Teachers are known for being proficient planners and if you’re anything like me, you love opening up a fresh planner.
But if those blank pages start taunting you to fill them and you just don’t know where to start, I’m here to offer a few guiding questions and practical steps to get you started.
Here are some guidelines to follow as you start untangling the matrix of possible art lessons to use, assessing the standards you have to meet, ensuring your goals of providing an art experience keeps a spring in your step, and results in a happy art experience.
Teach With Your Passions in Mind
Guiding Question: What types of art projects excite you?
Why is this important? It’s simple.
Your students will pick up on your energy if you are excited. It may seem a bit woo-woo but if you ever had to teach a lesson you weren’t thrilled with, chances are, your students weren’t thrilled either.
And while your students won’t connect every single project they create, they will most likely give it a try if they trust you.
Practical Step: Keep a collection of lessons that interest you and organize by grade level. Use whatever system works for you: Pinterest boards, printed or digital lesson plans in folders, etc. You may not use every lesson, and that’s okay. What matters is having a plan for where you will store the ideas and inspiration that excite you.
Identify Your Art Standards
Guiding question: What are the national, state and district standards that you follow for knowing which art concepts to teach to which grades?
Why? We’re teaching our students to value art, to be able to appreciate it, understand it, as well as being able to express themselves through it.
We want to give them a well-rounded art education (here’s a great post about de-mystifying art standards).
Practical Step: Look at the yearly standards for each grade level and divide them into quarters or semesters so that they are less overwhelming and more spread out. For example, your list of Quarter 1 concepts for Kindergarten may include: line, basic geometric shapes, Piet Mondrian and the season of fall. Now that seems like a list you can work with, right?
Match Art Lessons with Standards
Guiding Question: Which of the projects that I’m excited about fit an art standard I need to teach?
Why? A lesson doesn’t need to be absolutely spot on to teach a specific art concept or standard.
You get the choice to emphasize a variety of standards when you are teaching a lesson.
If you need a lesson on line and are excited about a crocodile project you saw inside The Sparklers’ Club lesson library, emphasize to students the different types of lines they are using to draw their crocodile. It doesn’t have to be complicated!
Practical Step: From your list of standards for each grade level, plug in lessons from the collection of lessons that you’ve saved. Once a lesson meets a standard, cross the standard of the list. If you exhaust your list of favorite lessons and still have standards to meet, leave that lesson spot open. Go back to step one and find lessons that excite you and see if they can be the missing piece in your curriculum puzzle.
BE FLEXIBLE
Guiding Question: What if my plan gets messed up?
Why? Snow days, sick days, assemblies and fire drills will be quick to throw off your perfectly designed curriculum.
Not to mention seeing the new Sparklers’ Club bundle for the month and obsessing over how you could squeeze a few of the lessons into your art program this week!
It’s okay to swap out lessons, rearrange your plan and double-check that you are still meeting your standards. As a teacher, you know that planning on flexibility will serve you well.
Practical Step: See that beautiful, shiny plan you just created for your year in art? Nice job! Isn’t it a relief to have a plan? Whew! Enjoy your year in art!
No matter what challenges are thrown at you, our digital art planner for art teachers inside The Sparklers’ Club, helps you eliminate the overwhelm that comes with planning your curriculum and managing your schedule for the school year.
This digital planner is fully customizable to allow you to organize your month, plan your weekly or daily schedule, format your curriculum and manage your assessments.
Want in-depth lessons with accompanying standards and assessments? The Sparklers’ Club has thousands of fully standardized lesson plans to make curriculum planning effortless. Join the waitlist for the Sparklers Club!
Thank you
Thanks for the planning tips .
Im actually keen to find inspiring clay modelling videos from years Foundation to Six – to meet the standards of the victoria Australia curriculum .
Do you have any great links ?
Many thanks.
Hi Anna,
See the Back to School Guide on this site – Elements of Art (form). Might be a good place to start. You can then match the clay projects to the Australian Curriculum.
Cheers,
Wendy (also in Australia) 🙂
Hi Anna,
See the Back to School Guide on this site – Elements of Art (form). Might be a good place to start. You can then match the clay projects to the Australian Curriculum.
Cheers,
Wendy (also in Australia) 🙂
Very helpful and uplifting. I always get as excited as the kids about new wonderful art lessons that lie ahead. There never is enough time to do all, and I always tuck some away for next year, and even the year after that. Thank you again for your inspiration.
Thanks. Happy New Years!
LOVE this site! Your calendar just gave my return-to-school-planning the structure, inspiration and cohesive-ness I was seeking. It feels like my enthusiasm has direction now. Thank you! Happy 2022 to you! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I am teaching grade 4 and 5 next school year. How can I best teach art for them? Help! Do you have any suggestions?
Sincerely, Lisa Eliuk
Waiting for the 2023 calendar 🙂
Do you have art for K-6 that students studying Faith Ringgold’s art can create ?
Hi Stephanie! We do have a Faith Ringgold inspired lesson. This lesson is only available inside The Sparklers’ Club Membership. The Sparklers’ Club is an affordable and flexible pay as you go monthly membership—perfect for anyone who teaches art to students aged K-7. To join the Sparklers’ Club waitlist and learn more about The Sparklers’ Club click here: https://deepspacesparkle.lpages.co/the-sparklers-club-waitlist/
I am a DSS member through my school. I love using DSS for my K-8 art lessons.
thank you
I was just at the store today looking for a small desk calendar but couldn’t find one that suited me. I’ll be printing this one for sure! My year is mostly planned out until May but will likely have some changes. Due to the extreme cold in the Midwest, pipes burst at my school. There is lots of water damage, which Ivia email I heard hit the specials area hard. All of my yarn and lots of collected cardboard for looms were on my floor. I’m glad my room is not carpeted as much will need to be replaced, but since we are not allowed back in the building yet while professional dryers and cleaning crews are there, I have no idea how much of my room or supplies were damaged. My plan was to completely relax over the break since I had everything ready to go…now, I don’t know what I’ll return to. BUT, at least I’ll have my DSS planner printed and ready to go!
Thank you so much! I was shopping in Target today when it hit me: I need ART projects for the new year!
Thank you for so many creative ideas that make artists of all ages and abilities feel good about what they make!
amazing ideas and lesson plans
Hello,
Thank you for the calendar! I am looking for Art ideas for students with special needs. Please and thank you!
Very interesting tips for us Art teachers!
This has been so helpful and has really helped me make my goals as an art teacher achievable! Thank you
Yes! I agree… I get very excited to plan my art projects but I would love the students to plan for their projects weekly so that they are more disciplined in their approach to art as a subject. Also to prevent them getting overwhelmed!
A termly guide for them would be good where clear objectives can be met by deadlines.
What is really beneficial and realistic for them to sustain and eventually attain success?
Thank you so much…
Deep appreciation for your shared work.
Yours in art
Amanda
Zimbabwe