Friday, April 25, 2008

Arts Extravaganza!!!!


“The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind – creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people – artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers – will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.” Daniel Pink

At Chets Creek we believe that unfolding the creative imaginations of young children through art is equally as important as the high academic standards we employ in our classroom instruction. Our art education program is designed to masterfully integrate these academic standards along with the creative and critical thinking standards found in the art curriculum. The support of this program is of such importance to our school’s overall performance and to the preparation of students that any and all resources needed to provide the optimal arts education for students are provided without question.

From the very moment you step foot inside our school the fingerprints of our program can be seen. First, there is a mural of children holding hands around a united world that graces our second floor balcony welcoming each visitor to our school. Then there is the hand painted “stone” wall that supports student academic work. This is nicely complimented by the numerous display cases that hold hundreds of artistic creations fashioned by our students in the art lab. Re-creations of artwork originally created by the world’s masters beautify our lobby and are used to spark the imaginations of the next Van Gough or Monet. These share space with one of our most recent creations, a “picture” made up of hundreds of individual glazed and fired tiles that were colorfully personalized by students. Creative expression can be found at every turn and in fact there are many places within our walls that look more like an art gallery than a school.

Focus on relaying the importance of art in our everyday lives has heightened our awareness and helped to define the cultural identity of our school. This connection is even celebrated every year with a weeklong Arts Extravaganza event which is designed to expose students to a number of experiences with professional artists and provides our families with an opportunity to participate in hands on art activities at our culminating night event. Each and every one of our 1210 students has a special piece of artwork on display during this event for all to enjoy.

The arts influence our learning community in every way imaginable. From the beautiful artwork that adorns our hallways to the profound impact it has on strengthening the minds and extending the experiences of our students. Our goal is to help all our students, even the most hesitant ones, create a lifelong relationship with the arts and reap the rewards of life’s greatest joys. The art education program at Chets Creek Elementary truly prepares students for success in the future as Daniel Pink envisions it.

See you at the Extravaganza tonight!!!!

Believing is just the beginning...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen! To all. Hey Moe (like he might read this!), I do not just blindly nod in agreement with all that the boss says. I happen to really agree with her on most things! You should try listening, or do you have a hearing problem?

I always go back to my studies of Gardner's multiple intelligences when I think of how best to educate a child. Too often we (educational institutions) focus on two of the (12?) identified intelligences at the expense of the other ten, as if they somehow do not matter. Not CHETS, baby! Through Jen, Athby, Estrella, Nicole, and the other resource teachers, we hit a bit more than the "big two".

Leaves one to wonder, would life without art, music, drama, and sports really be much of a life?

Me thinks not. Well, off to watch the EPL (football from England) while I listen to some Queen, which will probably make me want to sketch something and then write some poetry. It could happen....

Peace,

T-Cubed

Melanie Holtsman said...

Thank you to all of the teachers and parents that spend all year planning for the weeklong grand event. My child, for one, could not stop talking about the assemblies where she was exposed to many types of music that I never was until adulthood - she loved it! I had to leave town at the end of the week and my daughter called me Saturday morning to tell me all about the artist that was there on Friday. She was thrilled with the artwork she brought home.

The hallways where art is posted and displayed by every child are striking - I think we should have one piece of art up from every child all year long. Once a year isn't enough to showcase the great cultural instruction our kids receive all year!!
:) Melanie

Suzanne said...

Susan,
I love working in a school where the community embraces the whole child. As I focus walk the many visitors to CCE, they always comment about all the artwork that adorns the school and ask questions about the resources Chets' students are blessed to enjoy. Kudos to the whole resource team for their outstanding work to make Arts Extravaganza such a huge success!
Suzanne

dayle timmons said...

You are right Tom. I think people read blogs - well some people - and then don't leave comments because - well, I don't know why. I know I don't leave a comment EVERY time but I do try to leave enough comments on the blogs that I read that the person writing the blog knows I read their blog on a regular basis. I think Suzanne wrote a blog piece about getting in the habit of leaving a comment at least 1 out of 4 times. That's probably a good ratio. Of course, you want to leave comments when the topic really stirs you up... and your comment sure hit a nerve with me! I'll try to leave comments more often - how about everyone else?! dayle

Anonymous said...

Geez Louise, I cannot believe that I lumped Gola, Patrick, Wesley, Debra, Karen, Christy, Paul, and that really awesome battle ball player (OK, I don't know her first name- but she is a killer battle ball player-and she'll never read this?)under "other resource teachers".

Humbled,

T-Cubed

Jen S. said...

It was an awesome night. Definitly the best yet. The trouble is next year! the pressure is on the Cultural Arts team to really wow everyone!