While I teach Grade 6, 0.2 of my position is Kindergarten prep coverage. I was a Kindergarten teacher for eight years, and I love going back to Kindergarten and exploring The Arts with them, as I teach all of the Kindergarten students Drama and Dance. While re-looking at how I can use The Arts in Grade 6, I tweeted back and forth with Karen (@ArtsHWDSB), our wonderful Arts Consultant. She offered to come into the school and meet with me about Arts integration for Grade 6, but also about Arts integration for JK/SK. I met with her today.

Karen has an incredible wealth of knowledge on The Arts, and if you’re a teacher in the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, I would definitely suggest contacting her to discuss classroom activity possibilities. I’m so glad that I did! I’m also really happy that I wrote down so many notes on the Livescribe Pen during our discussion. While there isn’t an audio file here, below is a written pencast of Karen’s ideas and various resource suggestions.

I hope that others can use these notes as well. When I started doing Kindergarten prep coverage this year, I was excited to attempt the Full Day Kindergarten Program mentality of exploring student interests. Since we’re not a Full Day Kindergarten school yet though, I’ve really been struggling with how to do this well, as I only see the Kindergarten students once a week or sometimes once every couple of weeks (due to the A/B schedule). Karen gave me some great suggestions for ways that I can use The Arts and student interests to reinforce what students are learning in the classroom and to create a rich Drama and Dance program for the students too. I can’t wait to try some new activity options next week.

How do you integrate The Arts in your classroom? How do you use Drama, Dance, and student interest to create a rich program for students of all ages? I’d love to hear your ideas!

Aviva