8 year old on the drums
Archive for July, 2020
Two Songs and One Story
July 17, 2020A light touch with meaning
In 1985 Barbara Cooney wrote the children’s book Miss Rumphius and interwoven through the book is the simple message: “do something to make the world more beautiful.”
Last month in the DownEast magazine Virginia M. Wright wrote the article Why We Love Miss Rumphius Now More Than Ever. The message is one that all Maine citizens can relate to as we drive anywhere in Maine these days and see the lupines growing. It’s an amazing site to behold and a chance to pause and consider ~what am I doing to make the world a more beautiful place?
I sat next to Barbara Cooney on a plane in 1990. As the article says: Barbara Cooney didn’t care for sugary tales. “It does not hurt [children] to read about good and evil, love and hate, life and death,” the author and illustrator said in her 1959 Caldecott Award acceptance speech. “Nor do I think they should read only about things that they understand. … A man’s reach should exceed his grasp. So should a child’s. I will never talk down to — or draw down to — children.”
We have an opportunity as educators to read and learn and consider what action to take about what is going on in the world. If you’re looking for RESOURCES please check out the BLOG POST that is growing everyday with Social Justice resources.
Don’t Worry Be Happy
What the World Needs Now
Not All Heroes Wear Art
July 10, 2020Art started in Washburn Elementary School
This story made the news station WAGM. Check it out at THIS LINK! Great work art teacher Beth Ann Cummings from Washburn Elementary School.
With students learning from home, many teachers have had to get creative. Including one local art teacher who wanted her students to use their art homework to reach out to members of their community.
Beth Ann Cummings is the visual arts teacher at Washburn Elementary School. She says teaching art remotely is difficult because she is never sure what materials her students have on hand. So, while looking for ideas on a group Facebook page with other art teachers, she came across the idea to use student art work to honor first responders. So, she decided to do her own version, called Heroes for Hearts. She sent out a video of instructions to her class. Cummings says, “We all know about heroes from television, movies or books right? I think we all are finding out that no all heroes wear capes. To participate in this project, all you need to do is to cut out a big heart. If you don’t have big paper you can do a bunch of little hearts. You’re going to decorate them and hang them in the windows of your home, or send them to work with your parents in their place of business to hang them. You can write messages of hope on your hearts, encouragement. I’m hoping these hearts will bring smiles to peoples faces and show these heroes on the front lines that we really, really appreciate them, during this tough time.”
In addition to students from Cummings school participating, she mentioned the idea to other art educators in the County and some of those schools decided to participate as well. Easton, Hodgdon, Houlton and Van Buren joined in. Cummings says she would love to see other communities participate in honoring the County’s heroes.
me arts ed 
