The following activities and lessons are linked to PDF files.

INTEGRATED ACTIVITIES

The following activities were created by teachers and align to California state curriculum standards for ELD, VPA, ELA. Teachers were asked to come up with arts activities and integrate them with the Five Key Questions of Media Literacy and the state standards. Teachers came up with these activities very easily, demonstrating that the teachers had successfully internalized how to integrate media literacy and the arts into the state standards.

LESSON PLANS

Introductory Unit
Five lessons for elementary school students that explore: communication; media; symbols; distinguishing between Programming and advertising; and Fantasy v. Reality

Vocabulary Unit
Introductory unit for grades K-2 and 3-5 that follows up on the concepts introduced in the Introductory Unit.

Wisdom of the Ages, By Debi Conti
This activity helps students think about senior citizens, analyze messages media portray of them, and create their own representations of seniors they admire.

Surveying Our Media, By Steve Schullo
this activity, students integrate math and science skills by creating surveys to assess the amount of media around them.

A Tale of Two Schools, By Lorenza Arengo Yarnes
This lesson helps students recognize the constructed nature of news as students create two school newspapers that report the same stories but tell two very different tales.

Creative and Cultural Dance Unit, By Amy Santo, Ph.D.
Five sessions examine: 1) Expressing Identity Through Performance, 2) Opening The Dancer’s Toolbox;, and Exploring Force, Shape, and Emotion in Movement, 3) Making Choices, Making History, 4) Sharing Weight, Creating Balance and 5) Composing and Reading Messages in Dance [Grade Level 3-5]

We Tell Stories, Theatre and Storytelling Unit, By Candilyn Danzig
In four sessions, students learn about Elements of Storytelling and Theater; Develop personal and ensemble skills pertaining to these elements; and Implement skills to originate a reenactment of a story that contains a Community concept. Students make connections to the Five Key Questions and Concepts of Media Literacy. [Grades K-5]

Music Unit, by Andrew Grueschow
Over the course of four sessions, students develop understanding for music and emotion, then create and record the score to animations they have created.

Heroes and Media Lesson Plan, By Joan Harrison
Various media present many types of heroes for many different reasons. Over four session, students will investigate this idea, and then create their own 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional heroes.[Visual Arts: 1st and 2nd grades]