[from the fall 2007 issue of OPEF's newsletter, Take Note]

This year, the Oak Park Education is bringing more experts than ever into classrooms to work with students! Our programs are growing, which means more architects, artists, scientists and technology buffs are opening eyes and inspiring young minds.

For example, this year Global Village will expand to bring scientists into all 6th grade classes for year-long, hands-on residencies, in addition to the scientists already working with 3rd-8th graders throughout the district. Global Village is nearly doubling with 1,140 students working closely with scientists in 2007-2008.

Architecture Adventure is also growing. Launched in 2006 in the middle schools to take advantage of our community's wealth of architecture and professionals in the field, Architecture Adventure is now reaching into the K-5 classrooms as well. We'll have after-school clubs and an architecture summer camp later this year.

Our Vex Robotics Teams have dramatically increased their supply of robot parts and equipment, and added programming capability and adult supervisors since last year. The after-school clubs began in October for 6th, 7th and 8th graders at both middle schools. One of last year's participants said of the program, "My favorite part of robotics is learning mechanics. I always wondered how stuff works and I found out."

The Foundation's budget has also increased, in part thanks to major grants from Community Bank of OP-RF, the OP-RF Community Foundation, the Oak Park Area Arts Council and Target. But the vast majority of our funding comes from individuals in the community, responding to our requests with generous donations. You've asked us to keep the momentum growing: to provide innovative programs in our public schools, to keep the community connected to the schools and to continue developing, funding and implementing exciting programs.

Our programs exist only with your support! To make a donation to the Oak Park Education Foundation, click here. You can also reach us by mail at 970 Madison Street, Oak Park IL 60302, or by phone at (708) 524-3023.

 

[from the fall 2007 issue of OPEF's newsletter, Take Note]

It's become a tradition: Each year the 21 second grade students from the Whittier multi-age classes of Ms. Druckmiller, Ms. Dunn and Ms. Nelson study Mexican life and art with Mr. Guillermo Delgado. Mr. Delgado is a multitalented artist, formerly of the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago, now an Oak Park resident. The Kindergarteners and first graders watch their older classmates work with Mr. Delgado. They are thrilled when they finally reach second grade and it is their turn!

Prior to Mr. Delgado's arrival last spring, students headed to Pilsen for a guided tour of the Mexican Fine Arts Museum. They sampled baked goods at a Mexican bakery, discovered murals in the neighborhood and lunched at Nuevo Leon. It was a great way to appreciate Mexican heritage, get immersed in Spanish language, and experience Mexican life in Chicago.

Mr. Delgado always plans an Art Start project that inspires and challenges students, yet is attainable so students feel great success. In the spring he taught shading, value scales, hatching and crosshatching using artists' pencils. The class's final project was creating pocket-sized accordion books. When Mr. Delgado showed up with handfuls of real chili peppers: poblano, jalapeño, serrano, Thai, banana and habanero, students used their new drawing skills to represent each pepper in their books.

They did an amazing job, and when they were done, they prepared homemade salsa using peppers. The class made one type of salsa using a Cuisinart, and another type the old fashioned way with a molcajete, a mortar and pestle made from lava rock. The students learned a lot and loved the mix of art, culture and food!

 

[from the fall 2007 issue of OPEF's newsletter, Take Note]

Everybody is an artist: That's what dancer and textile artist Vickie Casanova believes. Look at the hand-sewn pillows and the two intricate quilts made by the students in Gale Liebman and Karen Tokarz's classes at Brooks, and you'll see why.

For many of the special needs students who worked with Ms. Vickie on this Art Start project last spring, it was the first time they'd seen, touched or learned about a quilt. Ms. Vickie and the kids discussed the many reasons why people make quilts: for warmth, as artistic expression, to tell a story or mark a special occasion like a birth or wedding, or to carry a social message. Ms. Vickie's classes talked about quilt history, including how quilts were used as coded maps to guide African Americans escaping slavery in the Underground Railroad, and the enormity of the AIDS quilt project. "It sparked conversations about community, recycling, memory, war, peace, bravery and ingenuity," she said.

The young designers chose their own patterns and fabrics for their pillows. They learned how to use soap to mark the cutting lines, and use pins first before they took on the challenge of precise sewing work. The students used the iron, sewing machine and needle and thread. For the larger quilts, they worked together as a team to choose fabrics and to make the design elements. Every student also hand-sewed their own autographed block.

"Quilts are the perfect example of diversity," said Ms. Vickie. "You put all these individual fabric pieces of all kinds of color, shapes and sizes together and, all of a sudden, you've made art." One of the quilters remarked that the project was a "100% fun experience." Make a trip to see the quilt hanging at Brooks Media Center and you'll become a believer too.

 

[from the fall 2007 issue of OPEF's newsletter, Take Note]

Inspiration, innovation, creativity. Bringing art into the classroom adds these magic ingredients to make every academic subject come alive. That's why we run Art Start, partnering sculptors, musicians, painters, storytellers and dancers with classroom teachers to help our youngest students experiment in the arts. The artists teach. They engage students, promoting creativity and confidence. They collaborate with teachers to create hands-on projects that enhance and connect to the existing curriculum.

Art Start is fully funded by the Oak Park Education Foundation, which also brings you Architecture Adventure, Vex Robotics and Global Village. For the past 11 years, Art Start has been a successful part of the Kindergarten, first and second grades of District 97. During that time it has reached over 8,000 students. This newsletter showcases a few of the 27 Art Start projects that took place in Oak Park classrooms in the spring. This year, we'll have artists in 30 classrooms.

Research shows that children who are involved in arts do better in school, no matter what their background. Art gives children a wider vocabulary. It introduces new perspectives and helps them develop problem-solving skills. Children are naturally creative, interested in new things and relatively uninhibited. Art Start nurtures these traits by introducing kids to professional artists who devote their careers to thinking in ways that are out of the ordinary. As one first grader said, "It's good to try new things because you never know what you'll like."

Deb Abrahamson
Executive Director, Oak Park Education Foundation