In Counting on Art, students will explore the paintings of Horace Pippin and Wayne Thiebaud and the mobiles of Alexander Calder to discover and practice math and visual art concepts.

• In Pippin's Story, young children (grades K–3) focus on a painting by African American artist Horace Pippin. They will learn how to "read" the clues in a painting and write a story about the work. Students will also solve counting and time problems and create their own "secret number" painting.
• Calder's Balancing Acts focuses on math in the mobiles of Alexander Calder. Elementary- level students (grades 2–5) will learn about the artist and write equations based on Calder's art. Upper-level students (grades 6–8) will discover patterns and the Fibonacci sequence. Both levels will make their own math mobiles.
• Cake Math, based on a painting by California artist Wayne Thiebaud, features math challenges of many varieties. Elementary-level students (grades 2–5) will practice fractions, addition, subtraction, word problems, sorting, and classifying. Intermediate level students (grades 6–8) will find volume and surface area in Thiebaud's cakes.

Each lesson includes:

• a lesson plan: an overview with lesson objectives, an implementation plan, assessment guidelines, and classroom discussion questions
• student activities: lessons for students with math challenges and classroom and/or online art -making activities
• pertinent national math and visual arts standards
• a brief biography of the artist
• a glossary of art and/or math terms
• online and print resources for extended explorations

The lessons may be done independently or together, depending on classroom focus and time constraints.