Creating Art for All Ages

This is book two of a series of three books. The series takes students on an interdisciplinary cross content journey entitled, Creating Art Through the Ages. Each book provides experiences in language arts, social studies, math and art as the students investigate ancient and modern civilizations. “Discovery and Knowledge”, explores the ancient Roman civilization, the Middles Ages and Renaissance. Explorers set sail to discover land, treasures, raw materials and knowledge on behalf of their mother country and religion. The development of the printing press enabled the disbursement of knowledge through books. Discovery and the pursuit of knowledge is the underlying theme during this era. In this book, it is reimagined for students with experiences through stories, interactive role-playing activities, and art projects.

I am a homeschool mom of 5. We like to use curriculum that can be student driven and this book can definitely do that. I handed the book to my 3 middle school aged kids and right off the bat they enjoyed the stories that accompany each lesson. The kids all agreed that focusing on the art of different time periods was a much more interesting way to learn history. They enjoyed connecting with peoples of the past by learning about some of their forms of expression. Creating Art for All Ages is a good resource that merges several subjects into something that my art-oriented children really enjoyed.--Cara Rector, Vice President, Board of Directors, Latter-Day Saints Home Educators, The book Creating Art for All Ages is a wonderful resource for teachers to integrate art education in a natural way into their classroom. I appreciate the integration of art to the Social Studies, English, and Math standards. It is written in a way that makes it manageable for elementary teachers to use. The lessons are designed to allow students to enter at their level and then provides scaffolds to excel their learning to higher levels and higher thinking. I appreciate the focus on 21st century learning and innovation. Our students need to learn how to investigate, connect, create, collaborate, present and reflect. These are ESSENTIAL skills for our students in school and in life!--Cheryl Fullmer, Principal, Trails West Elementary (Centennial, CO), Within minutes of opening Creating Art for All Ages, my mind began racing with the amount of enriching, applicable lessons I could use to involve students in their own learning. There is so much core curriculum that is expected to be taught, and with this resource, lessons can easily be integrated with art. History will come alive, math will make sense, and reading will become a priority as students make real life applications from the lessons. The depth of their learning will increase as they imagine, create, and share their own works of art as they relate to the core curriculum.--Petrina Steele, 6th grade teacher, Bastian Elementary (Herriman, UT)

Frances Flicker is a writer, artist, and teacher of art and humanities.Jacqueline G. Van Schooneveld is a professor of teacher education.