Integrating Visual Arts with Language Arts

How can we use the visual arts to strengthen our language arts curriculum?

• Share the love of books with our children.
• Teach the concepts of print - both artistic and textual.
• Make connections between illustrations and text of the story.
• Explore characters, setting, plot, conflict, in both illustrations and story line.
• Develop vocabulary.
• Understand different genres of literature.
• Illustrate stories and journal entries
• Make books with children - book cover and illustrations of story line.

California Frameworks Introduction

"Responsibility for ensuring that all students develop proficiency in the language arts is not new. The increasing social, economic, and technological demands for students to be proficient in reading, writing, listening, and speaking are urgent and unforgiving. For high school graduates in California to proceed to institutions of higher education or to be employable and meet the unprecedented civic, economic, and technological challenges of the twenty-first century, they must be more than merely literate. They must be able to read all forms of text fluently and independently, communicate effectively and creatively in oral and written form, and comprehend and deliver complex forms of discourse. In addition to those pragmatic and economic purposes of language arts proficiency, the role of California educators is to instill in students:

(1) a lifelong love of reading;

(2) a facility and joy of communicating through language; and

(3) a deep appreciation of literary and informational text and the ways in which print expands our universe and our understanding of history and humanity."

California Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts - http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf

• Reading Standards for Literature and Foundational Skills K-5
• Standards for Writing K-5
• Standards for Speaking and Listening K-5
• Standards for Language

Connections between CCSS Language Arts Standards and Visual Arts Standards

Standards for Reading

Analyzing and interpreting images and illustrations: In 17 instances throughout the reading standards, there were recommendations for students to consider the relationship between the illustrations and the text of a story, understanding the difference in authors’ and illustrators’ roles in telling stories, and using information gathered from both images or graphics and the words in a text.

Example: RI.K.7: With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrationsand the text in which they appear. While at the earlier grade levels, the standards emphasized looking at pictures or illustrations specifically, as the grade levels progressed, the definition of illustration broadened noticeably to include charts, graphs, and audio and video presentations.

Example: RL.6.7: Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to listening to or viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including contrasting what they “see” and “hear” when reading the text to what they perceive when they listen or watch.

Example: RI.7.7: Compare and contrast a text to an audio, video, or multimedia versionof the text, analyzing each medium’s portrayal of the subject.

RL.2.4: Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

Standards for Writing

W.K.2: Use a combination of drawing, writing, and dictating to compose informative/explanatory text in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

Standard 5: Make strategic use of digital media and digital displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

Standards for Speaking and Listening

Kindergarten: SL.K.5: Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.

Grade 2: SL.2.5: Create audio recordings of stories or poems; add drawings or other visual displays to stories or recounts of experiences when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

Grade 5: SL.5.5: Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, sound) and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.

Standards for Language

L.5.3b: Compare and contrast the varieties of English (e.g., dialects, registers) used in stories, dramas, or poems.

The Arts and the Common Core: https://www.arteducators.org/research/nccas

Listen to Eric Carle Reading his book - Brown Bear, Brown Bear!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ylskfqlh84

Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics) (1-12)

Kids are Authors (Scholastic) - http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/contest/kaa_about.asp

How do you get your classroom invovled in writing and illustrating their own books? Check this Scholastic sponsored contest for student authors. Here are some guidelines for teachers:

Introduce the Scholastic Program

• Read the books from past winners.
• Explain the program to the students as a concluding activity to a unit on authors/illustrators or as part of a unit on teaching the elements of story writing.

Form Groups to determine interest level of students

• Will you involve the whole class?
• Will you select students or let them form their own teams?
• Do you want to take on several groups or limit it to one?

Focus on Books

• Read books by a variety of authors and illustrators.
• Compare and contrast their different styles.
• Introduce elements of story writing (plot, theme, characters).
• Which style of writing appeals to them most?
• Which art medium most intrigues them?

Idea Starters – Use questions to get your students thinking about ideas for their story.

Suggestions for llustrations

• Do not use licensed characters, trademarked, or brand-name items. (Mickey Mouse, Snickers, McDonald's, etc.). The right to use such names is protected by law.
• You can create artwork using, paints, inks, crayons, markers, original computer graphics, cut paper, and print processes such as linoleum block, silk screen, sponge painting, potato stamping, etc.
• To maintain a constant look, it is best not to use too many different artwork styles.
• Use bright, vibrant colors and bold lines to create reproducible illustrations that make a strong overall impression. In general, pencil drawings are not recommended.
• Create illustrations that fill most of the page by centering and enlarging the subject or including an appropriate background.
• Consider making use of contrast in the artwork to create surprise and add life to pictures. Put dark colors next to light colors, thin lines next to thick lines, or use sharply contrasting figures.

Making a Touch and Feel Book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfwPyk6MyW4&feature=channel

from Reading is Fundamenal - http://www.rif.org/leadingtoreading/en/

Making Books with Children

• Susan Gaylord - Making Books With Children - http://www.makingbooks.com/index.shtml
  • See YouTube Videos and Blog - http://www.youtube.com/skgaylord
  • Accordion Books - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaES5tk3M7M
  • Stick and Elastic Book Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW30a5mRT04
  • Hot Dog Book - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX5jp1hqUG4
• Tech-it and Take-it! - http://www.vickiblackwell.com/makingbooks.html
• Pop-Up Book Making Integrating Visual and Language Arts (Powerpoint Presentation)
• About.com: Book Projects - http://familycrafts.about.com/od/homemadebooks/Book_Projects.htm
• Making Movable Books - http://www.rif.org/assets/Documents/LessonPlans/LessonUnit_Making_Movable_Books.pdf
• Rebecca's Pocket - http://www.rebeccablood.net/domestic/diversions.html
• Artists Books - http://www.artistbooks.com/bookarts.shtml
• Yasutomo Paper Books - http://www.yasutomo.com/project/paperpro.html
• Stone Soup - http://www.stonesoup.com/
  • Kids are Authors - http://www.stonesoup.com/send-work
  • Museum of Children's Art - http://www.stonesoup.com/art/
  • Young Writers in Print - http://www.stonesoup.com/links/in-print/
  • Children's Art Museums Around the World - http://www.stonesoup.com/links/museums/

Children's Art Around the World

• Children's Museum of the Arts - http://cmany.org/intro.php?pn=home
• Artsonia - http://www.artsonia.com/default.asp
• International Child Art Foundation - http://www.icaf.org/
• International Museum of Child's Art - http://www.english.barnekunst.no/default.htm (Image above)
• Paintbrush Diplomacy - http://www.paintbrushdiplomacy.org/

Writing Books for Children

• Write4Kids - http://www.write4kids.com/
• The Purple Crayon: Writing and Illustrating Children's Books - http://www.underdown.org/
• Society for Children's Writers and Illustrators - http://www.scbwi.org/events.htm

Additional Resources for Integrating Visual Arts with Language Arts

• Artsedge - http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/teach/les.cfm
• Education World: Arts and Humanities - http://www.education-world.com/a_tsl/archives/ah.shtml
• Learner.org: Connecting with the Arts - http://www.learner.org/resources/series198.html
• Renaissance in the Classroom - Article on Integrating the Arts - http://www.capeweb.org/rennexcerpts.pdf

Poetry Project Ideas for Language Arts and Visual Arts