Literacy & Art

More than 225 students participated in the 2010-2011 Summer Reading Program. Each day, students received two periods of one-to-one tutoring and two periods of literacy and art activities, based on picture books read aloud by the teacher. Students made personal connections to both the stories and pictures, helping them further develop their listening, speaking and writing skills. They also developed basic art skills through drawing, collage, painting, and model and puppet making. For many Read students, the Literacy & Art Program provides them with their very first art-making experiences.

"Visual Literacy" and English Language Learners

More than 40% of our summer students are English Language Learners.  We have found that creating and talking about art is a good way for them, and all our students, to develop their language in a comfortable and meaningful way.  We have also found that many of these students have artistic potential that should be developed.

Professional Development

In order to ensure that we provide high quality art experiences, Read staff spent the spring semester observing art teachers and participating in workshops given by experts in the field.  These experts vetted our lesson plans and made suggestions as to our choice of media and materials. Our summer teachers also participated in artmaking workshops given by elementary school art teachers to further enhance their teaching techniques. 

Partnerships

This summer, Read partnered with ArtsConnection to provide a once-a-week bookmaking residency at our Programs. The teachers at that school had a pre-residency orientation and worked side-by-side with the teaching artists. Read Alliance has also become members of Materials for the Arts in order to provide both basic and idiosyncratic art materials so that children can express themselves most creatively in their collage work.

Literacy and Art in Action!

Explore our slideshow and get a glimpse into the Literacy Room experience: