Musical Artists

School:: Paxton School
Subject:: Teaching Quality
Teacher:: Samie Wright
Students Impacted:: 180
Grade:: K-5
Date:: October 13, 2017

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

The Alys Foundation - $1,499.68

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 180

Thank you so much for providing the funding for our students to receive such amazing items! This year has been phenomenal!

With this project, I took a small turn. My plan was to have students draw based on what the music inspired them to draw. However, after purchasing the small curriculum that I wanted for this endeavor, the music wasn’t as influential as I had hoped. So, I tied the music with countries and different artwork that derived from that country. Then, after they explored the area and art, they used the music to create their own versions. It was interesting with the background knowledge presented, the selection of music, and materials provided, students were very creative and their work was unique.

For an example of one work completed, 4th grade students learned about the art of Zentangle. Dilip P. Patel and Malathi Karpur (India’s first certified Zentangle teachers), organize classes across the country teaching others how to find peace, comfort, or an outlet by creating art through the process of doodling. I do believe by providing students this access throughout their school year, and years to come, drawing with music will become an easier task. I know it was with an easy and enjoyable task with our Zentangle.

Thank you again for such a wonderful experience for my students! I look forward to working on this technique for many years to come!

Sincerely,

Samie Wright

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Cart ready for exploring

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Zentangle creation

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Original Grant Overview

Goal

In our rural area, many students are not exposed to a variety of cultural differences and they lack cultural experiences in general. It is my goal to provide them with the opportunity to explore cultures and listen to a variety of music from different countries around the world. The purpose of this exposure will provide students the opportunity to expand their background knowledge of people, places, and personal ideas. Students will learn about different countries, their culture, listen to music from that region, and then create a piece of artwork to provide a vision of what they 'hear' in the music, pulling in the new background knowledge from that country.

What will be done with my students

Students participate in an art experience called "Music in Pictures". Their task is listen to various classical pieces and are then asked to draw according to what they hear. Their artwork varies in range due to the students personal experiences and what that song reminds them of. This task can be daunting for students without personal experiences or the background knowledge of the music. With my new goal, students will be given the opportunity to explore various countries from around the world. When students have completed a lesson indoors about one of the chosen countries, we will then travel to an outdoor location, pulling them into an unstructured atmosphere to enhance creativity, where they will listen to a musical piece and complete the lesson. In completion, students will create their masterpiece by incorporating their prior knowledge from the art classroom and create their own unique vision of what the song represents to them. With seeing over 180 students, I anticipate this project taking a month per country, with a total of 4 countries: Africa, India, Brazil, and Cuba.

Benefits to my students

I anticipate this task being beneficial to students by providing them with additional practice on visualizing a picture with a song. Our students can be limited to their experiences, but we have the ability to provide enrichment and opportunities to explore the world outside of our community.

The standards that match this goal are the following:
Third grade:
VA.3.S.1.1 - Manipulate tools and media to enhance communication in personal artworks.
VA.3.S.1.2 - Use diverse resources to inspire artistic expression and achieve varied results.
VA.3.S.1.3 - Incorporate ideas from art exemplars for specified time periods and cultures.
Fourth Grade:
VA.4.S.1.2 - Explore and use media, technology, and other art resources to express ideas visually.
VA.4.S.1.3 - Create artworks that integrate ideas from culture or history.
Fifth Grade:
VA.5.S.1.1 - Use various art tools, media, and techniques to discover how different choices change the effect on the meaning of an artwork.
VA.5.S.1.2 - Use media, technology, and other resources to inspire personal art-making decisions.
VA.5.S.1.3 - Create artworks to depict personal, cultural, and/or historical themes.

Budget Narrative

Items requested are paint, paintbrushes, markers, color pencils, multicultural classroom set for musical experience, speaker to take outdoors, and a cart to carry supplies on. In order to maintain all the artwork on a daily basis, drying racks are essential in preparing for storage.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	Expedititon XP106w	$259.00
2	Open Studio Art Cart	$268.99
3	Blick Student Grade Paint	$68.87
4	Crayola Markers	$75.98
5	Prismacolor Art Pencils	$190.28
6	Prismacolor Nupastel Set	$79.89
7	Royal & Langnickel Classroom Paintbrush	$88.59
8	Rhythms of the World Classroom Kit	$57.90
9	Drying Rack	$410.18
	Total:	$1,499.68