Arts Projects, Activities, and Experiences for
3rd - 5th Grade Students!Challenging Learners to Explore and Grow
Fun, Arts-Based Videos and Activities for 3rd — 5th Graders
Led by professional teaching artists and educators, children will build crucial skills, laugh, learn, and express themselves through dance, music, visual arts and theater.
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Arts & Learning Kids!
Get up and MOVE, LEARN, and SMILE with artists and teachers who are excited to spend time with you!
Math-Inspired Mobiles
Students will dive into two dimensional shapes — identifying, drawing, and cutting them out. Then, inspired by the artwork of Alexander Calder, they will see how they can take those shapes and create mobiles for their homes!
A-cute Story about Angles
Students will explore acute, obtuse, right, and straight angles in their bodies, their names, and their world. They will engage in a puppet show of the thrilling adventures of Cardboard Man and his trusty team of Charlie’s Angles! Through the story and its main characters, students will see angles come to live to save Citytropolus. They will get a peek into the mind of a puppeteer to learn how he developed his superhero. Ultimately, students will be able to create their own angle puppets out of cardboard and tell their own stories of angle adventures!
Immuni-T is in Your Corner!
Students will step into the ring with Immuni-T as they learn about how the body fights infections. But before this big fight, students will learn about two different types of germs through annotating informational text and using actor’s tools to become the very germs are learning about. By the end of this lessons, students will have a greater understanding of how to protect themselves from all kinds of germs and will be excited to use their annotating tools AND actor’s tools to become any kind of germ!
Exploring Ecosystems through Lyric and Song!
Students will sing along to learn about ecosystems and use that song to help them annotate informational text about one particular type of ecosystem. They will participate in a Survival of the Fittest quiz to determine which types of animals and insects are able to adapt to any ecosystem and which are not. Finally, they will write a verse together that shares the impact that humans can have on ecosystems. Ultimately, students will have the skills needed to write their own verse about any ecosystem–one they find in their very own backyard or park OR one they research on their own!
Breaking Barriers in Athletics and the Arts!
Students will explore two individuals who broke gender and race barriers in sports: Katie Sowers, the first female coach in the NFL, and Willie O’Ree, the first African American player in the NHL. They will learn how to paraphrase informational text so that they can find their voices to share key information about what they learned. Simultaneously, they will learn essential elements of drawing so that they can create figure drawings of these important individuals. Ultimately, students will be challenged to research other athletes who broke barriers, paraphrase what they learn, and illustrate them as well. They will be able to make connections to other people they know–in athletics and beyond, who broke barriers, overcame challenges, and left a legacy for others!
Plotting to Become Writers!
Students will watch a COVID-inspired fairy tale come to life! From that, they will identify the story elements that make up any story and the performance elements that can bring any story to life. Ultimately, students will be able to write their own narratives that they can bring to life using performance elements.
Pieces of Our Journeys
Students will explore the question, “How do stories help us understand our experiences and the experiences of immigrants?” They will dive into one part of Grandfather’s Journey and gather details about the 5 W’s through annotating text. They will then dive into another part of the text, annotate as an artist, and learn how to collage. By the end of the episode, they will have learned about the journeys of the main character of the story, the artist, the teacher, and the host and will be encouraged to share the stories of their own journeys through the 5 W’s and the arts.
Bringing Myths to Life: Animating from Annotation!
Students will explore two myths from different cultures that both explain how the sun came to be in the sky. Students will practice annotating text to pull out the five W’s: who, what, why, when, and where. They will see how they can take this information and create flipbook animation to tell the stories through pictures! Finally, students will compare the two myths, noting key similarities and differences and will be challenged to seek out other myths that explain this same phenomenon or write their own stories—all through flipbook animation!
Tap Dancing with Fractions
Students will learn four basic tap steps that will help them review fractions as part of a whole. They will learn and practice choreography, identify parts of a whole dance, and turn this knowledge into fractions, using visual representations as well. By the time they have danced through this lesson, they will be able to create their own choreography and write fractions about it!
The Traits of Everyday Superheroes
Students will hear and read stories of everyday heroes; identify their character traits, motivations, and challenges; and use actor’s tools of posture and voice to become them. From a grandmother who taught in City Schools for 20 years, impacting students and families, to an Australian bookstore owner who rode her bicycle around her town to get books into the hands of her customers during COVID-19, students will understand that heroes come in many forms and that they, too, possess their own unique traits and talents that make them heroes.
Solving Math Problems through Song
Students will have the opportunity to see how any math skill or topic can be turned into a song as our artist and teacher create a song to solve fraction word problems. Students can sing along with the hook—a review of fractions—and then use the verses of the song to solve ANY kind of word problem. After watching the team solve a word problem using song, students can apply that song to solving their own word problems.