Interested in enriching your program?
Partnering with Evanston and Keeneyville School Districts, ARTSiE is available to meet you or your organization’s staff in the Chicago area in a variety of ways, ranging from class offerings, professional development, guest artist, and more. Interested? Take a look at our various curriculum offerings below.
For more information, email Ms. Laura here.
After School Offerings
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Drawing on inspiration from the natural world, children will participate in creative movement, guided nature walks, gardening projects, and hands-on arts projects with inspiration and guidance from various texts including Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move by JoAnn Early Macken and Are You an Ant? by Judy Allen. Other books include, Wangari’s Trees by Jeanette Winter and Maybe Something Beautiful by Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell. Children will have the chance to perform a co-choreographed piece at the end of the session based on nature-inspired movement and stories they explored throughout the session.
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Drawing on the narratives of influential modern dancers, Alvin Ailey, Robert Battles, Martha Graham, and Josephine Baker, children will explore themes of identity, improvisation, choreography, and culture in dance. In this 6-16 week series, students will read, watch, and create various dances building upon techniques and shapes of the Alvin Ailey method. Additionally, they will have the chance to perform in a devised piece at the end of the session. Core texts for this session include Alvin Ailey by Andrea Davis Pinkney, My Story, My Dance: Robert Battle's Journey to Alvin Ailey by Lesa Cline-Ransome, and Ballet for Martha by Jan Grenberg.
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This class is a cross-cultural experience exploring the world of the Caribbean through the lens of the book, Malaika’s Costume by Nadia L. Hohn, and supported with various complementary texts, in celebration of carnival in the Caribbean. In addition, children will be exposed to and learn the Spanish chorus and movements to the song, “Danza Kuduro”, by Don Omar and Lucenzo of Puerto Rico, Portugal and France. This song journeys from the Caribbean Sea, across the Atlantic Ocean to the country of Angola, where the origins of this song takes place. Children will be exposed to the geography of the Caribbean islands and Africa and create their own costume pieces for a Carnival performance at the end of the eight-week series.
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Musical Theatre classes are a fun-filled introduction to the world of dance within the theatre. This musical theatre class will feature a Ghanian folktale, the story of Anansi the Spider. Dancers learn character development as they create puppets and dances representing the characters of the story. Each participant gets a copy of the book to take home! A culminating puppet and dance performance will celebrate the dancers’ character creations and dance.
Professional Development Offerings
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What is one of the most essential literacy routines in any childhood classroom? Reading aloud initiates young children into the world of reading and writing. This session focuses on the significance of selecting high quality and culturally relevant literature for read a louds in the elementary classroom for multiple days. We will consider the impact of generating children’s wondering questions and distinguishing between level 1, 2 and 3 questions that lead to better comprehension and intrigue. This session promotes wonder and curiosity as well as supporting teachers to channel their intellectual energy in productive and intentional ways to engage children in the world of reading.
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What is the heart of the story, the important message relevant in our childrens’ lives worthy of examination and discussion? Teachers will collaborate and negotiate their way to an agreed upon heart of the story, or the message they want the children to examine. Teachers will then create leveled questions that lead the children to the heart of the story. The children will think about and share their ideas and thoughts with peers. The objective is to provoke children to think critically, offer time for children to express their ideas and thoughts with one another, and be exposed to various ways of thinking that lead to deeper understanding.
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As the teacher, are you doing most of the talking? Let’s let the children talk and make it count. Teachers will learn the turn and talk protocol and understand how to implement this routine that leads children to critical thinking and deeper understanding. Children learn best by negotiating meaning through social-emotional and intellectual interactions with their peers. Turn and talks allow the children to do the talking in a structured and supportive way that makes them feel competent and heard. The teacher listens more and facilitates turn and talk conversations when needed. This protocol is implemented often throughout the school day to support oral language expression, thinking, and making meaning.
Family Engagement Offering:
Adult Readers Theater Workshops & Presentation in Spanish and/or English
ARTSiE’s Adult Readers Theater Workshops engage families with dinner, arts related childcare, and unique ways to share a story using expressive and dramatic reading skills, relying on one’s voice rather than physical movement, costumes, props, or special lighting. Meeting just two times to rehearse, these workshops do not require any experience or memorization and are designed to be both fun, entertaining, and community building.
A previous ARTSiE workshop centered around Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe. The adult participants chose their roles, practiced their parts, and read the story aloud from the scripts in an expressive and dramatic manner for a culminating performance for their children. Take a look at the video below to see their performance.
ARTSiE can create a similar workshop to build family and community bonds in your programming.
Guest Artist
Bring ARTSiE to your programming with our team of Teaching Artists who specialize in skills ranging from dance, acting, painting, writing, and more! We can pop in for one or two classes for 45-60 minute classes.
Take a look at our team here and reach out to Ms. Laura here if you would like us to work with you!