Did you know that the California Education Code stipulates that all students should have access to standards-based arts education in dance, music, theatre, visual, and media arts, and yet only eleven percent of California schools meet this requirement?  In fact, twenty-one percent of California schools do not offer any form of formal arts instruction. When you consider that arts education has been proven to increase student attendance and graduation rates, encourage civic participation, and promote student engagement and learning in other subjects, this is especially disheartening. This is why we’ve helped launch Creative Classrooms, an arts-integration professional development program for teachers.

In arts-integrated curriculum, students learn an art discipline alongside another subject, such as history or science, while aligning to content standards in each. This experience leads to a deeper understanding of both subjects and greater satisfaction among both students and teachers. In 2024, we launched a pilot program with a small group of teachers in the Davis/Sacramento area, where teachers received training and support in designing and implementing their own arts-integrated lesson plans. This year, we hope to expand this program to a two-week summer institute for thirty teachers at the Crocker Art Museum Sacramento and UC Davis, and we need your support to make this project happen. By making a one-time gift of any size to our Crowdfund UC Davis campaign, you help support our mission to increase California students’ access to arts education, especially at a time when arts education funding is in danger of being cut. Please consider donating today!

While many of you CHSSP friends and advocates might not yet consider yourself artists, we hope to change that perception and motivate you to bring the arts into your classrooms in an innovative way! To help get you inspired to start thinking about history-arts connections, we’ve also gathered some resources and book recommendations, listed below.

Resources for Educators

• Hellenistic Culture: This primary source set for sixth-grade students focuses on the spread of ideas, technologies, and art between regions in Afroeurasia/the Mediterranean world. Students examine historic pieces of art, including paintings, stone carvings, sculptures, and pottery, as primary sources that provide evidence for the spreading of Hellenistic culture in ancient times.
• Library of Congress teacher resources: The LoC is a great resource for ideas on combining art and history in the classroom. They offer several lesson plans that utilize skills in both disciplines, including The Evolution of the Book: Introducing Students to Visual Analysis, in which students analyze the images from John White Alexander’s mural in the Thomas Jefferson building of the Library of Congress while learning about the Library’s history. Blogs like Using Sheet Music to Bring History to Life also offer great suggestions for teaching music alongside history, and primary source sets, such as Political Cartoons and Public Debates, offer extensions for both history and art classrooms.
• California County Superintendents Arts Initiative Arts Integration Resources: The California County Superintendents Arts Initiative, one of our partners in the Creative Classrooms project, offers several professional learning modules focused on arts integration. We encourage you to look through them to learn more about the value of an arts-integrated curriculum, as well for tips on how to start implementing more arts into your classroom.
• Coming soon: Later this year, we will feature some of the work teachers produce at the Creative Classrooms summer institute. Keep an eye out for our blog post to get more inspiration for how to integrate arts topics into your classroom!

Kate’s Book Club: January Reads

Maybe Something Beautiful:  How Art Transformed a Neighborhood by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell, illustrated by Rafael Lopez. Based on a true story and the efforts of Rafael and Candice Lopez who worked to create murals in downtown San Diego, California. This transformation of the neighborhood also included painting utility boxes and benches in bright colors. Little by little the entire neighborhood became a work of art. A community-based art project, like the one described in the book, would provide a perfect opportunity for students to plan, organize, and create a lasting memory at their school, neighborhood, or community.  

Time to Make Art written and illustrated by Jeff Mack. Wonderful introduction to artists and art history from around the world and the ages ranging from the well-known, like Munch, Magritte, and O’Keeffe, to the lesser-known ones, like Album quilters, Frankenthaler, and Friedman.  Through the child’s questions, the author (and illustrator) connects different styles, purpose, and materials found in visual arts. So many opportunities for further exploration.  Don’t miss the front matter describing the book illustrations made by “collaging all of the hand-painted shapes on the endpapers, then drawing on top of them with a computer using Photoshop.”  

What Can a Mess Make? written and illustrated by Bee Johnson.  Written during the pandemic, the author and illustrator asks, What can you make with everyday items you can find at home?  Using catchy rhythms and humor, the two young girls (modeled after her own) explore their home and discover, “A mess can make a masterpiece.” Delightful way to flip the narrative on a negative mess.

The Artivist written and illustrated by Nikkolas Smith. “I want to scream. I want to help. I want to act.” The voice of the young artivist provides the narration for this story of the power of one individual. Through the bold use of color and detail, The Artivist provides ample opportunity for students to find something to fix in their community.  Each page creates a mini history lesson.  Connections to social justice, giving agency, and finding one’s voice through art. 

Growing an Artist:  The Story of a Landscaper and his Son written and illustrated by John Parra.  What a wonderful way to connect art, nature, and mapping! After spending time with his father, a landscape worker, Javier discovers the power of his sketchbook.  He realizes that he can use his art “to tell the stories of hardworking, passionate people who make the world more beautiful.  (He) will tell their stories.  (He) will tell (his) story.  Don’t miss the back matter on this one. John Parra’s books are must-haves for any library.

The Sunflowers:  Vincent van Gogh’s Search for Beauty written and illustrated by Zahra Marwan.  Not really Arts Integration, per say, but a sweet story about art and friendship as a way to “comfort our troubled hearts.”  This title could be incorporated into a sunflower garden project, with math, weather, and art components. 

Not Perfect by Maya Myers, illustrated by Hyewon Yum.  So many of our students have anxiety about being perfect.  Dot is good at many things, but she feels that she needs to be perfect at something.  Great example of a perfect ending to a situation…art to the rescue! For the littles.

And stay tuned for further details about this summer's Arts Integration workshop!