Arts Education Spotlight
by Ashley Lodato Education Director, Methow Arts A parliament of owls seems to have nested at East Omak Elementary School, in the waning weeks of the school year. This recent art residency with 5th grade students integrated visual art with animal science. Working with Methow Arts teaching artists Annie Venable, Bruce Morrison, and Bethany Wray… [Read More]
Spring 2019
Each winter, Brewster 5th graders participate in a 5-week poetry residency, working with Methow Arts teaching poet Kelleigh McMillan. Students become familiar with “painting pictures with words” and with relating their emotions to the natural world. Each week they experiment with a different poetic concept: simile, metaphor, free verse, stanza, etc. Students write poems about their bedrooms,… [Read More]
Spring 2019
Okanogan second grade students welcomed spring to the Okanogan Valley by painting flowers in the style of Georgia O’Keeffe, working with Methow Arts teaching artist Bruce Morrison. Morrison introduced students to the work of internationally-known artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), whose signature paintings include abstractions of flowers, landscapes, and other natural elements as well as architecture of the southwest… [Read More]
Spring 2019
by Ashley Lodato Education Director, Methow Arts Alliance The third grade animal studies program at Virginia Grainger Elementary School uses Common Core standards to integrate biology, literacy, art, and geography. Working with third grade teachers Patty Caryl, Nancy Bishop, and Amy Sullivan, students begin the process by selecting an animal and using the internet and… [Read More]
Spring 2017
by Ashley Lodato, Arts Education Director for Methow Arts In 2015, Washington became the second state (after Montana) to require Native American Studies as part of a public school education, but offered few resources toward delivering a tribal curriculum. Virginia Grainger Elementary School teacher Marilou Baker had an idea, however. “Because we are located in… [Read More]
Winter 2019
by Ashley Lodato Education Director, Methow Arts Alliance When do you get to see the Methow Valley Elementary School art room filled with eagles, cougars, rattlesnakes, herons, and black widows? Second graders know the answer to this–when Bruce Morrison visits the school, that’s when. Bruce, a Twisp-based artist and teaching artist, has been leading residencies for… [Read More]
March 2019
by Ashley Lodato, Education Director for Methow Arts What do you get when you mix a sunny winter day, trailside art, and an outdoor ice rink? You get 45 happy second graders, that’s what! Orchestrated by Okanogan School District Instructional Coach (and former second grade teacher) Jill Streeter, a second grade field trip to the… [Read More]
spring 2019
Okanogan High School junior Madeline Luther is the face of poetry for the Okanogan area this spring. As the newly-proclaimed Washington State Poetry Out Loud Champion, Madeline was one of 13 high school students to participate in the annual Washington State Poetry Out Loud competition, and rocked it, reciting her poems with poise, passion, and… [Read More]