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Students will play Simon Says to practice their knowledge of the nine general stage directions in Theatre. With this activity, students will become proficient in learning the areas of the stage.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will read Kay Haring's picture book, Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing. Students will answer questions from the text. Students will identify break dancing as his inspiration. The students will watch a few minutes of a Break Dancing video from YouTube. They will draw their own dancing figure using motion lines to illustrate movement. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

3

Subject Area

Arts Education
English Language Arts

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Open scenes are great ways to get kids on their feet and acting. Open scenes are open to interpretation and should be purposely vague or ambiguous. The purpose of having kids write and later perform these short scenes is to get them on stage, help them start interpreting lines and trying to attempt to understand and play the subtext in dialogue. The scenes are short (16-24 lines) and can be memorized easily. The digital tool provided will show students an example of an open scene.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will learn to expand their creative thinking and generate original ideas as a media artist. They will draw on their personal knowledge to generate many, varied, and unusual ideas, activating metacognition to increase productive thinking.

This activity is the first of four to meet Media Arts Standard 5.1:


Using Productive Thinking in Media Arts

Identifying and Choosing a Message in Media Arts

Cracking the Secret Code in Media Arts

Storyboarding in Media Arts

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

5

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will create audio recordings of short poems and will select movements to express the ideas and descriptions included in the poems.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

2

Subject Area

Arts Education
English Language Arts

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

This activity is designed to be presented after the activity Dancing to Haikus-Part 1: Counting Syllables. In this activity, the teacher will introduce pairing a haiku poem with locomotor movements, such as jumping, twirling, and skipping. The students will develop ideas to connect locomotor movements with prompting from a haiku poem. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

2

Subject Area

Arts Education
English Language Arts

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students explore what makes a character interesting through the examination of physical objects. What do objects say about us? What assumptions do we make about people based on what they carry with them?  Students will explore the items in a bag you have created that has been left in your classroom. The students will infer what type of person the bag belongs to based on the objects found inside. The class will work together to create a personal history for this character. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Props tables are used backstage during productions of any scale. A props table is where the props for any theatrical production will live during the rehearsal and production run. This learning activity will help your students understand how the props should be organized and labeled on the prop table. The digital tool will provide information about a prop table. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

In this activity, students will sequence the life cycle of a plant. After reading the story students will work in small groups to put the life cycle in order using sequence cards and then add movement to their life cycle. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

K

Subject Area

Arts Education
Science

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

The students develop a pencil drawing of a pair of shoes using traditional methods.

This learning activity was created as a result of the Visual Arts COS Resource Summit.

Grade(s)

8

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will hear, practice, and demonstrate four types of voices: singing, speaking, whispering, and shouting.  The students will also learn appropriate ways to use each voice in real-world situations.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

K

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will practice consonant pronunciation and apply the technique to the performance of a poem.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

This activity builds upon the Introduction to Melody activity and is intended for students at the novice level of ensemble participation. In this activity, students will develop their melodic listening skills and learn to transcribe melodies into graphic representations. It builds and reinforces their knowledge of pitch, step and skip intervals, and melodic contour.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will each research a different aspect of a specific tribe of Native Americans and combine their ideas to create a work of art/design. 

Students will work in groups to brainstorm, research, and plan a mural to represent the culture of a specific tribe of Native Americans.  

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

5

Subject Area

Arts Education
Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

This activity is designed to be presented after the activities Dancing to Haikus-Part 1: Counting Syllables and Dancing to Haikus-Part 2: Dance Party.

Students will brainstorm ways to publicly display artwork related to haiku poems, then create a visual art piece to illustrate the words of a haiku poem. Next, students will explore methods to prepare their artwork for presentation, such as backing with a durable material and adding a nameplate. After preparing their haiku artwork for presentation, students will display their art in a central school location for other students to view.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

2

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will compare like and unlike musical phrases using the online Comparing Game. The game gives two balloons that when clicked play a musical phrase. Students must click whether the two phrases are the same or different. The game progresses until students reach 100%.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

K

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

After they have learned about the various cultures present in their local communities, students will gain first-hand knowledge and experience of the celebration of Lunar (Chinese) New Year by participating in a Dragon Dance and then comparing/contrasting it to celebrations in their own cultures.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

1

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

This activity is designed to assess whether students are able to read the pitches on the treble clef staff. The digital resource contains games that students can play to give you the opportunity to observe their ability to read the pitches. You will also be able to assess students' ability to play the notes they are reading on an ORFF instrument.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

3, 4

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Analyzing a commercial for a high-interest product, students will identify the elements and principles of design used to convey the message and ideal of a company through a digital collaborative space. Students will generate many, varied, and unusual ways to communicate their own message, matching the company's ideals, through a different use of elements and principles of design.

This is the third activity in a series of four to meet Media Arts Standard 5.1:

Using Productive Thinking in Media Arts
Identifying and Choosing a Message in Media Arts
Cracking the Code in Media Arts
Storyboarding in Media Arts

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

5

Subject Area

Arts Education
Digital Literacy and Computer Science
English Language Arts

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will learn how to analyze a script, create a prop list based on script needs, break down the prop list into props that we have, or will borrow, build, or buy. The digital tool will provide an example of a prop list.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

This activity moves the student past the recognition of melodic characteristics and toward the composition of melodies. In this activity, the student will use graphic representations to generate and draft a simple melodic idea and then transfer that idea into traditional music notation.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will use an online storyboard program to plan a commercial for a high-interest product, drawing on personal experience and the work of others, that communicates a student-selected message. This message will communicate the identified ideals of the company and will have re-imagined the elements and principles of design from an already existing commercial for that product.

This is the fourth activity in a series of four to meet Media Arts Standard 5.1:

Using Productive Thinking in Media Arts
Identifying and Choosing a Message in Media Arts
Cracking the Code in Media Arts
Storyboarding in Media Arts

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

5

Subject Area

Arts Education
English Language Arts

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will compose a song in rondo form. They will collaborate with a group of peers in the creating of the song. They will then perform the song for their class.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

3

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Memorization of lines is the FIRST step to learning how to act on the stage.  This memorization exercise is a surefire way to help kids learn their lines, even if they doubt you. This technique will work for monologues, scenes or full length plays; any acting exercise that requires memorization.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Through this activity, the students will explore and create a tableau. Students will identify solutions to staging challenges by using levels and physical connections. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

6

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

The directors of musical ensembles select music to perform at their concerts for a variety of reasons. They might choose pieces that appeal to audiences with a common interest, they might choose pieces that offer similar or contrasting listening experiences, the pieces may develop the audience's musical understandings, or the pieces may share a common purpose. There are many reasons that music pieces are selected. In this activity, the students will explore concert programs of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

8

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will use their knowledge of the parts of a plant to discuss what a plant needs to survive. Students will manipulate their three-dimensional plant to show the importance of all the parts of a plant. Students will use a variety of materials to create their 3D model. Examples of materials include pipe cleaners, paper towel rolls, paper, tissue paper, play dough, clay, etc. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

K

Subject Area

Arts Education
Science

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will watch Pixar Short Films and describe the characters, settings, and/or events in the films.
Students will determine the theme of the short films and describe how the theme was portrayed in the film.
Students will describe and explain how messages are created and portrayed through media arts productions.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

4

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will learn about tactile characteristics in art by painting a flower in the style of pointillism. Georges Seurat invented pointillism, a painting style made up of using carefully placed dots to create images. Students will paint their flower using a cotton swab, with dots connecting throughout the image. Once the painting is dry, they will be able to feel the tactile characteristics of the image through the dots.

To understand the tactile characteristics of the project, students must understand the vocabulary that goes with it. We will cover the vocabulary words: primary color, secondary color, texture, smooth, rough.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

1

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will review and solve multiplication of numbers less than 100 using word problems and arrays by creating a prompted work of art.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

3

Subject Area

Arts Education
English Language Arts
Mathematics

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will review the concept of ratios by creating a work of art based on ratio relationships.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

6

Subject Area

Arts Education
Mathematics

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will demonstrate their knowledge of human body systems by creating a work of art that displays the included organs and their functions.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

4

Subject Area

Arts Education
Science

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Van Gogh’s masterpiece, The Starry Night, is a great tool for teaching the elements of art including line, shape, and color. In producing their own version of The Starry Night, students can learn about overlapping, primary and secondary colors, how line shows movement, and color value. In this activity, students will recreate The Starry Night using oil pastels.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

2

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

The teacher will begin the activity with a read-aloud of A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle. Next, the teacher will allow students to use the text features, specifically illustrations, in the picture book to describe the plot of the story. Then, the teacher will lead students on a "nature walk" around the school to collect items to create an imaginary house. Lastly, the students will design an imaginary home using the natural objects found on their walk while individually following sequential steps.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

2

Subject Area

English Language Arts
Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will view and discuss Van Gogh's painting, The Bedroom. Next, students will elaborate on Van Gogh's art by creating a list of items to include in a depiction of their bedroom to organize and develop their artistic ideas. Lastly, students will construct a representation of their bedroom using torn paper scraps.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

3

Subject Area

Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity
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