Art and Creating Community Connections

Parker fosters community, which plays into the curriculum of 1st grade; students are taught their school is an extended family that they will get to know and learn how connected we all are regardless of division—Lower, Intermediate, Middle or Upper.

Faculty throughout the school make connections all the time socially, and as teachers, helping their students become connected via projects of various types with a range of grade levels.

Starting the school year with family connections is a gift to every student. At the end of this past school year, we were casually discussing our shared desire to connect students across divisions. Kay shared an idea with Greenie that could involve her Fashion Lab and Ceramics students in a project 1st graders could relate to by taking their drawings and turning them into soft or ceramic sculptures.

Helping students in all grades maintain connections is a big part of education, so Kay pitched Greenie on the idea of having her Upper School students connect with their younger counterparts through unique handmade fabric or clay “lovies.”

Greenie’s 1st graders would each draw a picture of a creature of their choice, then Silva’s students would transform their drawing into a tangible object for each 1st grader to put on their classroom desk for the school year to remind them that no matter the age, we are all connected. After the project is complete, the Upper School students will meet with the younger students and present the finished collaborative projects.

Stay tuned for the results of this collaboration.