Keystone Oaks School District

www.kosd.org
1000 Kelton Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15228
+ 412.571.6000

StArt Growing

Emotive Masks

It is important for us to realize that we all express different emotions and all of them are important to us. Students reviewed twelve to fifteen emotional faces ;we challenged them to choose an emotion that was listed on the sheet without repeating the same emotion during class. We discussed the use of emotions in ceremonies, in culture, in the arts, and in the work place. We also discussed associating feelings with colors. Students created their masks using fabrics, yarns, felts, and other embellishments. We ended the session by having each student create a compliment book. After the books were decorated, they were passed around for each classmate to write something they like about the books author, or to draw them a picture. Once completed, each student was left with their own booklet of positive affirmations from their classmates.

Wooden Village

The Wooden Village project was designed to increase our students' understanding of personal boundaries, the continuum of introverted and extroverted personalities, communal decision making and creative team effort.

Students selected recycled, pre-cut wood as the base of their houses and added smaller scrap pieces for the details. The group processed how windows not only help us to look outside, but also allow others to look inside. Depending on how much privacy and personal space one prefers, students chose different numbers and sizes of windows.a small number of doors might reflect a shy or introverted personalty or someone who enjoys time alone. Bridges, sidewalks and zip lines were later added to help neighbors visit one another and build community. Elements of color and pattern were added last to reveal each "architect's" unique personality. The group art-making experience served to normalize a continuum of personalities and social preferences, and it created a nonjudgmental space for our artists to make very personal, expressive artwork.

Under the Sea Banner

The students completed an underwater environment while working in small groups of three or four students. Besides the base fabric all of the other materials are reclaimed fabrics from Creative Reuse Pittsburgh. The students utilized their collective strengths to work together to complete a unified project that will be displayed in their school. They were asked to problem solve together the placement of their various sea creatures while adding a background that complimented their creatures. While some are good at drawing; others are good at cutting and others are good at coming up with ideas for the extras. All strengths are needed and encouraged to complete the project, "Under the Sea Banner."

Totem Project

Using recycled materials and boxes as the base, the fourth and fifth grade Myrtle Elementary students created real or imagined animals/figures to include on a group totem pole.The projects benefits were to give a "second chance" to found objects, to create an animal or a figure that represents each child and to put them all together on one totem pole to represent our tribe and enhance group unity and cohesion.

Thank you to the Grable Foundation and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation!

Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation The Grable Foundation

The Eco smArt Project

Environmentalists and engineers have yet to discover a way to maintain the delicate, vital balance between efficient utilization and protection of the Earth’s natural resources. As a result of recent environmental initiatives, most local communities teach young people about the recycling process and the role they have in responsibly disposing of common paper, plastic, and aluminum products. Every year, recyclable waste products are picked up curbside by community recycling programs. A portion of the recyclable waste products which are reusable material may not actually be recycled. Local programs such as Creative Reuse Pittsburgh have found innovative ways to help divert a significant portion of this waste stream from landfills and make it available again to the public. Why? Because taking these salvaged materials out of their normal context allows creative people, like those behind the Eco smArt Project, to teach young people to transform these materials into renewed objects of value and beauty. Although the school environment at Myrtle Elementary School is academically focused, students are also supported in their development of resiliency skills needed to navigate life’s challenges. Through Eco smArt classes, student will have the opportunity to develop these resiliency skills as they learn to find value in unexpected places.

Working in conjunction with Art Expression Inc, a local after-school program designed to improve students’ social skills and tolerance, self-concept, and creative self-expression through visual art, young participants in the Eco smArt project have generated innovative design techniques and have facilitated the creative reuse of non-recyclable materials. For decades, artists and craftsmen have pioneered the idea of transforming discarded objects into priceless works of art and have become a prime example of “working with what you’ve got.” Professionals in the field refer to any discarded, scrap materials that are used in place of pre-purchased art supplies as “found objects.” Whether using worn-out clothing for quilts, broken glass for colorful mosaic or dismal subway walls for public murals, artists employ their visual instincts to imagine the aesthetic possibilities of wasted materials and misused environments. Applying these same principals, Myrtle Elementary School students have been provided basic art supplies, reusable refuse items from home, and salvaged materials pre-purchased from Creative Reuse Pittsburgh to create large, three-dimensional sculptures.

The Eco smArt project could yield not only significant and continuing changes in the environment, but also an emotional impact on group participants. It would potentially lead students to internalize the ideas that second chances are possible and sometimes the most precious things are overlooked at first. Students struggle with the common challenges of

social exclusion, peer pressure, bullying, and home life stressors. This project has given the Keystone Oaks School District an opportunity to support the personal growth of student participants in the Eco smArt program by helping them to positively engage with peers during these art classes, while developing the fundamental creativity and cognitive skills needed to explore the worlds of art science and technology.

Art Expression Inc.

Art Expression Inc. a non-profit foundation, is an internationally recognized provider of after-school, social skills through art programming. Art Expression Inc. has delivered programming to over 1,000 students in over 10 schools, program outcomes include:

Please visit ArtExpressionInc.org to learn more about this award winning program.

Creative Reuse Pittsburgh

Creative Reuse Pittsburgh’s mission is to get re-usable materials which are ordinarily discarded back into circulation, through programs that explore and encourage new ways of using these otherwise wasted resources.

Art Expression Inc.’s Eco smArt project was made possible through funding provided by the Benedum/Grable STEAM grant: “The Grable Foundation and The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation have developed the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, ARTS, and Mathematics) Education Grant to assist school districts located in Intermediate Units #1 and #3 in gorging new & creative connections with one or more community organizations or institutions of higher education to integrate arts & technology across academic disciplines.”

StArt Growing


Purpose

Teaches students the importance of nurturing not only the environment but also themselves, thereby reinforcing the importance of sustainable practices in both social and environmental contexts.

Description

Seeds of learning are planted each day within our children. These seeds are nurtured and protected. The seeds ultimately flourish into plants with strong roots (the home) and are joined by many other plants that enhance the viability and beauty of the garden where they are planted (the community). Growth is supported by many ingredients including room to grow, sun, and rich soil (the schools). Schools nurture the learning seeds in children, revealing many facets of growth over time. A child’s growth reflects these various dimensions. Physical growth involves nourishing one’s body to make it strong and able to function at an optimal level. Academic growth encompasses challenging curriculum with varied lessons and dedicated teachers. Personal growth involves the ability to relate to both peers and adults. Within these relationships, appropriate communication skills develop and the exchange of ideas is accepted and encouraged.

StART Growing is a program that will creatively integrate science and art in addressing the importance of both self and environmental nurturance. Creating favorable conditions in the environment will allow both the individual and the environment to thrive. Likewise, teaching our students the importance of nurturing not only the environment but also themselves reinforces the importance of sustainable practices in both the social and the environmental context.

The StART Growing experience will encompass planting and nurturing individual seeds in crocks decorated by the students. Students will care for their plants, providing adequate water, light and rich soil. This aspect of the experience will be creative (decorating crocks) and scientific (planting, watering, providing adequate sunlight). The goals of the program include developing an awareness of nurturing one’s self and the environment, improving social skills and tolerance, supporting positive self-concept, and engaging in creative expression through the visual arts. In addition to the individual plantings, the culminating projects will involve the planting of bulbs/perennials on the outside of each school building by the students in the StART Growing class during both the fall and spring sessions for the purpose of nurturing the environment and beautifying the exterior of the school. The final prong of the program will be a PowerPoint presentation depicting the StART growing classes.

During the classroom portion of the program, concepts on both self and environmental nurturance will be presented to the students by the Art Therapists. These concepts and lessons are intended to nurture in each of the participants “healthy living” techniques. StART Growing will encompass the literal growing of actual seeds as well as the figurative sowing of seeds related to healthy concepts such a nutritious eating, staying fit and being active. The StART Growing classes are intended to plants seeds of learning to endure far beyond the six week class period. The take away is the planting seeds within each participant focusing on individual worth, value and inner potential. The nurturing of this potential will be initiated during the StART Growing program and continue long after the last class. The final group project of permanent plantings around the schools will beautify the building exteriors, making them pleasant, inviting, and nurturing places within the communities.

Since the beginning of time, man has been inspired to create art utilizing the tiniest seeds of inspiration. This seed of inspiration comes from the environment and a strong desire to represent that seed in a visual way. Once the seed is nurtured, it manifests itself in artistic self-expression, be it in a drawing, painting, sculpture, or a planting. Children are the artists of the future. If we plant the proper seed within their very rich imaginations, the potential masterpieces are boundless.