Saturday, November 6, 2010

CRSP students visit the Chemung Valley History Museum!!

CRSP Students got to visit the Chemung Valley History Museum for an introduction to Native American culture and history.  Children's book author,  Michael DeMunn of the Seneca tribe, Hawk clan, was present to talk to the children about the Iroquois way of life and to read from his award winning book Places of Power. 

Kerry Lippincott, Education Coordinator at the museum,  led the children on a scavenger hunt,  set up authentic games that Iroquois children used to play for CRSP children to try, presented authentic artifacts for the children to handle and identify and provided a craft for the children to take home!  Watch the video below to get an idea of the rich program CRSP students were fortunate to experience. 

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Tanglewood in the classroom at Chemung Elementary School!






Ian McLaughlin introduces new concepts and reinforces lessons already learned to Cynthia Sindoni's attentive students at Chemung Elementary School in the Waverly School District

Students learn that all parts of the food web are connected.

Students "become" various parts of the food web - producers, herbivores, omnivores or carnivores - and discover that damage to one part of the food web has consequences for all organisms in other parts of the food web.  

Cynthia Sindoni takes photographs during Ian's presentation
Box Turtle

Yellow Spotted Salamander

Richardson's Ground Squirrel


Broad tailed hawk
The students are enthralled with "Icarus" as they learn,  not only natural science,  but Greek mythology as well!

Students write in their CRSP journals which they will keep all year



The principal, Mr. Mastrantuono visits the classroom as Sharon Bella assists the teacher







Friday, October 8, 2010

CRSP Riverwalks - Fall 2010!

Award winning poet, Kaye Newbury, on site with the fortunate students from the Horseheads Central School District enrolled in the Chemung River School Project,  She introduces the concept of journaling with the students and paying close attention with their senses.
Ian McLaughlin, naturalist from Tanglewood Nature Center,  introduces students to the science behind the flora and fauna of the Chemung River. 

A boy shows off the exoskeleton of a crayfish he found.  He learned from Ian that crayfish are freshwater crustaceans and are arthropods.

A boy writes and draws intently in his journal
Mr. Bartley, 4th grade teacher from Center Street School in the Horseheads Central School District writes in his journal too!  Mr. Bartley, along with his colleagues,  Elaine Benton and Amy Karastury,  have enrolled their students in CRSP for many years.
The children begin observing and exploring along the Chemung River
Writing in their journals


A video capturing just a few of the special moments for Horsehead's Center Street student's during their time spent with Kaye Newbury and their teacher, Bob Bartley.  Check the archives for blog entries from Riverwalks past!

Coming very soon will be photos and video from the Tanglewood Classroom Visits by Ian McLaughlin with Cynthia Sindoni's 4th graders at Chemung Elementary School. 

For more information about the Chemung River School Project,  see the contact information to the right. 

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Chemung River School Project 2009/2010 in review

Another school year is over, but we have many fond memories of the adventures, fun and multi-disciplinary learning that has taken place all year long for the fortunate students who participated in the Chemung River School Project.

They are fortunate to have administrators and teachers at their schools who have been willing to go the extra mile (literally and figuratively) for their students! Because of these instructors, their education is enriched in ways most parents would choose for their own children if they could make such a choice.

Administrators and teachers this year included:

Waverly Central School District
Michael McMahon, Superintendent

Chemung Elementary School
1) Dave Mastrantuono, Principal
2) Jeanne Gridley. Jeanne has retired and will not be returning next year. This is sad for us, but we have happy wishes for Jeanne!
3) John McGuire. John was the Chemung Elementary School Principal for many years and remains an avid supporter of the Chemung River School Project. He, too, will be greatly missed!

Horseheads School District
Dr. Ralph Marino, Jr., Superintendent
Alice Learn, Asst. Superintendent


Center Street Elementary School
1) Principal, Patricia Sotero
2) Robert Bartley
3) Elaine Benton
4) Amy Karastury

Big Flats

1) Elizabeth Scaptura, Principal
2) Danielle Aepelbacher
3) Lisa Comer
4) Maren Schiefen

ELMIRA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT:
Joseph Hochreiter, Superintendent
Mary Jane Eckel, Arts Coordinator for the Elmira City School District

Diven School
1) Pam Davis-Webb, principal
2) Jessica Ossiboff
3) Darla Smith
4) Corina Forsythe
5) Christopher Reger
6) Wendy Zepp

Scroll down this multi-media blog and click on the videos to review the variety of experiences provided by the teaching artists, naturalists and arts institutions listed below who share with us their talent, expertise and dedication to this program.

Elaine Farwell, Emily Hofelich-Jack and Ian McLaughlin of the Tanglewood Nature Center; Sue Smith Heavenrich, poet; Rhonda Morton, poet, performance artist; Joan Neece, Native American presenter; Kerry Lippincott, Chemung Valley History Museum; Georgeanna Keser, teaching artist; Wendy Taylor, Director of Tours and Rick Pirozzolo, Executive Director of the Arnot Art Museum; Annemarie Zwack, teaching artist; Toni Gardner, Anne Hughes, Cornell Cooperative Extension educators.

Have a wonderful summer and hope to see you all next fall for another year of adventure, fun and learning. We have some wonderful new projects (along with old favorites) planned for next year!

For more information on the award winning Chemung River School Project, contact the Arnot Art Museum at 607-734-3697 or e-mail
solrane@earthlink.net Enrollment for the program is open for a limited time.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Spring Riverwalks 2010!

Performance artist and poet, Rhonda Morton and Naturalist Educator, Ian McLaughlin from Tanglewood Nature Center presented the Spring Riverwalks to CRSP students. Both presenters asked students to draw on experiences during the fall riverwalks and classroom visits as written in the journals they kept all year.
Morton focused on the use of simile and metaphor in writing and was able to inspire the students to generate some of their own through careful and quiet observation and techniques for building sensory and writing "muscles."

The grass smells like a fresh salad....
The tall grass looks like mist rising...The leaves look like a small bed...the creek whooshes like a conductor's wand...The clover looks like butterflies...The grass looks like the back of a giant bug.

McLaughlin reviewed the water cycle with his students and introduced them to some new fauna. Students learned where the Wyncoop Creek originated and had lots of fun exploring it and discovering new creatures especially hiding under rocks. For some 4th graders, it was their first experience finding crayfish and small bugs and amphibians in the wild.


Center Street teacher, Bob Bartley, accompanies his students to the Chemung River.



A wood pecker was on hand at the Wyncoop Creek offering plenty of sensory output!

It sounds like A whole orchestra: the woodpecker is a drum, the other birds are flutes, the clothes rubbing sound like a guitar...

The woodpecker sounds llike a man chopping wood...


The flowers look like confetti...



Center Street teacher, Elaine Benton, documents the event with her camera.



Thursday, May 6, 2010

Riverfest 2010!

Below are some samples of projects Chemung River School Project students created during the artist, Annemarie Zwack's residency in January. Fourth graders from Chemung Elementary School in Waverly, NY and Center Street and Big Flats Schools in Horseheads created miniature books in which they imagined themselves as water droplets in the water cycle. Students both wrote and illustrated these very imaginative adventures! Students at Diven Elementary School created beautiful posters with environmental themes using collage, cut paper and mixed media. Riverfest! is on display until June 22nd at the Arnot Art Museum.















Thursday, April 22, 2010

Cornell Cooperative Extension at Diven School

Students at Diven Elementary School were treated to a program presented by Toni Gardner and Anne Hughes from the Cornell Cooperative Extension. Toni and Anne talked to children about the water cycle, water usage and water conservation. Students were given much fascinating and surprising, information designed to impress upon them the need to preserve our precious resources. The video and photos below tell the story!
















Thursday, March 25, 2010

Covering Big Flats

Students in Danielle Aepelbacher's class recently refined the book covers they made during Annemarie Zwack's residency in January.






Annemarie Zwack worked with CRSP students on making handmade books. She first read her own book entitled "Color Me Earth" outloud to the class and noted the illustrations she made with cloth and paint. As "Color Me Earth" is told from the point of view of the Earth, she then asked students if they knew who was speaking in the book, and asked them about the cycles that they may have noticed (the water cycle, and the decomposition of a tree that in turn feeds the earth).

Students also discussed "What is an Artist" and talked about how an artist can find inspiration. Zwack draws inspiration from topics she feels strongly about, and even materials that support her ideas are all sources of inspiration for me.

The Chemung River, of course, was the topic for this project. Annemarie wanted students to think about the role the Chemung River (or water) plays in our lives? "Will we always have access to free clean drinking water? Does anything threaten our clean water supply? Does everyone on the planet have clean water to drink? Why? What do you think it will be like in the future? Is there any substitute for water?"

Students then made their own books which will be on display in May at the Arnot Art Museum!

The stated purpose of the project was to 1) increase awareness of the work of contemporary artists, 2) to enhance students' understanding of the role artists play in the larger socio-political cultural sphere, 3) to increase awareness of the importance of research in the work of many contemporary artists, 3) 5o enhance students' understanding of water conservation 4) to enhance critical thinking skills 5) o introduce the concept of collaboration and community in making art 6) o introduce to students basic graphic design skills 7) to introduce to students the many ways in which the arts intersect with other areas of the curriculum, 8) to demonstrate to students the common threads linking art made in the past with contemporary art.

Annemarie noted that contemporary artists find inspiration in the world around them, just as the Hudson River School of painters was inspired by water and their environment.

A Visit to the Arnot Art Museum in February