Challenge 5- Dreams #ArtsEdMonthAK
Alaska Arts Education Month is here! We’re celebrating throughout March with a different Creativity Challenge each week. Get inspired by the week’s theme to explore music, dance, theater, cultural arts, media arts, and visual arts. Share creations by you and your students with us on Facebook and Instagram by tagging #ArtsEdMonthAK + @akartsed to join the party! Â
Our final Creativity Challenge for March 25th – April 1st is ………….. # Dreams!
What better place to dream than our amazing state! Each season and moment bring inspiration that has us thinking about what is possible. Aside from motivating and inspiring us, dreams have deep cultural significance in Alaska and around the world.
This week, we’re going to share a few ways to investigate dreams through the arts. Some may work in your current educational setting and some may need to be saved for a different learning landscape. All can be adapted for different ages and abilities.
LEARNÂ ALONGSIDE AN ARTISTÂ
Try one of our AAEC Art Bytes:Â
Spring is coming but there may still be a chance to see the Auroras in all their glory. Different cultures ascribe different meaning to the lights. Check out the symbolism here! In this 50 minute training with Alaskan artist Barbara Santora from Fairbanks, you can learn an amazing lesson suitable for 3rd grade and up! This session features watercolor techniques and results in some dreamy auroras!Â
FINDÂ A VISUAL ARTS LESSON PLANÂ
Dream Journal Inspired by the Tree of Life: Get your students outdoors, journaling and writing! Check out this plan compliments of the North Carolina Museum of Art!
Dream Catchers: I don’t think I could have made it through dream week without a dream catcher lesson plan. This one from the University of Minnesota is very traditional and has tons of resources and information about the Ojibwe people and many other tribes across North America. I love the PDF they include on the website as it is full of valuable information. This one encourages the use of things found in nature as well as beads and other decorations.
JUMP INTO A NEW DRAMA GAME
 Visualize Through Art and Drama: Drama, visual arts, storytelling and dreaming! I am definitely bringing this out in my high school classroom. This art and drama plan also includes SEL techniques and helps students to visualize and dream about their futures in multiple ways. This plan is suitable for high school and middle school. You can see the full series of lessons from the Des Moines Performing Arts Center here.Â
Video – Dreams for the Future
Password: PHDreams
SING AND DANCE ALONG
Dance and Play: I truly feel this song and dance can be for any age since I want to get up and try it now! BBC provides this 30-40 minute warm up to get students thinking about dreams and get their brains moving through movement and music. Dream on!
We hope these ideas spark your creative thinking for this 5th week of Alaska Arts Education Month. Whether you create something from this list or from your own inspiration, remember to showcase your work on Instagram or Facebook with #ArtsEdMonthAK + @akartsed. We hope you’ll join us again next March!