Let the Road Trip Begin...

Let the good times roll! This January, 13 of Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center teaching artists will be taking arts and education on the road to 18 Georgia elementary schools. During the next 3 months 94 kindergarten classrooms will be retelling stories through various art forms! Over 2,040 kindergarten students will learning about narrative elements as wells as fundamentals of art. As we get closer to going live, please be sure to check in and keep up on the amazing progress made by some of the schools.

Ready... Set... smART stART!

On November 15th, 2010 there was a whole lot of sharing and learning taking place in the Circle Room at the Woodruff Center. All of the 18 participating smART stART Site Coordinators came from all over the state of Georgia to meet with their Teaching Artist to officially begin the smART stART program. Among the topics discussed were assessment, unit plans for their residency, and arts integrated strategies for teaching literacy to young students. Site Coordinators were introduced to arts based approaches in all of the major artistic disciplines – Theatre, Dance, Visual Arts and Music. All sessions were facilitated by YA staff and YA Teaching Artists making for a hands on fun filled day. The enthusiasm shared by all of the participants helped brighten up the rainy day making the second fall smART stART workshop a success! Thanks to all of those who participated.

smART stART Teaching Artist Workshop was a Success!

Young Audiences has successfully completed our Teaching Artists Workshop this past October 20th, 2010! Engaging ideas were tossed around the conference room which included reading standards, essential questions, and inspirational lesson plans. Some teaching artists ranging from dance, music, and visual arts, demonstrated their strategies for engaging students’ participation through literary comprehension and the fine arts. Not only was the workshop fun, but it also created a positive environment for learning through the smART stART program. We are hard at work to make our next smART stART fall workshop, November 15th, 2010, as educational and dynamic as the first!

Fall Workshop Means smART stART is Going Live!

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center is proud to announce that our fall planning smART stART workshops will be taking October 20^th and November 15^th, 2010! We are excited to promote early literacy skills – specifically the students ability to retell a story – through the arts. During the smART stART workshops Teaching Artists and participating classroom teachers will collaborate to explore arts based strategies to help kindergarten students grasp foundational literacy skills. This collaboration is integral to ensuring student achievement and makes for a great way to spend the day! Be sure to check back for pictures and coverage of the workshops. We are on the saddle again and enthusiastic to start this 2010-2011 school year off with a bang!

smART stART is back, alright!

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center is pleased to announce the return of our arts integrated literacy program - smART stART! We are gearing up for a very exciting school year… through the generous donations of our funders, Target and Junior League of Atlanta, we are able to bring smART stART 2010-2011 to 18 schools, 91 participating classrooms and over 1,800 students! This more than triples our impact in comparison to last year’s program!

The ball has started to get rolling in making it all happen… We are in frequent communication with the schools and teaching artists, and are looking forward to finalizing planning dates and pairing artists with schools shortly. We are excited to announce that the following schools are on our roster for this year:

Anne Street Elementary – Griffin Spalding County Schools

Brockett Elementary - DeKalb County Schools

Cook Elementary – Atlanta Public Schools

Dunleith Elementary – Marietta City Schools

George E. Washington Elementary – Meriwether County Schools

Harper Elementary – Clayton County Schools

Heritage Academy – Atlanta Public Schools

Hickory Hills Elementary – Marietta City Schools

James A. Jackson Elementary – Clayton County Schools

Mattie Wells Elementary – Jones County Schools

McEver Elementary – Hall County Schools

Metter Elementary – Candler County Schools

Norton Elementary – Gwinnett County Schools

Palmer-Stone Elementary – Newton County Schools

Sumter Primary – Sumter County Schools

Sycamore Elementary – Gwinnett County Schools

West Newton Elementary – Newton County Schools

Wesley Lakes Elementary – Henry County Schools

As you can see, smART stART is now being delivered in 12 different Georgia school districts. We are pleased to welcome so many new schools and districts into partnership with us to impact the lives and learning of Georgia’s children through the arts!

Stay tuned for more updates as they become available!

The Gainesville Times Coverage of smART stART

McEver Elementary is rocking and rolling. In addition to McEver's recent charter application to become an arts integrated model school, smART stART has been providing students with more opportunities to experience the arts while learning early literacy skills. Special thank you's to McEver's wonderful staff, Brandee Thomas - Gainesville Time's journalist and of course the YA staff that made this happen.

To see the online version of the article click HERE.

For more information on McEver and their commitment to a new charter click HERE.

Junior League of Atlanta + smART stART = Great Combination

smART stART would not be possible without the contributions of our sponsors. Junior League of Atlanta, one of those sponsors, goes above and beyond the call of duty by also supporting smART stART with a reading program. The reading program is completely coordinated and executed with Junior League members. This year volunteers visited Scott Elementary spending time with the Kindergarten students. Their time was spent reading, tutoring and supporting the students. The Junior League program culminated in a day full of read aloud's and arts activities for the students. YA cannot thank the Junior League of Atlanta enough for their support of smART stART!

Adding another school? McEver Mustangs are on board!

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center is proud to announce the addition of McEver Elementary to the smART stART program! We want to thank principal Rosa and her staff for committing to the program and being open to using the arts as a catalyst for learning. Teaching artist Karin Mervis and YAWAC staff are diligently working to prepare a unit plan that is sure to knock their socks off. Stay tuned for more updates and news from McEver Elementary.

Info on McEver Elementary;

McEver is located in Gainesville Georgia and is part of the Hall County School system. The school has about 415 students enrolled. Click HERE to go to their homepage.

"Focus Atlanta" airs a segment about smART stART

A special thanks to our friends at The CW Atlanta and their show "Focus Atlanta" for the coverage of the segment on smART stART! Young Audiences Associate Director Myrna Lubin and Teaching Artist Emily Kent are interviewed in this segment.

For more info on the show "Focus Atlanta" click HERE.

Friends from Target!

No time like the present to thank our friends from Target! We here at Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center had the luck to sit down with Bernard Boudreaux and Alison Thurner - community relations representatives from Target. Pictured above (from left to right) is Bernard Boudreaux, Alison Thurner, Tony Kimbrell (YAWAC Executive Director), and Edwin Link (YAWAC Staff).

Target's commitment to the community is outstanding. Target proudly supports schools with innovative giving programs, volunteering efforts and partnerships with educational organizations. There support has been instrumental in helping YA deliver the smART stART program. For that we are eternally grateful!

We are also happy to report that the weather down here in Atlanta was a far cry better than that of Minneapolis. We hope they enjoy it while they have it!

For more on Target's commitment to community and education. Please click HERE.

Brockett's Photo Finish

The students at Brockett have been working on retelling through visual arts and dramatic play. Don't take our word for it, check out what Ms. Harris has to say.

We think the staff and administration at Brockett Elementary are top notch! It has been a pleasure to work with them all.

All Good Things... Emily Completes smART stART at Scott

We are pleased to have worked with Teaching Artist Emily Kent and the students, teachers and administrators of Scott Elementary. Please take a moment and get Ms. Musto's take on smART stART. It's been a blast!

smART stART on the cover of the living section of the AJC!

The Atlanta Journal Constitution has published an article about Young Audiences' smART stART program! Be sure to check it out.

We greatly appreciate their coverage of the program. We especially apprecaite the administration and faculty of Brockett Elementary that made this all possible. Without all of the wonderful schools we work with this program would not be possible.

To see the article online, click HERE.

Fourth Session with TA Karin Mervis and Heritage Academy

Literacy skills get a splash of color when TA Karin Mervis works with Heritage Academy. Using symbols and principles of colors students sequence stories and begin to retell. Authentic arts experiences lead to understandings that will last a lifetime.

For more information on Karin Mervis and some of the other work she does with Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center click HERE.

Brockett Students Sculpting Characters

Brockett students have been getting their hands on narrative elements! I know you are asking yourself - What? How could that be? Teaching Artist Roelna Bashew has the students at Brockett sculpting characters and settings for stories. Once these elements are all in place they will begin retelling the stories by manipulating their creations. The arts provide a medium for the students to not only tell a story, but to experience the stories through numerous modalities.

Students from Scott Elementary talk about their favorite part

The half way mark has come and gone for Scott Elementary! We thought we would try to get a few brief reflections on everyone's favorite part of working with Teaching Artist Emily Kent. As you can tell from the video, the students are building their movement vocabulary and will begin creating and retelling stories with their new words.

Retelling and Sharing, Last Day at Cook

A student retells a story he created

It's official! Cook's kindergarten students have completed the smART stART residency. During their last session with Roelna Bashew, the Teaching Artist, the students retold stories that they had worked with throughout the residency. Different methods were used for retelling which included; sculpting characters and manipulating them, sequencing stories with props and illustrations, and the creation of a personal story book. The personal story books were shared one on one with fellow students. It was a treat to work with Cook! We hope they enjoyed the program as much as we enjoyed having them be a part of it.

Students retell a story with sculptures they created

Retelling Through Dramatic Play

Teaching Artist Kay Rosenblum uses dramatic play as a catalyst for learning. Students at Boyd Elementary are retelling stories using their body, voice, imagination and emotions. Imaginative play is helping create a fun atmosphere where students are constructing new understandings of the world around them.

For more information about Kay and other programs she offers through Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center click here.

A Teacher's Take on smART stART

Art! Reading! Teachers! Students! See how all of these ingredients and best practices combine to improve students' literacy skills. Veteran teacher Ms. Moore, from Cook Elementary, gives us her take on the smART stART program. Teachers and specialists helped us tailor the program and without their help, smART stART would not be the program it is today. Students re-telling stories through art!

Thank You to our smART stART Sponsors!

On behalf of Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center, we wanted to take a moment to recognize all of the great support we have received from Target, Sprint, Macy's, Norfolk Southern, Junior League of Atlanta and The Harland Foundation. It's through their generous financial support that we have been able to once again deliver smART stART. We sincerely appreciate their commitment to arts in education.

First/Second Session at Cook Elementary with TA Roelna Bashew

Another snippet of a Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center Teaching Artist hard at work. Visual artist, Roelna Bashew, is working with the kindergarten students at Cook Elementary. Using elements of sculpting and puppetry, Roelna is helping the students retell stories.

First Session at Scott Elementary with TA Emily Kent

Our first video! We are doing our best to document the process and are proud to share with you our first video. Here is a quick glimpse into the first session at Scott Elementary with teaching artist Emily Kent. In her first session, Emily begins working with movement vocabulary and sequencing of movement.

For more about Emily Kent and her work with Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center be sure to click here.