Music Integration Unit Plan Template

Art Integration Unit Plan Template

LTC 4240: Art for Children

Unit Title & Big Idea:

Aesthetic: Finding the Beautiful Around Us
Grade Level: 4th
Unit Overview/Summary:
Class Periods Required:
While it is important to value students academic abilities in school, we too often forget the
(please circle)
significance of teaching students important values and appreciations. The beauty of life is
something we should not let go unnoticed. By reflecting on student perception of beauty through
Approximately 7 days,
different core subjects, students will gain a better appreciation for the beauty of the world that is
give or take.
surrounding them. Through recognition of beauty, students will develop a capability to appreciate
the positives of life rather than focusing on the negative.
Key Concepts (2-3) MOVE TO OBJECTIVES
Essential questions (3-4):
1. Visual Art:
1. Why are students making the decisions they are in
a. Exploration of collages and how they relate to a
their aesthetic inventory?
students aesthetic inventory
2. How can we encourage students to think deeply about
b. Connection between the visual arts and other
their aesthetic inventory?
core content
3. What materials can students use to explore the
c. Creation of an ecosystem using craft materials
aesthetics in science, literacy, and visual arts?
2. Literacy:
a. Comprehension of various stories told about
admirable figures
b. Poetry & other types of writing in relation to
students aesthetic inventory
c. Understanding of the definition and nature of the
word aesthetic
3. Science:
a. Different ecosystems, landscapes, and habitats
and their qualities
b. Relating different ecosystems, landscapes, and
habitats to students aesthetic inventory
Unit Objectives: Excellent resource: https://www.teachervision.com/curriculum-planning/new-teacher/48345.html?
for_printing=1&detoured=1 What you want students to do.
1. Visual Art: The students will be able to
a. Create collages that exhibit their aesthetic inventory.
b. Make connections between the arts and other content areas.
c. Compare the artistry of different collage artists.
2. Literacy: The students will be able to
a. Identify their interpretation of beautiful characteristics of people, places, things, etc.

Music Integration Unit Plan Template

b. Create writing pieces that reflect their aesthetic inventory.

c. Comprehend stories told to them about beautiful people and make conclusions about the admirable qualities
they possess.
3. Science:
a. Investigate the different landscapes and habitats around the world as a class.
b. Design a particular habitat of their own with their table partners.
c. Apply concepts they have learned to their aesthetic inventory.
Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) (1-2 per subject)
Identify & define common vocabulary/concepts that
http://dese.mo.gov/college-career-readiness/guidance-counseling/curriculum/gradeconnect the musical art form with the other identified subject
level-expectations
area(s):
1. Visual Art
Aesthetic: having a sense of the beautiful;
a. Strand 1, 1B, a. Apply water-color paint to wet areas
characterized by a love of beauty.
to blend color (wet-on-wet technique)
Inventory: a detailed, often descriptive, list of articles,
b. Strand 2, 1A. a. Identify and use outlines to
giving the code number, quantity, and value of each;
communicate ideas through artwork
c. Strand 3, 1A a. Discuss and develop answers to
catalog; a formal list
Collage: a technique of composing a work of art by
questions about art, such as: What is art? What is
beauty?
pasting on a single surface various materials not
2. Literacy
normally associated with one another, as newspaper
a. Strand 1, 3B, a. Identify and/or explain examples of
clippings, parts of photographs, theater tickets, and
sensory details, sound devices, and figurative
fragments of an envelope
language in text along with basic literary techniques
Beauty: the quality present in a thing or person that
b. Strand 2, 1A Follow a writing process to: b. generate
gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the
a draft, c. reread, revise for audience and purpose,
mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as
ideas and content, organization and sentence
shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or
structure, and word choice, d. edit for conventions, &
pattern, or something else (as a personality in which
e. share writing
high spiritual qualities are manifest).
c. Strand 2, 2D Compose text using: a. words that are
Admirable: worthy of admiration; inspiring approval,
specific, accurate, and suited to the topic b. sensory
reverence, or affection.
detail
d. Strand 3 1A Listen: for enjoyment, for information,
* All definitions provided by dictionary.com*
for directions, to identify tone, mood and emotion of
verbal and nonverbal communication
3. Science
a. Strand 4, 1A, b. Identify and describe different
environments (i.e. pond, forest, prairie) support the

Music Integration Unit Plan Template

life of different types of plants and animals
b. Strand 5, 2A b. Identify the major landforms/bodies
of water on Earth (i.e., mountains, plains, river
valleys, coastlines, canyons)
c. Strand 7, 1B a. Make qualitative observations using
the five senses
Content Areas Integrated:
1. Visual Art (Inspiration Artists: Liz London, David Lavine,
Michael Albert, Jess Levine)
2. Literacy
3. Science

Lesson Activities & Procedure(s) (please be very specific):

1. Activity 1 (1 class period): Present and discuss what
aesthetic means.
a. Provide a definition.
b. Introduce the collages they will be creating
throughout the week.
i. Students split into groups and read
articles about different collage artists;
groups present these artists to the class.
c. Present your aesthetic inventory list.
d. Encourage them to begin their own aesthetic
inventory list.
2. Activity 2 (2 class periods): The aesthetics of
landscapes and habitats.
a. Students are introduced to different
environments around the world (pond, forest,
etc.)
b. Are asked to recreate an ecosystem at their
table groups using only paper and drawing
utensils.
c. After reflection on the different landscapes,
students add to aesthetic inventory list.
d. Students begin collage by painting background
foundation.
3. Activity 3 (2 class periods): Introduction of poetry that
others have written & creation of own poetry and
narratives.
a. For a read aloud, students listen to poetry that is
particularly skilled in description of beauty.

Music Integration Unit Plan Template

Poems should be that which the teacher

considers beautiful.
b. After poetry introduction, students are
encouraged to write a poem that gives their
audience an idea of their aesthetic inventory
using words. They can do this by writing a
poem, creating a short story, creating a
narrative the world is their oyster!
c. On another class day, students finish their
pieces, do peer reviews, and make any revisions
that they need. Whether these are revisited or
not is up to the classroom teacher.
d. After finishing with their poems, students add to
their aesthetic inventory list and add pictures to
their collage (magazines and newspaper must
be provided; students also have the option of
creating their own pictures).
4. Activity 4 (1 class period): Have read aloud of stories of
people who have qualities that I believe have aesthetic
beauty, and have a conversation about these qualities.
a. Have students brainstorm a list of people that
they could add to their aesthetic inventory.
b. Read aloud list of qualities you believe to be
beautiful (Ex kindness, humility, selflessness,
courage, etc.)
c. Ask students to then add to their list if they
need to.
d. Read aloud stories about people who have the
qualities listed above.
e. Have students add to their list qualities they
believe to be beautiful.
f. Have students add these words to their collage.
5. Activity 4.5 (1/2 of a class period): Have students use
ipads and their list of their aesthetic inventory to find
pictures they find beautiful. Compile an iMovie of all

Music Integration Unit Plan Template

Anticipatory Set (Gaining Attention):

Prior to direction of the lesson, I will provide a definition
of aesthetic and explore this word with the students. I
will also give students background knowledge of
collages before they create their own. Additionally,
when preparing to write poetry and other writing pieces
reflecting our aesthetic inventory, I will present students
with a few mentor texts that guide them along the way.

Formative Assessment strategy:

One way I plan to formatively assess students is by
monitoring their progression of their aesthetic inventory
list and collage and drawing conclusions about their
understanding. Also, I plan to preview their writing
before they submit a final copy and will encourage them
to deliver their best work. Additionally, their
comprehension of the different ecosystems will be
formatively assessed through effort and execution of

the pictures.
6. Activity 5 (1 class period): Have an aesthetic retreat in
class.
a. Put stars on all the students desks. Have
students go around room and write a quality
they find beautiful about that individual on their
star. Hang them from the ceiling to create a
gorgeous galaxy.
7. Activity 6 (1 class period): Have an in class aesthetic
museum to which peers and parents are invited.
a. Showcase all of the creations the class has
made such as the poems and writings, the
collages, the stars, the lists, and the iMovie.
Students can pick how much or how little they
want to showcase.
Closure (Reflecting Anticipatory Set):
As a closure to the lesson plan, students will conduct a
beauty museum for parents and peers. Within the
beauty museum, students will be able to display
materials they have created as they explored the
concept of aesthetic inventory, including their collages,
their writing pieces, their ecosystems, their gorgeous
galaxy and their iMovie.

Summative Assessment strategy:

The summative assessment strategy I am using in this
lesson plan is the aesthetic museum that the
students create. Based on whether or not students
best effort is put into the museum and the pieces they
contribute will be a benchmark to evaluate how much
student learning took place.

Music Integration Unit Plan Template

their creation with their tablemates.

What student prior knowledge will this unit require/draw upon?
The prior knowledge this unit will draw upon will be any prior understanding students have about collages and any
recollections students have about what they perceive to be beautiful. In addition, students will draw upon any previous
understanding of different ecosystems and writing pieces.
How will you engage students in imagining, exploring and/or experimenting in this lesson?
The primary resource I plan to use in encouraging students to imagine, explore and experiment is my own passion and
excitement. If I introduce this unit with enthusiasm, the students will be just as apt to follow this enthusiasm. Also, in
this unit, students are capable of making a lot of their own decisions and opinions. This allows them to gear the lesson
towards what interests them and will in turn engage students more effectively. I also enjoy this unit because it has room
for a lot of creativity. What students consider beautiful is completely subjective, so the skys the limit!
How will this Lesson Plan Activity permit/encourage students to solve problems (to think) in divergent ways?
Because this lesson does encourage abstract thinking, students begin the lesson thinking divergently about their
aesthetic inventory. Through approaching the topic of beauty perception through multiple content areas and ways,
students gain a diverse set of tools with which to approach their aesthetic inventory.

How will you engage students in routinely reflecting on their learning/learning processes?
Through constantly revisiting their aesthetic inventory list and collage, students continuously reflect upon their learning
and growth that is taking place. Also, by having to choose what items to display in the aesthetic museum, students
must reflect upon the creations they have made and what they believe worthy for display.
How will you adapt the various aspects of the lesson to differently-abled students?
For students who struggle to put their thoughts into words, I would give the option of drawing a list of what they find to
be beautiful rather than writing. These students will also have multiple pathways when creating their writing pieces, and
I will make sure the pathway they choose is one that pushes them but also drives them to success. Additionally, when
group discussion and collaboration does occur, I will make sure this student is accompanied by students that can assist
them in a positive way.
What opportunities/activities will students be given to revise and improve their understandings and their work?

Music Integration Unit Plan Template

Students will have the opportunity to revise and improve their writing pieces when peer reviews and revisions take
place. They will be able to continuously revise and improve their collage and aesthetic inventory list as the unit plan
continues onward. Also, prior to the aesthetic museum that we create, students will have the option of making finishing
touches to all of the work they have created and have the option to present.

What opportunities/activities will you provide for students to share their learning/understanding/work in this Activity?
Students have the opportunity to share their learning, understanding and work through the aesthetic museum that we
create as a class.

References
Silverstein, L. B. & Layne, S. (n.d.). Defining arts integration. Retrieved from
http://www.americansforthearts.org/networks/arts_education/publications/special_publications/Defining%20Arts
%20Integration.pdf