Exciting news!  Our district has received two Ohio Arts Council grants totaling more than $46,000 that will fund, in part, our two Primary School signature experiences — The Carnival of the Animals and The Journey — as well as a new pilot program offering at the Early Learning Center.  These funds, secured through the leadership of Director of Elementary Education Scott Emery with Primary School Principal Teresa Smith and Early Learning Center Principal Michelle Levero, will allow Primary School Artist-in-Residence Marquette Stankowski to also spend part of the school year with kindergarten classes at the ELC.

“The Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saëns is a humorous musical suite composed in 1886. It features fourteen short movements, each representing a different animal or group of animals. Some popular pieces include "The Swan," "The Elephant," and "Aquarium." Saint-Saëns wrote it for a private performance among friends, and it showcases his playful side, using various instruments to mimic the sounds and characteristics of the animals. It's often used to introduce children to classical music because of its vivid and imaginative nature.  For this tradition of the same name at New Albany Primary School, now in its seventeenth year, we add classical music selections by Mozart, Copland and others to expand the roster of animals.  Through this signature experience, every student is introduced to world of poetry, art, movement and dance as they prepare throughout the year for their final performance on stage at the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts.

“The Journey” is our second grade signature experience that integrates content about weather and climate from our science curriculum with storytelling.  It is an original work created with student input adapted from the myth of Orpheus (Ori) and Eurydice (DC).  Building on the performance lessons learned in first grade, each second grade student has the opportunity to speak individually in front of the audience.  Poetry, music and dance are again part of the performance — this time with a little “country style” as the students perform alongside actual country music artists from Nashville on the McCoy Center stage.

“Our Animal Discovery” is a pilot project being implemented at the Early Learning Center in select classes that will allow students to develop “pre-Carnival” skills.  Classes participating in this new project will work together to create a new animal.  Their “discovery” will lead them apply what they are learning about habit, adaptation, survival skills, healthy habits, geometry, coding and counting.  Those classes will also work with Mr. Stankowski to create a nursery rhyme poem they will speak when presenting their animal to preschool classes.  We hope that this new program will also strengthen the bridge for students between the ELC and the Primary School as they work with Mr. Stankowski at the end of their kindergarten year and then see him again at the start of first grade.