Enrichment at P.S. 8
By Amy Shire, Pre-K Parent
and Georgie Stout, Kindergarten Parent
There are many ways that students get an enriching experience at P.S. 8. Students have ready access to a variety of powerful educational experiences which provide tools for a life of discovery and exploration. The regular curriculum is replete with art, music, drama and dance, with permanent specialized faculty in each of these areas who complement the school's standard curriculum through their activities.
P.S. 8 also offers "enrichment programs" which augment the curriculum. These programs afford students the opportunity to enhance in equal measure their artistic skills and more general skills in focusing and self-discipline, creative thinking and problem-solving, group work, and just plain appreciation of the arts! There are several kinds of enrichment programs at P.S. 8: Residency Programs, Enrichment Clusters, and the Navigators Program.
Residency Programs: Enrichment with Visiting Artists
This is a highlight of life at P.S. 8 for all students, from Pre-K through fifth grade. Artists from a wide range of disciplines bring their expertise to P.S. 8, exposing children to a variety of art forms and expanding their perspectives. The visiting programs, which are "in residence" anywhere from 8-20 weeks, tailor their projects based on grade level and themes being studied in the classroom. The residency programs include: The Guggenheim Museum, Rotunda Gallery, Studio in a School, Marquis Studios, Bargemusic, Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment, Chess for Children, and Mark Morris Dance Group. Activities range from creating complex cityscape murals, choreographing dance, imagining and building the Brooklyn landscape of 400 years ago, and quilt-making, to instrument-building, bookmaking, and learning how to play chess. Pre-K students have exposure to these visiting artists, through a program called "Great Masters," which highlights influential artists as a way of teaching different visual techniques.
Bargemusic and Chess for Children are currently funded by the PTA. The other programs are financed through the Magnet Grant, which expired at the end of the 2006-07 school year. Thanks to careful budgeting, some of the magnet funds have been used to pay for this year's programs. Next year all of the programs will need to be PTA-funded.
Enrichment Clusters: Collaborations with P.S. 8 Teachers
Essentially "mini-courses" of eight weeks each, clusters are student and teacher-initiated and taught in the classroom by the teachers. The clusters reinforce the school's thematic approach to learning: exploration, research and design, and, in line with the Renzulli method, to find and encourage each child's individual gifts. Students express interest in certain kinds of activities -- for example, knitting, pirates or cartooning -- and each classroom teacher determines three options for students to choose from, empowering them to make their own creative choices, and learn about areas often not available to them in a standard curriculum.
Navigators: Enrichment After School
Similar to the clusters programs, they are developed from within the school. Navigators are taught either by teachers or well-qualified parent volunteers and run for a ten-week period in the spring featuring a wide range of activities. In past years these have included drumming, origami, cooking, yoga, Chinese and Italian.
Posted on: February 27, 2008
