Heloooo beautiful people! This week has been pretty good, but oh boy today … Today I learned to never skip wearing glasses when reading a recipe. My enthusiasm for baking hasn’t wained a bit despite the burnt cupcakes. Uhhhhh …yeah let’s not talk about that again #pain.

     -------ME

Study Unit 4 has taught me a lot. I had a lot of fun learning about all of the different areas of arts integration in the foundation phase. I learned the definition of art integration, the various activities we may utilize in music, how to integrate music with other disciplines, the theoretical framework, and the importance of arts integration.

Arts integration entails more than just doing art projects in class. Art integration is a teaching technique that incorporates arts standards into core subjects to create meaningful connections and provide context. Having discussed this, I would then have to agree with the above statement. Art integration, in my opinion, is vital for our youth. The benefits of art and music, whether kids are exposed to it in school or through private or community classes and sessions, are enormous. Art exposure provides children with more than just a creative outlet; it also has mental, emotional, and educational advantages. Here are a few reasons why I believe that art integration is critical:

• Art integration aids the development of creative problem-solving abilities.
• Children's motor skills, linguistic skills, social skills, decision-making, risk-taking, and creativity are all aided by art instruction.
• Art integration improves retention and engagement
• Teaching through the arts can help students understand complex subjects by visualizing them.

Which aspects of study unit 4 did you find the most interesting and challenging?  Please use the following prompts to reflect on your experience:

This is a difficult decision to make because I enjoyed the entire study unit. If I had to pick a favourite, I'd say the value of arts integration in inclusive, multicultural schools at the foundation phase. This peaked my interest because I'm always interested in learning more about different cultures. I believe that diversity is essential within the classroom because Multicultural education aims to provide equitable educational opportunities for all students by altering the overall school environment to reflect the many cultures and groups that exist within a community and in classrooms across the country. As a future teacher, I believe it is critical that we learn more about the value of diversity and multicultural classrooms. To be honest, I didn't find anything difficult; instead, I found each section of this study unit to be really interesting, and I was able to learn and comprehend everything.

Signing off.....