Chapter 5: Higher Order Thinking Skills: An Arts-Infused Core Curriculum for English Learners and their Peers

While school reform efforts and funding concentrate on assuring the achievement of math and reading skills for all students, there is less and less emphasis on arts integration and reaching the whole child. Education is increasingly focusing on twenty-first century knowledge and skills and is expecting for all students to succeed in a highly complex, technological, and multicultural world. This chapter describes an arts-infused core curriculum, grades K–4, for English learners and their English-speaking peers. First, it examines the current state of the arts at the national and state levels. It, then, describes an arts-infused core curriculum and instruction at a mid-size elementary school, including samples of content curriculum units and their components at each grade level. Finally, the chapter illustrates the positive outcomes of the integration.