PNC Preschool Family Art Days

The Warren City School Preschools at Willard K-8 and Jefferson K-8 each hosted a Family Art Day as a result of collaboration with the YSU SMARTS Program (Students Motivated by the Arts) and the PNC Foundation. The project, known as Green Skies, Blue Trees, emphasized the importance of art experiences in the development of the whole child…physically, intellectually, psychologically and emotionally. Preschool teachers and classroom aides attended Professional Development provided by the YSU/SMARTS Partnership on implementation of Outcome-based Art Projects in the classroom setting. Each Preschool class brainstormed topics of interest, created Mind Maps of information they wanted to learn and then conducted research through books, videos and artifacts. Once the research was completed, the students created art objects representing their new knowledge and understanding. Students approached their projects through many different art mediums. The resulting murals and papier mache’ sculptures were then showcased in a presentation to the student’s families during Family Art Day. As a special treat, family guests were then invited to participate in art activities with their preschooler. The YSU/SMARTS Partnership provided finger-paints, modeling dough and sidewalk chalk. Everyone had a messy good time!

Students took home a package of art supplies and both Preschool teachers, Rachel Brent (Willard) and Stephanie Gilligan (Jefferson) received a bin of materials for classroom use.

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