Diwali

Students created a variety of artwork in celebration of Diwali. Kindergarten students learned about symmetry as they cut paper to make their Diyas, the oil lamps that are lit for the holiday. Pre-Kindergarten students splattered paint and glitter to make their Diwali fireworks. Third grade students worked cooperatively, drawing around each others feet to make shapes for decorated images of Laxmi's feet.

Books

Students have been very excited to receive their books from the Children's Bookstore Educational Foundation. Through this grant every child at Harlem Park Elementary/Middle and James Mosher Elementary have a book on the subject of India that is theirs to keep. The texts range from historical fiction to an Indian A, B, C

Pre-Kindergarten

India ABC's Marcie Aboff

The Story of Little Babji, Helen Bannerman

Kindergarten

Rama the Demon King, Jessica Souhami

Seven Blind Mice, Ed Young

First

Monkey and Crocodile, Paul Galdone

Count Your Way Through India, J.S. Haskins

Second

Once a Mouse, Marcia Brown

Third

Elephant Dance, A Journey to India, Theresa Heine

Fourth

Looking at India, Jillian Powell

Fifth

The Not So Star Spangled Life of Sunita Sen, Mitali Perkins

Sixth

The Conch Bearer, Chitra Bannerjee

Homeless Bird, Gloria Whalen

Seventh

Homeless Bird, Gloria Whalen

Eighth

Keeping Corner, Kashmira Seth

Homeless Bird, Gloria Whalen

Launching Worldview: India

Our selected culture of study for the 2008-2009 school year is India. Students will explore the traditional arts and crafts of India, participate in cross-curricular activities and engage in charitable projects linking the school community and the culture of study. We are paying particular attention to the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s visit to India in 1959,  and the connections between the Civil Rights movement in the U.S.A and Mahatma Gandhi's policy of satyagraha (non-violent civil disobedience). A culminating event will be held at the Walters Art Museum in May.

We are fortunate to have many partners in our endeavors without which the program would not be possible;

Through the Children's Bookstore Education Foundation  and the unending help of Chris Meyer, we are able to put a book about India into each of our students hands, to keep forever, for free!

Maryland State Arts Council's Arts in Education (AIE) grant is providing matching funds for Black Cherry Puppet Theatre to create a puppet show of an Indian folk tale with third grade students and mural artist Kristin Helberg to create a mural in the style of Mughal miniature painting with middle school students at Harlem Park.

Carrie Trybulec, Director of the Gandhi Memorial Center in Washington, D.C. has generously leant us the photographic exhibit; Mahatma Gandhi in the Service of Humanity and the films; 'India Land of Spirit and Mystique and 'Gandhi' Richard Attenborough's award winning biography of Mahatma Gandhi.

Now we have to get into the nitty gritty of actually teaching the kids all of this rich information about a country that is thousands of miles away but incredible close and influential on our daily lives. 

The Beginning

In May 2008, students of Harlem Park Elementary/Middle School created a mural of Claude Monet's house and gardens at Giverny. The project was led by art teacher Morag Bradford and artist in residence Kristin Helberg.

Morag integrated the project cross the elementary and middle school curriculum, students studied French Impressionism, mapped Monet's garden, tasted French food, listened to French music and learned some French phrases. When the students sent out invitations to the unveiling of their mural, Kristin sent an invitation to the French Embassy in the hope that the students would have the opportunity to meet a representative from the country they had been studying.

The mural celebration was attended by students, families, faculty, community partners and Monsieur Roland Celette, Cultural Attaché, and two guests from the French Embassy. Monsieur Celette greeted the students and their families, praised the students' work and encouraged their attempts at speaking French. The students thoroughly enjoyed showing off their work and acting as ambassadors for their school and community.

A photograph of the event was published in the Baltimore Sun newspaper.

The student's reaction was so positive that Morag decided to expand her vision from being a school wide project, to a year long arts integration program. The program, now named Worldview, would be expanded to engage students in exploring the world around them and to learn to appreciate how similar people are while appreciating their differences. Focusing on a different country each year students would make connections between their own lives and the lives of people in the culture of study.

India would be the country for year one; as Morag had travelled extensively there and had many artifacts to share, and because of the connection between Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and their campaigns for civil rights.

This is where I come in. "I want to help,"I told her. I work at James Mosher Elementary School, a few blocks from Morag's school. Both schools are inner city schools with low socio-economic status and an at-risk population. Basically great kids with limited knowledge of the world beyond their neighborhood.

Over the next few months Morag and I wrote a few grants to fund Worldview. Our friend and graphic designer Luci Morreale of Ladderback Design created our logo and business cards and we began to contact local businesses and cultural agencies. Amanda Kodeck of The Walters Art Museum and Dawn Lobell of Baltimore City Public Schools both gave us their time and expertise for our grant writing efforts. Our first big triumph was the ING Unsung Heroes Award. With this award we can start to fund the components we want to include in our program such as music, dance, yoga, and additional visual arts projects.