Through this K–2 geared lesson plan, elementary and art teachers will learn how to incorporate The CJM’s award-winning Stories and Art of Ezra Jack Keats program into their classrooms and offer students an open-ended, playful art process that centers personal storytelling and decision-making.
This arts integration lesson plan introduces students to an Ezra Zacks Keats author study, including his experience as a Jewish person. The lesson includes a short video on Keats’s biography with guiding questions, a read-aloud of an Ezra Jack Keats classic with close looking guidance, and a narrative art project. This resource offers tools to integrate a visual art experience with your literacy curriculum.
Explore educational resources ready for use in your classroom. The CJM’s teacher resources cultivate cultural sensitivity and awareness, provide enriching creative arts experiences, and share multifaceted Jewish stories.
These resources teach students about Jewish life in age-appropriate ways while integrating seamlessly with grade-level curriculum and supporting teachers in creating culturally welcoming classroom environments for all students. Resources are created for integration in secular, as well as Jewish and parochial schools.
Resources for grades K–5 incorporate Jewish author biographies, community immigration stories, and Jewish culture and celebrations, while including space for conversation and centering intercultural connection. Resources for grades 6–12 include a focus on contemporary Jewish culture, explorations of identity through art, and discussions about antisemitism, including but not limited to Holocaust education.
Major support for K-12 School and Teacher Programs is generously provided by the California Arts Council; California Bank & Trust; William Randolph Hearst Foundation; Barbara and Ronald Kaufman; The Bernard Osher Foundation; Pacific Gas and Electric Company; The Ullendorff Memorial Foundation; and Yerba Buena Community Benefit Fund.
Ezra Jack Keats, illustration from A Letter to Amy, 1968.