The arts are essential to creating multiple entry points for learning, no matter where the “classroom” is.  We have curated a list of high quality digital resources for Turnaround Arts: California educators, including arts integrated lesson plans, discrete arts education activities and online professional development workshops to make it easier to continue to use the arts as a tool for increasing engagement and relevance in this distance learning era.

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/

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 – Resources, including classroom tested, standards-aligned lessons, song charts and teacher manual, for running a Modern Band Program. They even have specific school-closure resources (no instruments required!) in their Jam Zone.

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 – Check out their E-Learning Resources for Schools, including this one-pager to move from overwhelmed to confident in teaching online. They also offer free units to engage with your students, and weekly resources and videos for educators. For a deeper dive into arts integration consider enrolling in the Arts Integration Accelerator training program, a $2500 value currently offered at a discount using code FRIENDS19

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

Chula Vista VAPA videos offer art, music, and dance lessons suitable for incorporating into remote learning.