Art Pals Program

Art Pals is a thirteen lesson art curriculum designed for third-grade students. The program is a coalition between LAUSD and the National Council of Jewish Women of Los Angeles, who provide the art volunteers, administration, and funding. The program is dedicated to promoting art appreciation, literacy, fun, and creativity in children.

Art educators present the Museum of Contemporary Art curriculum through slides, discussion, related hands-on activities, history and drawing books, and a small classroom library of books. Art educators also mentor students in art education and organize a museum field trip towards the end of the curriculum. Art lessons take place in the classroom, every other Wednesday for about an hour. Lessons begin in September and last through the end of the school year. All third grade students at Calahan participate in the Art Pals Program. 

The following lists the Museum of Contemporary Art lessons to be covered during the thirteen lesson curriculum. 

• Lines and Patterns
• Color and Shape
• Materials and Texture
• Artists' Ideas, Meanings, and Messages
• Portraiture 
• Abstract Expressionism
• Pop Art
• Three Dimensional Art
• Architecture 
• Surrealism
• Landscapes
• Environments
• Murals

• Aesthetic Perception – To help students to describe, analyze, and interpret visual images. Through study and direct experiences, the students develop criteria for arriving at personal judgments.
• Arts Heritage – To help students understand artists, their work, and their effects on society in the past and present.
• Creative Expression – To help students perceive the distinctive qualities of various media of visual expression and encourage direct personal involvement in creative activities.
• To give students a clear understanding of Contemporary Art and its relationship to their lives.
• To evoke through guided museum and local gallery visits positive, personal, and divergent responses to contemporary art.
• To acknowledge and build upon the feelings and imagination of students.
• To lead students to the conviction that art is an exciting and important human activity and the realization that they can continue to discover and experience art throughout their lives.
• To mentor the students through consistent interaction; the art educators provide a positive and nurturing art experience.
• To have FUN! :)