******Information and Ideas from Your District Colleagues*******
- Students from BES, PES, and WES are scheduled to attend a performance of A Thousand Cranes at The Center on March 18th.
- The Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra, featuring a Southern Middle School student on the cello, performed at Southern Elementary on March 6th.
- Delana Smith, a music teacher at Eubank and Shopville, is willing to share her comprehensive unit on Native American music. Requests for a copy should be made to Janice Fraley.
- Allison Sewell’s music students at NES are learning to play recorders as an active reinforcement of sight reading skills.
- Marsha Nash displays Broadway posters in her music classroom at SMS.
- Students in Karen Morris’s music class at PES participate with great enthusiasm in a musical activity designed to focus on rhyming words, names of peers, and listening skills.
- Donna Costanzo, art teacher at PES, displays her own artwork as motivation and inspiration.
- For a part of a unit assessment, Derrick Harris, P.E. teacher at SES, calls on two students at a time to demonstrate a stated dance position within 20 seconds.
- For a drama activity, students in Patty Isaacs’s humanities class at PCHS participate in “Emotion Charades”.
- All WES students and teachers presented a school-wide dance theme share in November. Prior to each class’s performance, the teacher explained historical and cultural background information from the era of the dance.
- After showing a brief video on texture, Catherine Andis passes around real objects to her SES art students. Using the terminology from the video, they predict how each item will feel. To reinforce the concept of implied texture, students then create four texture rubbings from four objects of their choice.
- Both Shopville and Nancy hosted a Lexington Children’s Theatre performance of Mufaro’s Daughter in February.
*******Announcements, Suggestions, Reminders, Etc.*******
- I plan to complete second semester classroom observations prior to KCCT testing. If you prefer a specific date for my visit, please contact me and I will try to accommodate your request.
- 34 of the 40 students selected by The Children’s Community Theatre for a production of Beauty and the Beast are students in Pulaski County Schools.
- Theatre arts students from SCC are available to visit your school to present a thirty-minute program demonstrating the techniques of creative dramatics and to provide an interactive presentation of selected stories. These free performances are generally available on Thursdays at 12:45. Contact Steve Cleberg at 679-8501, Extension 3404 or at
Cleberg@kctcs.edu for information.
- The Kentucky Shakespeare Festival is sponsoring a teacher institute called “From the Page to the Stage” in Louisville on June 24 – 27. A limited number of needs-based scholarships are available to cover the fee of $400. Space is limited to 25 teachers. Contact Doug Sumey at 502-583-8738 or
doug@kyshakes.org.
- For information about a new local publication, Art and Pottery News, contact Gary Harrison at 679-1973. (Art teachers in the district received information earlier about a regular feature designed to showcase student work.)
- A 2-day professional development program focused on dance, art, drama, and music is scheduled for June 23 and 24 in Richmond and Corbin. Registration for Artshop is $250. Call 859-622-8489 or e-mail at
Gayle.Burns@eku.edu.
- Attached to this newsletter is a synopsis of Weaving through Words: Using the Arts to Teach Reading Comprehension Strategies. (Note that the 2nd page of the summary is a list of teaching/learning activities in art, music, dance, and drama.)
- Contact me if you are interested in a list of student activities recommended by Dr. Julie Bucknam (EKU) for reinforcing the understanding of color and value as elements of design.
- April 27th – May 3rd has been designated as National Dance Week. For information on related activities in the state, call 502-231-1251 or e-mail
AntoinetteEdctr@aol.com.
- Stage One and Actors Theatre of Louisville are now offering CATS prep workshops for 5th, 8th, and 11th grade students. The workshop participatory activities are based directly on Kentucky’s Core Content in drama. Information is available at 502-562-0886 or
www.stageone.org.
- Carol Sexton is searching for student artists to design and paint walls of the young adult reading room at the public library. Supplies will be provided.
***On the SIGNIFICANCE of the ARTS***
Because the arts are closely associated with important ideas and events in history and contemporary life, students who have a good background in the arts are likely to have more information and insight to draw upon than those who do not. Thus, students in strong arts programs score well above their peers on SAT exams. In a recent study, SAT takers who studied the arts for more than four years scored 53 and 57 points higher on verbal and math respectively. (Source: The College Board Profile of SAT and Achievement Tests Takers for 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993)