Creating an Exciting Environment to Foster Curiosity

In the recent past, public schools were not including art, music or dance as part of their curriculum.  There are still many schools in the nation where these disciplines are non-existent or appear once a month at best.  For adults, the inclusion of art education classes may not seem very exciting but we find that our students pay closer attention to other lessons taught on the days that they have art or music.

Benefits of Education in the Arts

There are many studies that show that students of all ages benefit from participating in arts education.  But, when students show visible improvements in other areas of the academic experience, there is no greater point of pride for their parents and teachers.

Some of the benefits include:

Sense of social equality through sharing in a new experience

Better development of technical skills

Better understanding of the purpose of following directions

Creating the basic structures of networking formation

Increased coordination

Better health and self-esteem leading to less bullying

Applying the Same Benefits to Home Life

Skills such as eye-hand coordination, special movement and small movement skills enable students to pour milk without spilling it, using a key to open a lock and better judge distance between objects.

When students learn dance movements, they are given several instructions at one time.  At home, parents are encouraged to ask the child to do two, three or four things in one set of instructions.  Children become better able to remember all of the requests and are more willing to do them all without stalling – especially if the parents suggest they “dance” their way around the house while doing what they were asked.

One of the most exciting learning tools for teaching children to express their thoughts is the puppet theater.  Students make simple puppets out of boxes, sticks and plastic bottles in their art classes.  In their language classes, they write a story for their puppet.  All comes together in the theater class when they form groups and present a puppet show using their own stories and puppets.  This is an activity that can be done at home or at a grandparent’s house for a parent-child night.

One of our parents shared an idea that many others are following.  Once a month, the parent [who has three other children] sponsors a Big Shot Night.  Rotating turns, one child is the featured Big Shot.  The other members of the family are charged with doing the child’s chores, making the child’s favorite meal, setting up the activity area and applauding loudly for the child’s performance – which could be singing, dancing, storytelling or a private art show.

Changes in Behavior with the Introduction of Art Education

None of the studies that our school relied on prepared our principles, teachers or parents for the changes that occurred in the behavior of children when art education was reintroduced to our schools.  Within a few months, teachers began noticing that when children passed in the halls or were gathered in the lunchrooms, they were happier and less aggressive toward students outside their own social circles.  Arguing and dominating challenges that are typical of the age groups were remarkably diminished.  Children complimented other children for their artwork that was on display between classrooms.

Our school system recognizes the intrinsic value of including humanities as part of the studies that create an environment that increases curiosity in our students.  The results of students that have opportunities to participate in the skills these lessons provide compared to those who are not offered these experiences shows an increase of greater comprehensive abilities in other academic classes.

More Than Just Meeting Academic Potential

In developing an appropriate mission statement for Hampton Public School, it was important that we had a clear vision of teaching expectations, what vital academic experience should be included and more specifically, how those goals could be achieved. To read more about basic elementary school programs visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_school.

Teaching Expectations

Every public school must meet the core learning requirements outlined in federal law.  In New Jersey, the state has expanded those minimal requirements and included an educator evaluation format to help our parents and principles to know that our children’s teachers are using all their skills in the classroom.  Most of the teachers at Hampton Public School exceed all the minimums and find creative ways to teach.

Everyone on our staff strives to do encourage each student to reach their greatest potential in every academic experience.  Then, they go one step further through the use of games, stories, pictures and personal experiences of other children of the same age to propel their students’ interest in the curriculum.

Academic Experience Is More than Book Learning

At one time, school systems focused on the “three R’s” believing that the primary purpose of education was to teach students the basics in order that they could follow directions at work.  As our society has become more global, the so-called basics of education have expanded to meet some of those needs.  At Hampton Public School, we redefined academic experience to more accurately reflect the work world of the adults that they will become.
Every sound, voice, person and food that touches a child’s life during his time in school is considered an academic experience.  Our school setting teaches children positive methods of speaking to adults and other children.  The food that they eat at school is accompanied by discussions about the nutritional value of that food and what that vitamin or mineral does for their bodies.  They learn to recognize the subtle tones of approval and are encouraged to approve of their friends and family.

Expanding Academic Experience to Include Parents

It is a well-documented fact that those students whose parents are involved with their school and what they are learning on a day-to-day basis do better scholastically than students who do not have that home support.  The reality is that many of our students are in one-parent homes where the parent works extended hours and gets home in time to say goodnight.  These parents are unable to take an hour off from work, perhaps jeopardizing their job and meet with a teacher for an hour or attend a PTA meeting.  To involve our students’ parents in their child’s academic experience, we are using the internet and other methods of getting parents involved.

Parents now have the ability to download files from our schools website that will enhance their child’s learning.  The parents are kept fully informed by email and text messaging about events and homework assignments.  There are links for fun and easy scientific experiments that parents can do with their child on the parent’s day off.  There are free story books that are age appropriate that can be downloaded or read from the site and the teachers make suggestions that will enhance the lessons that children worked on during the week.  Lessons even include things about future occupations sponsored by several companies including CVS through their CVS careers initiative.

Age Appropriate Elementary Studies

Students love to learn when they know that they are succeeding in a subject.  Not all students will enjoy math.  Not all students will look forward to social studies.  But, all students will look forward to at least two subjects in any given curriculum.  All children achieve the most when they are studying subjects of interest.  Teachers encourage students during individual settings by combining their favorite subjects with the more difficult ones.  This method of assisting students helps them to exceed their potential and creates a positive academic experience.

Expanding a Child’s World by Practicing Respect

Parents instinctively know that a child’s world is very narrow. Teachers learn just how narrow the world of a child really is when they face their first classroom full of children.  The world of every child is starts and ends with “me”.  Other children in the class are there to entertain or serve them.  The teacher is against them when she corrects their papers and points out mistakes.  The concept of a larger world that includes respect and responsibility to more than their personal desires does not exist until taught.

Teaching a Child the Concept of Respect

Teachers at our school foster children in developing

Self-respect

Respect for others in the class and in the school

Respect for parents

Respect for the outside world – the community in which they live

One of the most useful methods of teaching a child the importance of respecting themselves is to use a story such as “The Queen Makes a Scene” which gives visual examples of how one character embarrasses herself with selfish behavior. By discussing this story, the children are able to grasp a small part of the meaning of self-respect.

Shortly after students are introduced to self-respect, the concept of respect for others in their class is introduced.  For the first two grades, it is common to use crafts that are done in teams.  Inevitably, children want to do the craft their own way.  By forcing the children to allow the other member of the team to do part of the project in a way that may differ from the teammate, the teacher is able to verbally introduce the concept of respect for others.  Children accept these lessons because it encourages both members of a team to compliment the other instead of making one child feel “wrong”.

When appropriate, each teacher addresses the act of bullying.  This might be done by watching an animal video where one animal treats another badly or through animal stories with the same simple message.  Gradually, the discussions include positive stories about someone standing up for someone who is being made fun of and then, stories from the children about their personal experience of being bullied or bullying another person.  Parents are encouraged to repeat the lessons using similar stories or videos suggested by the teacher.

The goal of the teacher is to help students find a positive method of interacting with others and expanding the child’s view of their world by going out of the way to help other students.

Expressing Civic Responsibility

With children under the age of ten, responsibility and social action are both foreign ideas.  Still, both can be infused in a child’s experience by small activities that don’t appear to be lessons.  Usually these activities enhance the social study lessons that occur in the classroom. For example, one of the social study lessons for kindergarten students introduces them to the variety of neighborhoods in the U.S.  That lesson may be enhanced by pasting pictures of people who live in the neighborhoods.  For a second grader, this lesson expands to include comparing one culture to another.  This may be the settlers from European cultures to the Native American cultures when the settlers first arrived.  Dioramas, stories, games and cooking with parents at home may be used.

With each step forward in developing a child’s sense of responsibility, some activity that requires the child to personally do something for a family member, a family friend or neighbor, for their church, or for the larger community.  The activity could be something as simple as weeding the flower bed for Mom or as complicated as getting a group of friends to grow a community garden to help those of lesser means.

Our school believes that lessons of respect are part of the academic experience that encourages children to continue an interest in learning.  By combining academic studies with stories, videos and activities with the support of peer pressure and parent interest, children enjoy learning the concepts of respect and enjoy expressing those concepts in tangible ways.

The information was published by the researchers and writers from both Dollar Tree and their Dollar Tree application and education program and Forever 21 and their fellowship Forever 21 careers program.