The scriptural content of Choose Art is foundational to the program. It is the belief of the author that no course is complete unless the children are taught to bring their relationship with God into practical application of the principles being taught. They must be able to relate to God within that discipline and begin to view and judge all areas related to the subject matter from the perspective of God's Word. By integrating scriptural teachings, the children's concept of God as the focus of their world is reinforced.

Through Choose Art , the children will constantly be challenged to develop their characters by the continual application of God's Word. Wherever possible, the scriptural content relates directly to the artistic principles being taught in that unit. For example, in Peaceful Pastels you will find:

	In Unit Two, the unit is introduced by a discussion of various gifts and how people function in a church. The unit culminates with the assembling of a mural in which each child participates, putting into practice the scripture, "For the body is not one member, but many." The children learn to see their contributions as important to the whole group.
	In Unit Four, the teaching that surrounds the scripture, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee," encourages the children to see God as the focus of their lives and to find help from the Word in making decisions. The theme of "God as a focus" is used in conjunction with a study of the "visual focus" in an artistic composition.
	In Unit Six, the story of Mixed-Up Milton demonstrates the importance of prudence. Prudence is further studied through various examples of prudent and imprudent behavior. The children are given the opportunity to practice "the prudent man looketh well to his going" by preparing preliminary drawings before doing a final drawing for a cartoon.

To help reinforce the scriptural teaching, scriptural theme mini-posters are provided in the student booklets at the end of each four-week unit of study. The posters are provided from second through fourth grade. Both male and female versions of the poster are included.

Beginning in the fifth grade, the students apply scriptural principles to the lives of well-known artists. For example, they observe the jealousy that existed between Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci and examine ways of avoiding jealousy, learning instead to "rejoice with those who rejoice." Theyalso see the Renaissance exposed as a humanistic age which glorified man's achievements rather than acknowledging God. The Reformation is seen as a return to the glorification of God.

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In all levels of the Choose Art programs, you will find lessons that are devoted to the development of imagination and creative expression as well as those that are designed to build skills, enrich sensory perception, develop artistic techniques and broaden vocabulary. Academically, the intent of Choose Art is to provide a well-balanced program, one that fosters the development of creativity, but does not ignore the need for instruction and skill development.

The elements of art form the academic skeleton of the programs up to the fourth grade. These elements are the building blocks of visual art. They are to artistic composition as the noun and verb are to sentence construction. Read this section carefully. The seven elements presented here will become common vocabulary in art class. Your students will learn to identify them and talk about them, and as they mature, they will begin to apply them in their art work.

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	Line: A line is a path of movement for the eye to follow. It can be created by a pencil or a brush. Or it can be a perceived line caused by repeating shapes, colors, or textures that draw the eye along a path in space. Drawn lines can have many qualities. They can be curved, straight, jagged, fuzzy, long, short, loopy, wavy, and even dotted.
	Shape: A shape is a space that is enclosed by line. A shape can be geometric like a square, triangle, circle, or rectangle. Or it can be an irregular shape like a milk spill, which being abstract in nature, is referred to as an organic or abstract shape. A shape can be outlined with a pencil or paint line or, like a blotch of paint or a milk spill, it can appear to have no apparent line defining its edge. Shapes can repeat. The repeating rectangles forming a brick wall, or the triangular shapes of evergreen trees can create a path or line that the eye will follow. Such repeating shapes are often used as a technique to draw attention to an important object in a picture.
	Pattern: When lines or shapes repeat at regular intervals, a pattern is formed. Patterns can be identified by the nature of the motifs (repeating designs). The pattern formed by the bricks on a brick wall is called a brick pattern. Repeating parallel lines are called stripes. Plaids, checkers and polka-dots are examples of repeating lines and shapes that form patterns.
	Texture: Texture is the surface quality of an object. It is described to the children as the way something feels when they touch it. It can also be defined as the way something is perceived to feel in a drawing or a painting. Thus we can refer to the textural qualities of a painted object. We see texture in children's paintings in the lines they use to represent hair, fur or grass, or perhaps in a fluffy-looking cloud or the scratchy lines on a tree trunk. Texture itself does not normally create a pattern, but the repetition of the same textured area could create a textured pattern. And just as repeated shapes can form a line drawing the eye along a path, so also can repeated textures cause the eye to move from one texture to another.
	Space: Most children at this level have not reached the maturity to fully comprehend the representation of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. However, the nature of this curriculum allows concepts to be presented to everyone in the group and yet be grasped by only those who are mature enough to assimilate them. The concepts presented up to fourth grade are but an elementary introduction to perspective and are referred to as "the principles of near and far." They involve examining how to make something look closer or farther away by placing it higher or lower on a page, by making it smaller or larger, by including more or less detail, or by using overlapping.
	Form: Form can be thought of as three-dimensional shape. It is discussed during projects involving clay, plasticene or papiér maché. Vocabulary includes words such as cylinder, sphere and cube.
	Color: Color can be experienced from many perspectives. Series I students learn to identify ( red, yellow and blue) and to mix. They discover how to make a color stand out by contrasting dark and light or dull and bright colors. They examine how repeating colors cause the eye to move from color to color, and they learn how to mix lighter and darker colors by the addition of white or black.

Beginning with the fifth grade, students are introduced to principles of design such as contrast, emphasis, movement, unity, and balance. They are expected to plan compositions with consideration given to emphasis of focal point, effective use of movement and distance in space, application of contrast, evidence of unity, etc. Included is analyses of compositions with respect to the principles of design, media used, and artistic techniques employed. Academic content after the fourth grade also includes an integrated study of art history.

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