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Recently in the News!
Students rejoice: Art is back
Greenfield restores art to elementary school curriculum
By DIANE BRONCACCIO, Recorder Staff
Published in The Recorder, Greenfield Massachusetts
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Local/Region, p. 3
Photo by: Paul Franz, Recorder staff |
Fourth grade students at the Four Corners School, show the pouches they are weaving in the Hopi American Indian style on Wednesday at the school during an art class taught by Tina Clark, who is the art teacher for Four Corners and the Newton School |
Photo by: Paul Franz, Recorder staff |
GREENFIELD — When art programs in the Greenfield elementary schools were eliminated by budget cuts two years ago, Nick Kelly, now age 10, just stopped doing art altogether.
Instead, he said, he spent his after-school hours playing kickball and soccer, even though he used to like to draw pictures of his family, when he was little.
But art is back in the classroom, and Nick is learning an art form he would never have thought of on his own — weaving.
“It’s really cool,” said Nick, as he threaded yarn through a cardboard loom, making a drawstring pouch inspired by Hopi Indian artwork. He said he likes having art classes because, “this is really new to me, and there’s other stuff (in art class) that I don’t know yet.”
“It’s really fun, because we get to have some time off, learning to make things,” said Taryn Marquis, age 10. “It’s really fun just to be able to talk with our friends, and do things, draw pictures and stuff. Right now, we’re learning about where things come from, in different parts of the world.”
“I really like it that we have art, because we get to try out new tools and try different things, such as weaving,” said Joseph Magoon, 10.
“When it came back, I was really happy, because art is exciting,” said Nicole Miller, who likes to paint at home and make beaded jewelry.
“You get to make lots of things and bring them home and show your family,” she said. “You can hang them up, and it’s something special to decorate your home with.”
Four Corners and Newton elementary school students in Tina Clark’s art classes are getting ready to display their Hopi- and Guatemalan-inspired artwork at Green Fields Market during the months of February and March. The exhibit will be called “Bringing Back the Arts: A Textile Art Exhibit.”
Teacher Clark said the exhibit of fourth- and fifth-grade artwork will be displayed in the downtown market to celebrate the fact that art is back in the schools, after a two-year absence.
“They’re studying Colonialism in the school system, so we’re trying to integrate (the art studies) with the curriculum,” Clark explained.
For now, art in these elementary schools is “art on a cart,” because the former art room has been converted into a classroom.
In 2003, to save $275,806, the school district eliminated six elementary specialists, which left one art teacher, one music teacher and one physical education teacher for the district’s five elementary schools and their 1,063 pupils.
For the current school year, the district restored some of the lost positions, so that elementary students now receive art, music and physical education once a week.
You can reach Diane Broncaccio at:
dbronc@recorder.com or (413) 772-0261 Ext. 277
Four Corners School and Responsive Classroom
Four Corners School figures prominently on the pages of a new publication by Northeast Foundation for Children titled Creating a Safe & Friendly School (2006, ISBN-13: 978-1-892989-16-1; ISBN-10: 1-892989-16-6).
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The school is featured in the chapter by Sadie Fischesser titled Calm, Friendly Hallway Behavior (pp. 20-23) and also in the The Middle of the Day chapter by Four Corners principal, Gail Healy (pp. 42-48). Mrs. Healy's article originally appeared in the Winter 2001 issue of the Responsive Classroom Newsletter. Congratulations Four Corners!
Helping out in style:
Students' jewelry to aid Katrina victims
(Profits from the sale of the jewelry go to a relief fund for Hurricane Katrina victims)
The Recorder
Greenfield, Massachusetts
Friday, November 25, 2005
By Patrick O'Connor
Recorder Staff
Greenfield - Crysania B., a Greenfield High School senior, carefully hooked an earring with purple glass beads onto a. framed display screen in The Country Jeweler.
Ms. B, who was wearing a pair of black onyx earrings she made, and her classmates made several earrings that they are now selling at the jeweler at 220 Main St..
All the money raised will go toward disaster relief efforts, said Darcy Rosner, who volunteered to help her daughter, Anna S., teach a beading class at the high school.
About 21 students participated in the class; and they made earrings, bracelets and necklaces; which they are now selling.
The Country Jeweler offered free display space for students to sell their earrings. Bracelets and necklaces will be sold at high school events' and during lunch. Students named their venture Green Wave Designs, a reference to the school emblem.
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"I like jewelry a lot, but 1 wasn't good at making (it)," said Crysania, standing in front of a display screen with a mix of colorful earrings:
Crysania soon learned how to make jewelry. She pulled from a box a necklace she made. It's made of glass beads, several of which look like fat starfish.
"I like it," she said. "But it's more funky, and not something I would wear."
Anna, a senior who helped teach the class, said the jewelry varies from piece to piece. Some have playful styles, while others are more formal.
She can tell which students made some pieces, she said:
"There's a certain style to each piece," she said. "There's not much repetition. You are lucky if there are two of a kind."
Students started to make jewelry in September. At the time, Rosner had asked businesses from around the country to help provide the beads. About 40 businesses donated glass beads, gems, earring wires, pendants and other products.
Samantha H., a 10th-grader, was holding a pair of earrings that she made with cylindrical black and purple beads. She said it takes time to finish a pair.
"You can't be impatient, she said. "But it also keeps you relaxed."
They are also selling coral earrings, silver plate earrings and gold-stone earrings. Most earrings will cost $8. Carved bone pendants will cost $20. Other pin pendants will cost $30, said Rosner.
Rosner had not decided to which relief organization they will donate their money.
You can reach Patrick O'Connor at: poconnor@recorder.com or (413) 772-0261 Ext. 280.
The Art of Cleanliness
When the Hand Hygiene Team at Franklin Medical Center teams up with third grade students from the Greenfield Public Schools, art and health take center stage. Clean Hands are Healthy Hands say the posters and they're up in every restroom in the district.
The message is loud and clear thanks to third graders in the Greenfield school system. These colorful hand hygiene posters now hang in public bathrooms in all the Greenfield schools and throughout bathrooms at Franklin Medical Center.
Last year, Franklin Medical Center's Hand Hygiene Team, chaired by Linda Jablonski, RN, Obstetrics at FMC, 'commissioned' third graders to create drawings depicting hand hygiene. Children from all the Greenfield elementary schools submitted their artwork, and the Hand Hygiene team selected one from each school for the poster copy. Ms. Jablonski explained, "Hand hygiene is something we want to encourage early and often. When we can actually involve children in communicating these important messages, they'll learn the lesson that much better." For more information about the Hand Hygiene Poster Project, contact Amy Swisher, Director of Community Relations at Franklin Medical Center (413-773-2268 or email amy.swisher@bhs.org).
Thank you third graders for a job well done and thank you Franklin Medical Center for all your support and encouragement.
Click each poster for a larger size view!
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Achievement Gap
Narrows at GPS
News to make us all very proud!!!
We are displaying a copy of a letter just received from Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services.
Congratulations GPS!
Read more about this wonderful nationwide recognition at S&P Recognizes States for Narrowing Achievement Gaps.
Page last updated: April 16, 2007
Page last updated: April 16, 2007
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