Art is Elementary 2010-2011 Highlights:


With the support of our sponsors, the Art is Elementary program continues to offer rich experiences in the arts for all of its Glacier Valley students.  In addition to regular integrated drama and visual arts instruction, this year has brought new artistic ventures:


Rock Band:  Morning band and guitar students who master their music are invited to join Friday Rock Band.  This before-school club is a collaborative effort between music teacher, counselor and Ben Martinez who is new to Juneau.  Ben helped start Tree House School of Music in Maryland and is sharing his experience with our Glacier Valley staff and students. 


Guit
ar Club:  Our instrumental band program expanded to an after-school guitar club for twenty intermediate students.  Counselor and music teacher who co-taught the class observed students taking risks and pride in tackling new pieces, filling leadership roles and feeling successful in areas not often celebrated in traditional school settings.  The structure of the club invited cross age peer mentoring.


Swa
pping Fish Tales from Alaska to Maine: Through a Kennedy Center Partners in Education Grant, our students partnered with Thunder Mountain High School and Deer Isle School in Maine to explore the fishing cultures of both communities using integrated technology.  Research collected from trips out in the field and interviews with local fishermen will form the basis for a playwright performed by both elementary and high school students in Spring 2011.


Clay Studio:  Glacier Valley partnered with The Canvas to provide expert potters for this after-school club for forty primary students throughout the year.  This Rasmuson Cultural Collaborations grant gave students experiences in a new art medium unaffordable and inaccessible to the school in the past.  With our new kiln and newly learned skills, all students in future years will have clay sculpture as part their visual arts curriculum.



 

Art is Elementary Program

Our Mission:


Provide arts-integrated and art-specific experiences to all of our students to help them encounter knowledge in multiple forms and acquire creative and critical thinking skills for the 21st century.


Our Goals:


  1. •Increase academic achievement for all students


  1. •Improve school climate


  3. •Encourage team teaching & the integration of the arts


  1. •Build partnerships with families, community & businesses


  3. •Make arts education a funding priority





Art is Elementary in the News:



Heagy Named State Teacher of the Year

November 15, 2010



Paganinis on Paper

November 14, 2010



Unique Music Program Spreads to Juneau with Paper Violins

November 14, 2010


Learning to JAMM

July 19, 2010




A Messy Business

May 30, 2010



Juneau, Maine swap fish tales

January 22, 2010




Visit Lorrie Heagy’s blog documenting our new JAMM program: Juneau, Alaska  Music Matters
 

Students from Mrs. McFarlin’s 4th & 5h grade class sketched Alaskan animals as part of a unit on Alaska and then on one sunny day, they went outside and drew them with chalk pastels.