Providing spaces for children's culture becomes an issue when it conflicts with or threatens to reverse the notion of 'legitimate' culture. Here, legitimate culture refers to the dominant values of the official curriculum and teachers' cultural values. This article, which stems from an ethnographically oriented pilot study, explores the experience…

This article determines the role and effectiveness of verbal and non-verbal means in the EI development of elementary school students in Russia. The study was carried out for six months; 684 students of 1-4 grades from two schools in Moscow and the Moscow region were interviewed; teachers were also interviewed and the educational process was…

This longitudinal ethnographic study involved a professional development project, Project Partnerships Achieve Literacy (Project PAL) in South Africa, with eight rural foundation phase teachers who taught Reception (kindergarten) through grade three (R-3). This Project was designed to support teachers in an under-resourced school as they learned…

For young children, a found acorn, stone, or lichen-covered branch can be a touchstone of an experience in nature. Children, however, should also be taught to "leave no trace." As the National Park Service advocates, visitors to natural areas should "Preserve the sense of discovery for others by leaving all natural and cultural…

It's easy to see the connections between science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) in daily life, but they may not be so obvious in the classroom. This month's lessons allow students to explore the components of STEAM through a favorite art supply, the crayon, and a beloved American tradition, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day…

When an unlimited amount of free 8 x 10" (20 x 25 cm) canvas was offered to all of the schools in their community to participate in the city's the Color of Friendship art competition, the author saw a wonderful opportunity for her students at Cedarcreek Elementary. After some thought, the idea of combining poetry with the contest's rich theme…

In the author's experience, sewing projects have consistently led to a quiet, engaged artroom full of busy, motivated students. Maybe it's the gradual fusion of pieces of fabric to make a tidy, compact unit, or the magic of the thread holding cloth together, or the repetitive action of making stitches. Whatever the reason, the rhythm of sewing a…

Researching whimsical and spirited artists can inspire new ideas and methods of communicating how art remains a valuable part of people's lives both in and out of the classroom. This instructional resource explores one such contemporary artist who, driven by a curiosity in human interaction, continues to explore the world in fanciful and…

The small, isolated community of Gee's Bend, Alabama, is home to a rich quilting heritage. The quilters have enjoyed much recent fame. There have been traveling exhibitions, large coffee-table books, and even a series of postage stamps. The quilts are striking; they feature bold, asymmetrical patterns, bright colors, and rich texture. Examining…

This article describes a collaborative painting project that allows first- through third-grade students to work with partners to create a four-inch square of a group painting and learn the basics of mixing paints to produce lights and darks, and tints and shades. One by one, the students worked on the painting in their free time. The author kept a…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of two innovative, art-and-literature-based approaches to teaching writing (Picturing Writing: Fostering Literacy Through Art and Image-Making Within The Writing Process) on elementary school students' writing, visual literacy, and reading skills. RMC Research Corporation of Portsmouth, New…

In conjunction with her school's interest in becoming more "green," this author designed an art project using inexpensive, sturdy, reusable grocery bags. In this article, she describes the different design concepts and art media used by each grade in decorating these bags. (Contains 1 online resource.)

The author was originally inspired by "The Exquisite Snake" exhibit she saw at a local museum. Two hundred contemporary artists contributed to this exhibit, which was an adaptation of the old parlor game called "The Exquisite Corpse" that Surrealist artists used to play in the late 1920s and '30s. The author just loved this idea and decided to…

This study portrayed a picture of kindergarten through 3rd-grade teachers who teach visual arts, their perceptions of the value of visual arts, their visual arts teaching practices, visual arts experiences provided to young learners in school, and major factors and/or influences that affect their teaching of visual arts. The sample for this study…

"From Good to Great--Stevenson Grows Wild" was an art and ecology project created by the teachers, students, and staff at Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary School in Grandview Heights, Ohio, in Spring 2002. This schoolyard habitat redevelopment was organized by the school librarian, three fourth-grade teachers, a graduate student, and…