Red Hook Central School District

EASEL Encouraging Artistic Sensibilities Enhances Learning

Volume 5, Issue 5

June 2008

By Yolanda R. Tarsanto

(Eleventh Grade)

Ms. Keely Wright from the Hudson Valley Conservatory of Fine Arts came to perform in our art gallery for Ms. Metzler’s classes as a midterm project. It was Ms. Wright’s first time working with the Red Hook School district. Using music, she choreo-graphed a technique that went along with the beat and the meaning of the lyrics of the song. Her dance techniques ranged from lyrical, jazz, and modern to break danc-ing. The way her body moved was to be inter-preted and transferred onto paper by the art students, all trying to achieve their own indi-vidual goals. Most stu-dents’ goals were to in-corporate line and ges-ture in their final pro-

jects.

Pictures by Lily Guerin

(Tenth Grade)

A performance was held in the art gallery every fifteen to twenty minutes. After the art classes watched Ms. Wright perform, small groups then went into the gallery at different times depending on the style of dance the students

wanted to incorporate in

Ink & Watercolor by

Alison Perry

(Eleventh Grade)

their art pieces. She cho-reographed a performance featuring lyrical , hip-hop,

and ballet styles.

The overall experience

working with Ms.

Wright was “new, fresh, and inspiring,” stated one senior student. “Dancing is a type of art, just a dif-

ferent form.”

Acrylic Painting by Clio Chang (Tenth Grade)

The way she carried her-self in a room showed she had great people skills and had a strong personality that was re-flected in her perform-ances. The emotion and story being depicted through her body move-ments gave us, as young artists, the ability and advantage to incorporate her dance moves into

our art pieces.

Digital Photo Manipula-tion by Lea Mueller

(Twelfth Grade)

Arts in Education Dancer Makes Movement Come Alive at Red Hook High

Young Puppeteers 2

Nature’s Artistic Possibilities

2

An EPIC Opportunity 3

Fun With Skits 3

Eighth Graders Create The Wildlife of

New York State

4

Hip Hop at the High School

4

Puppets of Your Dreams

5

Inside this issue:

Amy Poux Teaching Drama and Acting

5

Edwin Fion Teaches Latin Dances

6

Where the Wild Kids Are

6

Dancing to the Beat of a Different Drum

7

Doing Wright by the Bard

7

Young Puppeteers

By Benjamin Kafka &

Jessica Osterhoudt (Fifth Grade)

In April, Mr. Schubert’s class created puppets with Ms. Grian MacGregor. The project goal was to make a puppet for our future career. Students used wood, wire, old T-shirts, yarn, cloth, jewelry, and supplies from home. After the puppets were made, students put on a puppet show called “The Mystery Career.”

Ms. MacGregor has been part of the arts-in-education program for twelve years. She said that her project excites students be-cause they have a lot of freedom. Students are in charge of their puppets, both to create them and control them. She also said that our program is unique because

she gets to see each of the classes for four hours.

Students really liked this pro-ject because they were able to use their imagination to create pup-pets of what they want to be when they get older. Colin and Jimmy were interviewed on their thoughts and both liked the pup-pets they made. They were able to find objects to help bring the pup-pets to life. The project made Colin think about his future ca-reer as a baseball player. Jimmy’s future career puppet was an “army man.” Both students said they would like to do the upside-down test again. Colin and Jimmy were also both nervous about putting on the puppet show.

Everyone was really enter-tained by all of the shows. Ms.

MacGregor must have taught the students a lot about puppet-making. The puppets were very creative and interesting. Every-one seemed to have a good time.

Photographer: Ben Kafka

(Fifth Grade)

Nature’s Artistic Possibilities

Isabel, a student in Mrs. Donaldson’s class, said that this residency made her think that there are more ways to use nature than we realize. She thought the program was very creative be-cause Ms. Isacoff allowed the stu-dents to do whatever they wanted with their nature items. Students learned how to make jewelry and beads out of wood. Isabel said that it helped her to learn in art and allowed her to create things out of natural resources.

By Allie Cascone (Fifth Grader)

Mrs. Donaldson’s class worked with Ms. Judy Isacoff on a nature project. All of the students seemed very interested and loved working with the materials.

Ms. Isacoff has been a teach-ing artist for fifteen years, giving students an awareness for nature. She says that when we learn from nature, it is exciting because it’s the real world. Ms. Isacoff loves the discoveries students make when they learn something new.

Her focus for this residency was on landscapes, both close up and distant. The materials used were sumac, ailanthus twigs, pen-cils, paper, mountain views, plants, and bugs. She taught the students how people used plants in earlier times and how these plants grow all around them.

I think the kids had a really fun time with the projects and would love to do it again next year. The kids looked like they really enjoyed the jewelry that they made.

Photographer: Sam Laing

(Fifth Grade)

EASEL Page 2

“the bad guys.” The teaching artist made the program fun by letting them act and do fun things. Stu-dents would like to play a game called Wishing Well again. During this program, students learned the rules of basketball. It looked like the second grade students in Mrs. Michitsch’s class really enjoyed the

program.

Ms. Amanda Wright has been a teaching artist for 32 years. She stated her program is unique be-cause she teaches drama, dancing, and theater. The focus of her resi-dency was to bring out creativity in kids. She also said her residency helps students gain confidence and self-esteem, especially with public speaking. She used props and scripts for this residency. This pro-gram excited the students by allow-ing them to perform and be a “star.” Her favorite part of the residency

By Alicyn Schiafo (Fifth Grade)

In April Mrs. Michitsch’s second grade class participated in an arts-in-education program. The stu-dents were learning a skit with Ms. Amanda Wright and Ms. Keely

Wright.

Students said the program made them think about how to play the different games they were taught and how to act. It also made them listen better. They had a lot of fun playing basketball trying to defeat

was working with the kids.

Overall, during the time that I interviewed Mrs. Michitsch’s class, I could really tell that the kids en-joyed the program. When I asked them if they thought that this pro-

gram was fun, I got a definite “Yes!”

Photographer: Graham Pierce

(Fifth Grade)

By Amelia LeGare, Nika MacFarlane, Erin Hoagland, Asia O’Han, & Kira Tuckruskye

(Eleventh Grade)

Theater units in English classes are always expected to be stress-ful and embarrassing because many students don’t want to act in front of other people. Although in the beginning we weren’t en-thusiastic about it, our opinions changed.

The unit began with an actor named Mr. Godfrey Simmons, Jr., who came into the classroom and led exercises having to do with perspective and different interpre-tations of how people saw things. We had to decide who or what ob-jects dominated different scenes and practiced “giving the power” to different areas of the picture. At the time these exercises seemed pointless: they were just for fun. Later we saw that the ex-ercises played a big role in the

staging and structure of a play. This first visit showed us that certain qualities can be expressed to an audience without the use of words. A simple gesture or the planned position of a person can imply many things.

After doing this exercise and reading the play, A Hard Heart, we took a class trip to New York City to see the production. With all of our new attention to each actor’s position, we really enjoyed and appreciated seeing the play. The actors seemed so connected and devoted to their parts, and they all worked well together to put on a great performance. We especially liked how the actors came out and discussed the play with us after the performance.

All of the English classes later met with actors and other people involved with Epic Theatre En-semble at Bard College to create original plays that had been writ-ten primarily by IB English stu-

dents. We were divided into groups: writers, directors, and actors. By the end of the day, everyone had taken part in either writing, directing, or acting in small productions. It gave us a new view on how theater works and breaks down. The day was full of laughter and made every-one open up more to their fellow classmates.

The people who work with Epic Theatre Ensemble were able to open the minds of our classmates through three activities. Being exposed to different ways of ex-pression helped to inspire more original thought. Our involve-ment with Epic allowed us to be-come more broad minded. We also learned that putting on a pro-duction isn’t as easy as it looks. The hard part is stepping outside the box, but once you are able to do it, the theater experience can be really fun.

An EPIC Opportunity

Fun With Skits

EASEL Page 3

Eighth Graders Create The Wildlife of New York State

By Betsy Kirtland (Eighth Grade)

During the first semester of school, students that had art class walked into the art room to find that all of the tables had been pushed into one long row, and there was a woman they did not recognize behind the middle table. Mrs. Larson introduced her as Ms. Durga Bernhard, a visiting illustrator who had come to help them with their soon-to-be nature book.

Ms. Bernhard began by show-ing the class a few published books she had illustrated and by talking about the task of illustrat-ing in general. The students then worked on their projects for a few days with Mrs. Larson, and before they knew it, Ms. Bernhard re-turned. Students walked into the art room again to find the tables pushed together with the illustra-tor sitting behind the middle one. After everyone filed into the room, there was a group critique. Every-one brought over his or her pic-tures, and Ms. Bernhard made a few suggestions, asking the class

what they thought of the illustra-tions. After meeting with the il-lustrator a few times over the course of a month, students fin-ished their pictures.

Mrs. Larson introduced the idea of a book that became known as The Wildlife of New York State. She explained to her classes that each person taking art that se-mester would randomly select flora and fauna found in New York State and would then research either an animal or plant. After they had enough information, stu-dents drew their illustrations for the book. She discouraged stu-

dents from using normal back-grounds like blue skies. To liven the book up, students had sun-rises or sunsets in the back-grounds or even nighttime illus-trations. After critiques from Ms. Bernhard and the rest of the class, including Mrs. Larson, stu-dents made changes to their pic-tures. Students also had to re-search and write a short para-graph about their animal or plant including facts that could interest small children. Everything was later sent off to a printer.

It was rather exciting to have an actual illustrator come to visit the class. Ms. Bernhard brought with her great experience and knowledge that the students lacked. Student Sarah MacHugh recalled, “She was a really inter-esting person. She was really into her illustrations.” Overall, the experience was great, and we all look forward to the release of the book.

Photographer: Hannah Brown

(Eighth Grade)

the K104 Fest and the routine for the Hudson Valley Hawks Basket-ball Dance Team. Ms. Wright chose to teach us a hip-hop rou-tine consisting of arm and body movements and break dancing.

The dance started off with a special part for the girls, which included more feminine body movements, followed by the boys’ part of the routine, which involved break dancing. The dance had us active and moving because the routine was done to hip-hop mu-sic. All students had an enjoyable time because it was different from a normal physical education class.

By Louisa Frick (Tenth Grade)

Ms. Keely Wright visited the physical education classes at the high school twice this year to teach students hip-hop dancing. Ms. Wright has been studying dance for twenty years. She has danced for Decadance Hip-Hop Company and choreographed both

Overall, Ms. Wright taught us new dance moves and introduced us to the hip-hop dance style. It was fun and entertaining, and we would love to have her come back.

Photographers: Lea Mueller, Katie Manetta, & Danica Donnelly (Twelfth Grade, Twelfth Grade,

and Tenth Grade)

Hip Hop at the High School

EASEL Page 4

will help kids be good community members.

A student I interviewed was Joo. She said Ms. Poux made the activity special by sharing things about acting that the kids didn’t know. Something Joo would like to do again is perform a play for students and teachers. Joo also learned about some of her class-

By Joe Bryant (Fifth Grade)

I interviewed Ms. Amy Poux. She taught Mrs. Bell’s second grade class about acting and drama. Right when I walked in, I saw that the students were having fun.

Ms. Poux has been a teaching artist for twenty-five years. She thinks that our arts-in-education program is unique because of how much the teachers participate and how prepared they are. The focus of her residency was for kids to learn drama. She said that this

mates’ interests through the warm-up activities when students shared their likes and dislikes.

Through this interview I learned about Ms. Poux and our arts-in-education program. I wish I was still in second grade to do these activities. The students loved their time with Ms. Poux.

Photographer:

Fanny Ortiz-Morales (Fifth Grade)

By Connor Novak & Alex Theisen

(Fifth Grade)

In April, we interviewed Ms. Grian MacGregor and two stu-dents from Mrs. VonBurg’s second grade class. During the couple of weeks that students worked with Ms. MacGregor, they made pup-pets to challenge their minds and have fun. The materials they used were wood, wire, fabric, buttons, bottle caps, corks, broken jewelry, and macaroni.

Ms. MacGregor has been a teaching artist for more than ten years. She has never worked with any other schools outside of Red Hook. The project excited the stu-dents because they had the free-

dom to use their imaginations. Ms. MacGregor’s favorite part of the residency was sharing ideas.

The students said that the pro-ject made them feel happy. They said the project was cool and fun. Peyton and Elizabeth said making clothes for their puppets was spe-cial and exciting. The activity they said they would want to do again was making clothing. Something new that they learned was how to cut out clothing. This project also helped them in sci-ence by learning to coil wire. Some of the puppets they made were baseball players, Jedis, nin-jas, and ballerinas.

The children had a good time with Ms. MacGregor. They looked like they wanted to do it a second time. All of the students worked

hard on the project and enjoyed sharing their work with their classmates.

Photographer: Connor Novak &

Alex Theisen (Fifth Grade)

Puppets of Your Dreams

Amy Poux Teaches Drama and Acting

EASEL Page 5

Edwin Fion Teaches Latin Dances

By Lucy Almada-Makebish

(Fifth Grade)

For four weeks, fifth graders worked with Mr. Edwin Fion and

learned Latin American dances. Many kids enjoyed the event and also liked learning

dances of different cultures.

Mr. Fion is a teaching artist who has been happily teaching at Mill Road School for four years. He thinks you can learn a lot about different cultures by danc-ing. Mr. Fion’s teaching focus is

on having fun. He says that if you have fun, you can achieve more.

For this program, Mr. Fion used sticks, a boom box, an iPod, dance shoes, Mexican hats, and CDs. This program excited the students when they were able to show their peers what they had been learning because, come on, almost every student was wonder-ing what the other classes were doing! Mr. Fion has two favorite parts of his job: (1) Getting to

know the students and seeing how special and fun they are, and(2) Seeing kids enjoy his teaching.

Mr. Fion is a great teacher, and all of the fifth graders are very thankful. The students that were involved with the program had a lot of fun. Learning a dance from a different culture was enjoyable to all. I know I enjoyed it! Thank you, Mr. Fion!

Photographer: Amber Wingate

(Fifth Grade)

Then she had them sit down on one side of the cafeteria. She put an overhead pro-jector on the other side of the cafeteria and a huge sheet between the students and the projector. She made big and little shadows. Then the kids went behind the sheet to learn how big shadows are made by moving back and little shadows are made by moving forward. “My favorite part is when they learn something new,” said one teacher.

Before Ms. Griss came to work with the kids, students from Mrs. Scott’s class thought the experi-ence would be fun. Devon and

Frida said that the project made them feel happy and good. The teaching artist made the pro-

By Nicholas Banister &

Ally Jerro-Greco (Fifth Grade)

Mrs. Scott’s class went wild over their arts-in-education teacher, Ms. Susan Griss. Ms. Griss worked with kindergarten-ers on some activities that suited the kids well. The main idea for this project was to have fun!

Ms. Griss read the class Where the Wild Things Are. Ms. Griss also taught the class some words that a fifth grader wouldn’t even know. Rumpus was a new one. After the book was done, she made them make faces to different parts of the book like a sad face, a scared face, or even a mad face.

ject special and exciting by using the shadow screen. Students would like to use the shadow screen and dance with scarves again. Those were their favorite parts of the activity since they had never used a shadow screen be-fore.

Overall, the kids loved the arts-in-education program. We had a great time watching all of it happen. There is no doubt that the kids would like to do it again.

Photographer: Shannon Yearwood

(Fifth Grade)

Where the Wild Kids Are

Page 6 EASEL

By Gina Vargas (Seventh Grade)

On January 9, 2008, Linden Avenue Middle School was graced with the presence of the spectacu-lar Kibola Sougei, an African dance and drum group. The group consisted of two women and five men, making a total of seven performers.

An assembly that the whole school attended was held in the cafeteria. It was easy to see that students were excited as they filed into the room and took their seats. Eventually, the buzz of chatter quieted and the perform-ance began.

The show was incredible! The dancers and drummers kept the listeners on the edge of their seats. “I liked the guy who was playing the drums and walking

around. He was really cool,” said one classmate. The audience was awed by the graceful dances, com-plex drum beats, and thrilling en-ergy. As one student shared, “It was so cool! It was really tradi-tional and stuff. I enjoyed it.”

A few days after the perform-ance, my classmates and I lis-tened as Ms. Pamela Lord Camara gave specific directions on how to execute the perfect footwork for the dance she was teaching us in the gym. Early in the period, we warmed up with a few of our own dances, like the electric slide and the cotton-eyed Joe. By the ex-pression on Mr. Mimo Camara’s face when he played the drums while we danced, we could all tell that he was mightily impressed, which he later admitted. The dances that Ms. Camara taught us were complex, yet she believed that we caught on quickly. Some

of the teachers even danced as well. Dancing with the profes-sionals was a truly exhilarating experience, and after much wav-ing, jumping, tripping, tumbling, and even a little bit of grace, we finally mastered our smooth new moves.

The student body clearly en-joyed the presence of Kibola Sougei. We should consider our-selves immensely lucky to have had such an incredible experi-ence. For most of us, it was just plain fun!

Photographers: Ian Taylor

& Maribel Romero (Seventh Grade)

Dancing to the Beat of a Different Drum

Page 7 EASEL

By Sean Dorrian (Eighth Grade)

A man by the name of Mr. Samuel Wright came into our English class midway through the school year. He worked with both Ms. Johnson’s and Ms. Kaiser’s eighth grade English classes. He taught us a little about Shake-speare’s life. Mr. Wright also taught us the type of poetry that Shakespeare used.

Mr. Wright explained an iam-bic pentameter line of poetry say-ing it has ten syllables arranged with five stresses per line. The

emphasis goes on the second syl-lable in each of the lines. Not only does he know a lot about this Shakespearean style of poetry, he actually wrote some of his own plays in iambic pentameter—not as long as the plays by Shake-speare himself, but pretty long.

Soon after, we were writing

lines like Shakespeare’s and mak-ing our own poetry. We later read each of our papers to the class. Everyone did a great job.

Mr. Wright taught me a lot, and I know he taught our English class a lot about Shakespeare. He was also really nice and respect-ful. Mr. Wright is actually the voice of Mufasa in The Lion King and the voice of Sebastian in The Little Mermaid. Overall, students really enjoyed their time with Mr. Wright.

Photographer: Jordan Thomson

(Eighth Grade)

Doing Wright by the Bard

Red Hook Central School District

7401 South Broadway

Red Hook, NY 12571

Arts in Education Coordinator

Bard College

Ann Gabler

Assistant to the Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction

Marie Sturges

Senior Typist

Kay Gilbert

Arts-in-Education Staff Contributors:

Fifth Grade Teachers

Kristen Griffin Kelly Jones Tricia Levine Melissa Pavlich Amy Perconti Janet Synan Anna Van Etten

Middle School Teachers

Mackenzie Dabo Blake Johnson Maria Larson

High School Teachers

Rob Carruthers Joan Metzler Barbara Murray

Acknowledgements:

Empire State Partnerships

New York State Council of the Arts

Red Hook Central School District

Paul Finch, Superintendent

AIE Newsletter Editor:

April Montgomery

Linden Avenue Middle School

65 Market St.

Red Hook, NY 12571

Phone: 845-758-2241, Ex. 3206

Email: amontgomery@rhcsd.org