don't let the parade pass you by!

{note: above title is a line/song from one of my all-time favorite musicals 'Hello, Dolly!' Click HERE to watch the part of the movie where I got this line from - if you want to skip the talking and just hit the music and the parade of ALL parades forward to 3:35 on the time bar. Ahhhh...I love this show! When will this come to Broadway?!}

The art teacher at the kids school was excessed last year due to budget cuts. At first, this was devastating news & we sat in PTA meetings trying to figure out a way to raise money that we could grant to the school to cover the cost of retaining him. The problem with that thought, is that the Dept. of Education mandates certain areas that PTA's can give money to the school - and paying for a teacher's salary is a big NO!

The administration told us about a program called Studio in the School, which other schools have used and that the Admin. had heard good things about. The program came into the school and worked closely with the curriculum taught in the classroom, creating projects based on what the students were learning. That was something that hadn't been done with the previous art teacher, and although we were so sad to think of this teacher leaving - there was hope that the new program we would pay for would work. The program would also be about 1/2 the cost of a full-time art teacher...and so with apprehension we signed up.

I have to say --- my words have been completely eaten this year with that I could not imagine a program that could do as well as the art teacher we had. How wrong I was.

The Studio in the School program blew myself and many parents away! The quality of work is amazing, and that they do study along with the class on their subjects has been a perfect connection. It's also nice to see that every grade level does a different art project and with a different medium!

Madeleine's class did a lot of printing - creating pictures of the different bridges around NYC and also created a banner of different buildings around the city - a printed skyline. All of them were beautiful pieces of art work!

Bryson's class (all 1st grade classes) studied about animals to go along with their non-fiction research they did in class about a variety of animals. They learned how to sketch a picture and did so in pencil. Then they learned how to paint the picture, working in stages on background, foreground and putting in the key elements of animals and landscape. Yesterday, the 1st grade showed us their latest creations in the world of their animal art work by having a parade.....an Animal Mask Parade!

Meet Bryson the DUCK!

{the masks were made by paper mache and then objects on the outside of the mask are all recyclable materials that the students brought from home - sans the cotton balls used as eye balls!}

Bryson and classmates - Samantha {Horse?}, David {Rabbit}, Bryson {of course!} and Renee {Rabbit}

Marching around the auditorium after we had a little talk by the Art Teacher who told us the process the children used to make the masks and then let us enjoy another photo opportunity as they wound their way around the auditorium again! Well done Bryson - we are so proud of your art work and creativity!