Richmond CenterStage
Cultivating the Imagination
Walking into Mrs. White’s pre-K classroom, you may find children running excitedly under a large and colorful parachute at the center of the room. Or, you may witness those same children jumping one after another into a beanbag. Before assuming that you have interrupted playtime, use your imagination. See what the children see. Do you see squirrels, rabbits and foxes scampering beneath a canopy of trees? Do you see birds landing in their nests?
On this day, visiting artists David Janeski of Theatre IV and Will Walker of the Latin Ballet of Virginia are teaching the students about animal shelters by allowing them to transform themselves into characters from the popular children’s book, The Mitten by Jan Brett. Classroom teachers read the book aloud, encouraging the children to identify and name the woodland animals who find shelter in a little boy’s lost mitten. The artists help to reinforce the lesson by bringing the story to life through music and movement.
As part of the Bright Lights Education initiative at Richmond CenterStage, David and Will use arts-based strategies to create a language-rich environment in which these young children can develop the social and academic skills they need to be successful in learning and life. The learning is further supported as their parents are shown new techniques for nurturing vocabulary and literacy development at home. In fact, many parents attended the class trip to Maymont Nature Center, where the children concluded their unit on animals.
The Bright Lights Education initiative provides a spectrum of educational opportunities for students at various grade levels. For example, 7th graders have the opportunity to perform on a stage to develop public speaking and presentation skills through storytelling, while 11th graders use theater strategy and jazz music to learn about the Civil Rights Movement. Most importantly, the curriculum is developed in partnership with teachers from six participating school districts and artists from nine local arts organizations, ranging from Elegba Folklore Society to Richmond Shakespeare Theatre.
Richmond CenterStage is a leader and convener in providing equitable access to arts in education. With support from TCF’s community grants program, the Bright Lights Initiative will continue to use its collaborative approach to help address regional challenges, enhance student achievement and promote teacher development.