination Spelling: 

Art Form: Other
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Help students you critical thinking to learn how to spell or recognize the spelling of 
                   words.
Energy Level: Low
Props: None
Materials: Paper and pencils, can be done in groups.
Activity:

     Arrange the class into teams. (Each row of five students might make a team.) Instruct students to write the 26 letters of the alphabet along the top of a sheet of paper. At the same time, select one of the week's spelling words; write that word on a card or a sheet of paper, then turn over the card/paper. When all students are ready, they take turns asking Is there an [fill in a letter of the alphabet] in the word? (for example, Is there a p in the word?) If the teachers responds Yes, there is a p in the word, students circle the letter. If the answer is no, students put an X through the letter. Students can raise their hands at any time they would like to guess the "secret word." If they are correct, they earn a point for their team; if they are incorrect, their team loses a point.
 http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/03/lp314-01.shtml

Back-to-Back Spelling: 

Art Form: Other
Core Content Connection: ELA
Objective: Use movement to help students learn how to spell words.
Energy Level: Low
Props: None
Materials: Spelling words and separate students in pairs.
Activity:

     Students work in pairs. One member of each pair uses a finger to spell the week's words on the partner's back. The partner must think about the letters being formed, identify the word spelled, and then spell the word aloud.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/03/lp314-01.shtml