Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Veterans + COTA Class = Warm Hearts (Kindness Counts!)

 Who knew that an early finisher project would ever pack this much of a punch! How did this happen? Well, I was in a meeting and we were discussing Wellness Initiative on campus. And, the other cross curricular art lessons that our COTA Class is involved in at the moment. In communication with our guidance counselor, we found out that a package was being shipped to a family member who is currently serving in Afghanistan.

I started asking questions. Low and behold, within the next few hours, we had 80 small ceramic hearts bagged up to send in the care package. This is a great way to teach empathy and kindness which is one of our main goals this year along with our regular arts curriculum.
Did some research on veterans and art, check it out:


 We have posted on Veteran Art before:







Students created 9x12 original pieces of art about America. I had reference sheets for them to work from during this process. I then took photos of the art and printed them out in 3x5 size on the color copier. Students cut them out and glued them to a 8x10 piece of card stock. Last "to do" was to write a note on the inside that could be shared with a whole unit over in Afghanistan. 
I do believe our students are catching on to this thing of "doing for others"! Once this project was complete, we started using paper mache to make turkeys for our friends at the Red Hills Village in town. They just made a smooth transition from one item to another and were happy about doing for others.
What is COTA Class?
"COTA," or Community Outreach Through The Arts challenges students to examine their community and its needs, then address those needs through arts initiatives. Students will collaborate to create art projects that directly and positively impact both the Maclay and Tallahassee communities. This class seeks to ingrain a spirit of service and empathy fitting of a Maclay Maraurder. It will be a chance to make a creative and artist impact on the community and have fun while doing it.

Grades will be split evenly between class participation and projects. Students will be tasked to create arts projects and short pieces of theatre. (This year kindness skits for lower school classrooms) Students will be asked to research their communities and its needs in order to best aid and assist them. Participation and effort in class and projects are paramount.

Conduct is based on respect and participation. The Maclay Honor Code emphasizes honor, respect, and accountability. These ideals are the cornerstone of the Maclay community and our class.
We are sending our Kindness Care Package to this Unit. We have a connection with a student's family member that is overseas. Thanks to our Guidance Department for including us in this idea.

See below from our Maclay's Veteran Salute / Parade on campus last year. Stay tuned for this years event! We will be posting our Artsy Goodness then too!

So those of you that follow know we love art and music! Well a couple of years ago on a "Sistah" Art Adventure, we ended up at the Johnny Cash Museum...so when I went to choose the music for this post...Johnny was a must!

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