The Carle Studio has taken to the road this summer in conjunction with the implementation of a grant from the Funder Collaborative for Reading Success. The goal of these programs is to strengthen and advance early literacy skill development in children from birth to age 9 to ensure children in Springfield are reading at a proficient level by fourth grade. Each Tuesday afternoon in July we are providing a “Family Camp” at the Hiram L. Dorman School in Springfield, MA to make art and discuss books. The program is open to families of the children participating in The Hasbro Summer Learning Initiative at Dorman, a nature-based summer program designed to help stem summer learning loss through literacy support. Each week, Meghan and I design various family friendly art activities inspired by a different picture. Check out what we’ve been doing!
So far, the children and their parents worked together drawing caterpillars with watercolor pencils,
Glued nature rubbings into a family mosaic,
Drew pictures of family memories to bind into albums,
…and created habitats with found materials.
At the end of each class, families receive a copy of that week’s featured picture book to take home. The books we’ve featured so far are Ten Little Caterpillars by Lois Elhert, The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin, and Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel.
For more information about this grant funded program read the article, “Talk/Read/Succeed! Summer Learning Program Launches Second Year at Dorman, Boland Elementary Schools in Springfield” by The Republican on July 18, 2012, posted on MassLive.com.
Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for more photos from the last two sessions of The Dorman School Family Art Camp!
