During the 2005-2006 academic year, ArtsBridge worked closely with four classrooms at Worthington Elementary School in Inglewood. During planning meetings in the fall quarter, classroom teachers expressed their desire to enrich and integrate the curriculum in arts into the other core curricular areas. As a result, this partnership successfully integrated the instruction in visual art, dance, and drama with the areas of English language development, Natural Sciences, and Social Studies. This integrated approach to arts education ignited creative learning experiences while also teaching to the California standards in all areas. Finally, classroom learning was further extended by field trips to the Fowler Museum, and the creation of a raised bed garden.
Danielle Elins (Art) worked diligently to build an Eco-Arts Garden with Christine Fetzer’s gregarious fourth grade classroom. For example, students studied the appearance of colors in the plants they were gardening while also studying the color wheel and color combinations in painting. Chisa Yamaguchi (WAC) taught Pan Asian cultural dance and creative movement to Rita Bouchard’s third grade class, and emphasized movement and composition as distinct core literacies. These third graders have now become competent choreographers and excellent problem solvers in small group settings.
Dance and visual art instruction at Worthington Elementary was also tied to the UCLA Fowler Museum’s exhibition on Carnival. AB Scholars involved in this work included Andrea Rodriguez (WAC), Guadalupe Rodriguez (Art), and the fourth grade classrooms taught by AB teacher partners Rita Bouchard and Stephanie Lahbil. Worthington students performed in UCLA’s Carnival exhibition and were featured on the front page of the Daily Bruin with their vibrant homemade masks (4/10/06). The Fowler Museum’s Gina Hall was a vital UCLA partner on this project, and also served as mentor to Yamaguchi and Rodriguez. Rodriguez used the documentation to prepare a short film about the Carnival experience at Worthington, and attended a showing while on a field trip to the Fowler Museum in May.
