Construction and strings

What does the above photo collage have in common with the one below?

On Tuesday afternoon, big machines were digging dirt and making mechanical noises outside on the playground while strings students were playing their violins and making musical noises inside a portable building. The earth moving is one of the first visible steps towards the new addition that will hold a strings classroom and so much more.

All around Casey, there was a joyful noise!

JumpstART Grant for Third Grade

In the above photo collage, Mr. Howell used drama to help Mrs. Pepper's third grade class think about the city of Jackson. After having written a short description of their favorite place in Jackson for homework, the students were instructed to close their eyes and imagine that place. Then, students pantomimed what they would be doing in that place. Some of the favorite activities and places these students chose included swimming at the pool at the YMCA, hunting in the woods, and playing checkers at home.

All third grade classes will be thinking a lot about Jackson and "place" and "community" in the coming months. Through the Ask4MoreArts Initiative, Casey has received a $2000.00 grant to JumpstART a collaborative teaching/learning project between a local artist, teachers, and students. This grant was available to all AFMA partner schools in JPS. The goal of JumpstART is to support innovative arts integrated pilot projects that address the theme: Our Community – A Sense of Place.

More details will follow, but every third grade family should have received an initial description of the project and information about an upcoming field trip associated with this project on Feb. 9th. They will go to the Smith Robertson Museum and downtown to Farish Street.

George Miles is the artist who will be working with all three third grade classrooms. Information about him can be found at these two links:

http://www.arts.state.ms.us/artist-roster/artist.php?n=miles_george&r=artist-roster

and

http://www.visualarts.ms.gov/ViewListing.aspx?ListingID=143

The next phase of the project will involve weekly sessions between each third grade class and Mr. Miles. He will guide the students through construction of an art project, and the final project will be displayed at the Casey Arts Festival in March. Ms. Gee's class will focus on the past, Mrs. Wilson's class will look at the present, and Mrs. Pepper's class will imagine the future. The teachers and the artist are still working out details, but Art Smart Parents will be able to assist in each phase of the project!

Isn't this exciting?

Let's Start Again

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Originally uploaded by nolteowe

It has been a long time since I posted on this blog, and I never really got it off the ground. But, I'm revamping it as an experiment for both reflection and documentation of the work that I and other parents do as arts education advocates.

So, to start again, here is my Top Ten List of ways that parents at Casey Elementary have been involved and impacted arts integration in the last few years:

10) Seven parents have graduated from the Parent Leadership Institute of Parents for Public Schools of Jackson. With grant money from the Parent Leadership Institute, parents have brought two visiting artists to Casey.

9) Parents have been actively involved in developing brochures about Art Smart Parents for the Jackson Public School District. Parents serve on the Arts Advisory Leadership Committee for Ask4MoreArts.

8) For two consecutive years, parents have successfully created and implemented a special week long activity for first graders called Rhymes at Rhymes Place.

7) Parents have attended Ask4MoreArts Professional Development workshops alongside teachers from Casey and the district.

6) Parents attend and support Lifeshards at the Mississippi Museum of Art to supplement their childrens' exposure to visual arts in a museum setting.

5) Parents have taken experiences and learning from Ask4More workshops and Lifeshards and led similar workshops for other parents in the district and classrooms of children at other schools in the district.

4) Parents have offered workshops on Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences to other parents at Casey, other parents in the district, and teachers and students at Casey.

3) Alongside teachers from Casey and the district, three parents have attended the Mississippi Arts Commission's Whole Schools Institute in the summers of 2007 and 2008.

2) Parents initiated, planned, developed, and maintained the summer gardening project called the Rainbow Garden and offered art activities alongside a gardening experience each Thursday during the summer of 2008.

1) Three parents presented a workshop on Rhymes at Rhymes Place at the 2008 Fall Retreat for the Whole Schools Initiative.

Now, these are just highlights. There are countless other ways that parents support arts integration every day. We help teachers with projects in the classroom. We help our own children with projects at home. We take our children to arts events in the community. We attend arts advisory meetings to stay aware of what teachers are planning and doing. We help hang up and take down artwork in the hallways every few weeks. We plan receptions for special arts events. We write letters to the editor and to legislators in support of arts education. We monitor arts integration through site council and PTA. We celebrate our school's achievements, and we work together to meet its challenges. Finally, we revel in the dance, music, and drama performances our children share with us and the community.

So much is going on.