The arts are essential to creating multiple entry points for learning, supporting both academic and social-emotional development. We have curated a list of high-quality digital resources for Turnaround Arts: California educators, including arts-integrated lesson plans, arts education activities, and online professional development workshops to support teachers in expanding their toolkit for 21st-century learning.

Collaborations Teachers & Artists (CoTA) – Inspiring, arts-integrated projects co-designed by artists and teachers. Filter by grade level, art form, and core content area, including Next Gen Science.

P.S. ARTS Arts to Go –  P.S. ARTS’ videos and instruction sheets feature activities with common art materials inspired by famous artists, including artists who are women and people of color. One section even has art activities related to specific children’s books read aloud on video.

ArtsIntegration.net – North Coast Arts Integration Project, Create Humboldt, and the Arts and Creativity Initiative bring a wealth of professional development resources and lesson ideas with the goal of improving student academic performance, reasoning skills, creative thinking, and engagement through arts integration.

The Kennedy Center’s Classroom Resources – Digital resources for educators, including articles & how-to’s, lessons and activities, and media & interactives. Search arts-integrated lesson plans by grade and subject. Press “print” to save to your Google Drive! Check out all of their digital arts resources here: https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/

Anti-Racist Art Teachers
Historically, art education has centered on Western aesthetics and Eurocentric art history. Anti-Racist Art Teachers promote inclusive thinking, celebrating diversity, and inspiring transformative action through arts education. Their website has a wealth of visual arts resources, including an index of diverse artists suitable for classroom study, anti-racist art activities for kids, and professional development resources for educators.

Wolf Trap Early Education through the Arts – A searchable collection of lesson plans and videos on how to use the arts to teach the youngest learners.

Little Kids Rock Teacher Zone – Music education resources, including classroom-tested, standards-aligned lessons, song charts, and teacher manual, for running a Modern Band Program. No instruments? No problem – check out their songwriting lessons.

Watershed Collaborative – An online training organization rooted in Visual Thinking Strategies, offers customized training for schools and districts and some free online training videos that directly correspond with Math, Social Studies, and ELA.

Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM – The world’s largest online professional development provider for teachers and leaders using arts-integrated approaches. The institute offers fee-based online workshops, resources, courses, conferences, and certification. Check out their free resources and scroll all the way down to find their newsletter sign-up for weekly ideas in your inbox.

Building Equitable Student Participation by Zaretta Hammond on the Power of Protocols gives useful tips for using conversation structures & graffiti walls to diversify student participation, including ideas on how to draw from youth and hip-hop culture.

Chula Vista Elementary VAPA YouTube video channel offers extensive art, music, and dance lessons suitable for incorporating into K-5 classrooms.