Big idea first, cleanup planned

Art Lesson Plan Template

An art plan that starts with the idea rather than the project: a big idea and essential question, the anchor standard, the studio habit you are building and the artists students will see; then the materials per student and per table, and the period as intro and demo, studio time, cleanup and critique, each with its minutes. Differentiation and the criteria you will assess against at the foot.

Idea, materials, studio, critique

Art lesson plan template

Portrait art lesson plan with big-idea and essential-question boxes, three small boxes for standard, studio habit and artists, a materials box, a four-row studio sequence table, and differentiation and assessment boxes

Word Google Docs

Art Lesson Plan — Word & Google Docs

Big idea and essential question, anchor standard, studio habit and artist references, a materials list, then intro and demo, studio time, cleanup and critique with minutes.

Download Word Open in Google Docs

PDF

Art Lesson Plan — fillable PDF

One page, portrait. Type into the fields or print it blank and handwrite.

Download fillable PDF

Specifications: US Letter, 8.5 × 11 inches. Word files are editable .docx that open in Word 2007 through Microsoft 365, including Word for Mac; the Google Docs link makes a copy in your own Drive; the PDF has real form fields and prints as plain hairline boxes when blank. Free to use in as many classes as you like, no account, no watermark.

Why it is laid out this way

About the art template

The project-first art plan — today we make a clay pinch pot — is the template most art teachers inherit and the one that reads as crafts to an evaluator. The big idea and essential question at the top of this sheet are what turn a project into a lesson: containers and what they hold, how artists show emotion with color. The studio-habit box names the disposition the lesson develops, since art is the subject where persistence, observation and reflection are the curriculum as much as the technique.

The sequence table has four rows because an art period has four parts, and two of them are usually unplanned. Cleanup takes eight minutes with thirty children and wet materials, and a plan that forgets it ends with the bell and a mess; critique or share takes five and is where students learn to talk about work. Both have a row and a minutes column. The materials box is split per student and per table because that is how art supplies are counted out.

Questions teachers ask

Art lesson plans, answered

What is a studio habit?

One of the eight dispositions from the Studio Thinking research — develop craft, engage and persist, envision, express, observe, reflect, stretch and explore, understand art worlds. Naming one per lesson is a common way to show an observer what students are learning besides the technique.

Which standards go in the anchor box?

The National Core Arts Standards anchor standard — Creating, Presenting, Responding or Connecting, with its number — or your state's visual arts code. Many states adopted the national standards wholesale, so the two are often the same.

Can I plan a multi-day project on one sheet?

Yes; the date box takes a range, and the studio-time row covers the days in between the demo and the critique. Teachers with a three-week project often fill one of these for the project and note each day's focus in the studio row.