Four students from Eden Public School and one student from Eden Marine High School were selected to participate in a new 10-week literacy and art program. The program aims to provide challenging curriculum for gifted students by having them each write and illustrate their own picture book. At the end of the program, the students' picture books will be published and available in libraries, allowing the students to become published authors at a young age.
Our Inquiry Unit in Term 1 looked at the power that children have to influence their own learning and that of others. We looked at being powerful in the class (helping), being powerful friends, then using our power to influence the learning of others.
Research shows that children, on average, lose one month of reading skills over the summer. A major contributing cause for this slide is that many children simply don’t have regular access to books during the summer months. As a result, when kids return to school in September, teachers find themselves re-teaching skills and concepts that students had mastered the previous spring. Our team partnered with Hedberg Public Library in order to help them expand their outreach efforts to students in the summer. Our project was to find and repurpose a vehicle into a bookmobile; the library would then sustain the project after our graduation. Research revealed that many cities use repurposed buses as their bookmobile vehicle of choice. However, we were able to get a decommissioned ambulance donated from the City of Janesville Fire Department at no cost. Our team worked to transform it with bookshelves and, with the help of Fetch Graphics and our sponsors, a wrap for the outside of the vehicle. We also coordinated a book drive to collect books for the project. After our presentation today, we will turn the bookmobile over to Hedberg Public Library. The Hedberg Public Library Bookmobile will be seen throughout Janesville in the coming months!
Surface Design Association Inspires Explore FiberChristine Miller
This is my Pecha Kucha presentation (with the text) that I presented at the Surface Design Associations' 40th anniversary conference 4/3 - 4/6/2017. Find out how receiving an SDA scholarship to attend the 2011 Minneapolis conference planted the seed for the creation of www.ExploreFiber.com
Our Inquiry Unit in Term 1 looked at the power that children have to influence their own learning and that of others. We looked at being powerful in the class (helping), being powerful friends, then using our power to influence the learning of others.
Research shows that children, on average, lose one month of reading skills over the summer. A major contributing cause for this slide is that many children simply don’t have regular access to books during the summer months. As a result, when kids return to school in September, teachers find themselves re-teaching skills and concepts that students had mastered the previous spring. Our team partnered with Hedberg Public Library in order to help them expand their outreach efforts to students in the summer. Our project was to find and repurpose a vehicle into a bookmobile; the library would then sustain the project after our graduation. Research revealed that many cities use repurposed buses as their bookmobile vehicle of choice. However, we were able to get a decommissioned ambulance donated from the City of Janesville Fire Department at no cost. Our team worked to transform it with bookshelves and, with the help of Fetch Graphics and our sponsors, a wrap for the outside of the vehicle. We also coordinated a book drive to collect books for the project. After our presentation today, we will turn the bookmobile over to Hedberg Public Library. The Hedberg Public Library Bookmobile will be seen throughout Janesville in the coming months!
Surface Design Association Inspires Explore FiberChristine Miller
This is my Pecha Kucha presentation (with the text) that I presented at the Surface Design Associations' 40th anniversary conference 4/3 - 4/6/2017. Find out how receiving an SDA scholarship to attend the 2011 Minneapolis conference planted the seed for the creation of www.ExploreFiber.com
La informacion mas completa de Mexico, Oaxaca y la Costa chica. Denuncian fraude en Salud en Puerto Escondido. Empresas oaxaqueñas denuncian fraudes de ICA y MT de Oaxaca.
Concerned about the negative image of Pakistan abroad, schoolchildren at Grammar School, Rah-e-Aman Branch, in Rawalpindi partnered with schoolchildren in Texas, U.S.A. Teddy bears were exchanged to experience both countries’ cultures – Pakistani students hosted Austin while American students hosted Parveen. Through Austin and Parveen’s positive experiences, children were able to promote understanding, respect and awareness among the participating schoolchildren and their families in both countries.
La informacion mas completa de Mexico, Oaxaca y la Costa chica. Denuncian fraude en Salud en Puerto Escondido. Empresas oaxaqueñas denuncian fraudes de ICA y MT de Oaxaca.
Concerned about the negative image of Pakistan abroad, schoolchildren at Grammar School, Rah-e-Aman Branch, in Rawalpindi partnered with schoolchildren in Texas, U.S.A. Teddy bears were exchanged to experience both countries’ cultures – Pakistani students hosted Austin while American students hosted Parveen. Through Austin and Parveen’s positive experiences, children were able to promote understanding, respect and awareness among the participating schoolchildren and their families in both countries.
Shawna Bryce, Technology Instructor, Madison County Public Libraries, Mars Hill, NC (Population served: 21,746)
Big Talk From Small Libraries 2019
February 22, 2019
http://nlcblogs.nebraska.gov/bigtalk
See examples of art educators in the Plano Independent School District using fibers in their art projects. This presentation gives not just examples, but advice and resources to support including fibers in the classroom. Resources include the website Explorefiber.com, the blog of Cassie Stephens, and the fiber course of The Art of Education.
Children love to hear and read stories that help them discover their own uniqueness and affirm good values. I use the vehicle of storytelling and story creation to drive home important messages like honesty, self acceptance and building safer communities.
We're excited to share some of the incredible feedback we received from our teaching artists, teachers and students this school year!
To learn more about our education programs, visit our website at www.nycchildrenstheater.org.
1. Four Eden pupils are among a small group of ‘gifted and talented’ students, selected to
participate in an innovative new literacy and art project.
Tenaya Russell, Eva Pendlebury and Natalie McKenzie are all year 4 students, chosen to
represent Eden Public School (EPS).
“And we also have a very talented student artist from the Eden Marine High School, Ehrin
Schmidt, joining us,” EPS teacher Michael Kerr said.
The program found its genesis when Towamba principal, Peter Claxton, recognised a need for
more challenging and authentic curriculum to meet the needs of gifted students.
Eden, Towamba and Tanja public schools are the three primary schools which came on board for
the pilot program, with a total of nine students invited to participate.
“We hope this pilot will lead to a series of ongoing programs involving more schools,” program
developer and educator with the NSW Department of Education, Judith Radin, said.
The current program runs for 10 weeks, with two workshops in a classroom environment at the
beginning and end, and the other eight weeks conducted via online modules.
Each lucky student will be fully supported to write and illustrate their very own picture book, which
will be published at the end of the 10-week process.
“This is a great opportunity for students who have displayed gifts or talents in particularly literacy
and the arts to enhance those skills in a small workshop environment,” Mr Kerr said.
“The program allows them to build on their strengths, and hopefully end up with a quality product
they can be proud of, and share with family and friends.”
Talented students to release book
2. All going well, the published picture books will not only be cherished at home, but find their place
in libraries too, turning these students into published authors at a very tender age.
It’s the culmination of a long term personal dream of Ms Radin, who worked for many years as a
coordinator for ‘gifted and talented’ students in Sydney schools before moving to the south coast.
“I thought I’d step into a similar job here, but quickly realised there is very little opportunity,” Ms
Radin said.
“I saw a need for provision for gifted students in the region, so decided to do something about it.
"I decided to have a go at developing a model for a remote delivery program based around the
internet, integrating technology such as webinars, a dedicated website, cloud storage and
various other apps and devices.
"All participants can access the website and download whatever they need each week to
complete their work offline.
"Lesson content will also be delivered via webinars and video conferencing sessions whenever
possible.”
Before the online modules begin, a start-up workshop was held at Eden Public School last
Wednesday, August 12, bringing together all the students and teachers.
In stark contrast to most primary school classrooms, there was a focused hush, with the
scratching of pencils the most audible noise.
Scrapbooks filled with wondrous creatures covered the desks, with each student visibly lost in the
world they were creating.
Ehrin Schmidt is the only high school representative in the program.
“I thought it would be good to do, as I love art, and being an illustrator would be a good career
path for me,” Ehrin said.
“I’m a bit shy and like to keep to myself, but I love kids and I’m here if they need some help.”
Also at hand as mentor and guide is Sarah Irwin, a published picture book illustrator, and the
principals and teachers of the three schools.
“The kids were elected by their schools, and sat a placement test,” Eden Public School principal,
Tanya Vogt, explained.
“They were identified as being at the higher end of the scale for performance in literacy
predominantly.”
Moving around the room, it was clear these handpicked proteges are natural storytellers, with
tales already materialising on the page.
“It’s fun being part of the program,” EPS year 4 student, Tenaya Russell, said.
“I like working with kids from other schools, and getting more experienced about art.”
Talented students to release book
3. A mischievous dog is Tenaya’s protagonist, while the book by fellow student, Natalie McKenzie,
stars a costumed cat.
“My story is called ‘Cats that wear hats and other things,’” Natalie said.
“And I’ve already got a sequel in mind, ‘Cats that are dangerous’, about cats with guns that shoot
their enemies.”
Talking to the budding authors revealed a depth beyond their years.
“My book is about a girl whose mother dies of cancer, and whose brother and dad leave to fight in
Afghanistan,” EPS year 4 student, Eva Pendlebury, said.
“I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately about war, and I know how it feels to lose someone
because my great grandmother died a little while ago, and it was really sad.”
Ms Radin said the young students were "bursting at the seams with energy and ideas that need
an avenue for release.”
“And this program provides that avenue,” she said.
The official book launch is hoped for week six or seven in the year’s final term, just in time for
Christmas.
Once those stories are complete, these budding young authors will have to practice a new skill -
autograph signing.
Talented students to release book