Look here to hear about what's happening with current projects or events this quarter. You can also find out about some recently completed projects and events too!

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SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES INTEGRATION: 5th & 6th graders explored the Chicago Humanities Festival theme Climate of Concern in our SCALE afterschool program. We looked at Nature---the ultimate recycler (as Mr. Leki has told us)--- and thought about the 4Rs---reduce, reuse, recycle and RETHINK. Students explored art cooperatives around the world that take environmental and economic concerns into their own hands by creating indigenous arts to sell to the global community. We combined these ideas to create handmade goods such as paper mache bowls (reusing advertising mailers and old homework worksheets) and reused material rugs (reusing plastic bags, old t-shirts, recycled yarn and fabric remmnants). The Fine Arts Parent Ensemble also created products for our IDay event. Moms were busy crocheting handbags (reusing yarn and plastic bags) and made paper mache bowls and rugs too! We worked together to raise money to benefit Heifer International, Mayaworks and Camino Seguro.

Many thanks to Gloria Ordonez for our stunning silk remnants and to Marcy Kollath for e-cycling our many, many, many skeins of yarn! Our five classroom-sized looms for this project were purchased through a grant from the Oppenheimer Family Foundation and we appreciate Mr. Oppenheimer's continued support of Waters School. SCALE is sponsored in its entirety by a generous grant from Chicago Arts Partnership in Education. Without their support, this programming would not be possible.Very special appreciation to Patricia Reyes and Eileen Ryan, our SCALE Artist(s)-In-Residence extraordinaire, who shared their creative talents with us on this project. A thousand thanks to our fabulous Waters School community for your support!

Artwork: 2007 ALL ABOUT ME Performance and Exhibit

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR OUR 3RD ANNUAL ALL ABOUT ME CELEBRATION!

OCTOBER 22, 2008 9:30 AM PRE-K-KINDER

OCTOBER 23, 2008 1:30 PM 1ST & 2ND GRADES

TAKE A LOOK AT 2007's ACTIVITIES...
Our Día de los Muertos celebration was a wonderful experience for all! Kinder-5th grade students. They created a variety of printmaking projects based on the artwork of José Guadalupe Posada. We created block and collograph prints of happy calaveras, marigolds, monarchs and even a few ofrendas in our study. Our favorite subject was, of course, Catrina with her outlandish hat and charismatic smile! Our artwork provided an exhibit space for students singing a beautiful tribute “El Día de los Muertos” and the amazing dramatic and musical talents of Renato Ceron as he performed a montage of storytelling and song. Middle Schoolers were engaged in a spoken word performance by Mike Reyes. His performance focused on honoring memories of loved ones who had passed and had everyone "hooked" throughout.  Students shared “I honor” statements to remember beloved pets, friends and loved ones who have passed. Our Fine Arts Parent Ensemble Ofrenda was a blaze of purple and orange and the food was delicious!  Special thanks to Patricia Hernandez, Maria Carnedas, Gloria Ordonez and Dawn Judy who created our ofrenda, the numerous parents who cooked our wonderful food, and Rosario Cambron who was everywhere and picked up our pan de muerto!

UPCOMING 2008 DIA DE LOS MUERTOS ACTIVITIES
Exploring Performance Arts in Chicago!

THE MAGIC OFRENDA (THEATRE BUILDING CHICAGO)

All studentst Pre-K-3 will be experiencing this delightful muscial drama!
"After her grandma's passing, the heroine Anjelita travels to Mexico to visit her zany Grandpa Juan for "El Dia de los Muertos," an uplifting holiday celebrating loved ones no longer with us. With the help of her brother Mateo, painter Frida Kahlo and a comically lovable cast of spirits, Anjelita discovers the colorful tales of her family's past." ---Theatre Building Chicago

TARIMA SON (OLD TOWN SCHOOL OF FOLK MUSIC)

4th and 5th graders will be travelling to Old Town School of Music to see Tarima Son!
"Celebrate Mexico's answer to Halloween with dance and song from the time of the Aztecs t o the present day. Salut e the four directions, hear the story of La Llorona and learn the basic steps of the zapateado, la bamba and the 'fire dance.' Celebrate life and remember the past." ---Old Town School of Folk Music

MICHAEL REYES (BATEY URBANO & ZOCALO URBANO)

Mike Reyes will be sharing spoken word performance space with 6th-8th graders right here at Waters School. This is the third year Mr. Reyes has shared an interactive performance to honor Dia de los Muertos with our Middle Schoolers. We look forward to this year's event!
" A co-founder of two youth spaces in Chicago, Batey Urbano (a Puerto Rican Latino space) and Zocalo Urbano (a Mexican, Chicana/o Latina/o space), Reyes has worked as a youth organizer for more than 10 years. Creative arts combined with community activism have led to numerous speaking engagements and poetry readings at universities and high schools as well as teaching opportunities working with youth of color." ---SPEAKOUT!

BAN Network photo, current e-waste dumpsite in Guiyo, China

SCIENCE INTEGRATION : In 2006/2007, Middle schoolers created recycled material sculptures for the gardens of Waters School as an extension to our HP Technology For Teaching Grant. We used (safe) e-waste materials, found objects, pottery, tile and concrete to create global citizens to remind us all to "recycle, reuse, reduce and rethink ' and take environmental ownership of our planet as we walk through our school's beautiful gardens. We looked at the current e-waste disposal practices that in effect "transport harm" to other countries and study the outsider artist Nek Chand as an individual who transformed in his community through his committment to recycling and his passion for his art. Look to the HOMEWORK page to learn more about Nek Chand.

Sculpture from Nek Chand's Rock Garden of Chandigarh

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES INTEGRATION: In 2006/2007, 5th graders explored what makes a community in our SCALE afterschool program. We looked at the map of our school community and through fieldwork, ethnographic research, music and visual art documented its past, present and future.We planned numerous fieldtrips into the community armed with cameras, sketchbooks and a big sense of wonder. We looked at community icons such as the Chicago River, Sulzer Regional Library, The Cambodian American Heritage Museum (CAHM) and the Governor as well as be captured stories from shop owners and our many neighbors. We started this project by first looking at our own families and asking ourselves what community means to us. We culminated this project with a community exhibit at the CAHM at the end of the school year. Check out the incredible streetside photographic banners that surround Waters School that were a final product of this phenonomenal experience!

LANGUAGE ARTS INTEGRATION: In 2006, 4th and 5th grade students, parents, and siblings collaborated to create an interactive mural space on the 2nd floor of the school that documents family history through both image and text. This intergenerational project united parents and children as a community of storytellers who celebrate family stories, cultural folklore and real life experience as a tool to learn about our collective yet diverse pasts, creating a people's history of Waters School.

This project was sponsored by the Oppenheimer Family Foundation.

SCIENCE INTEGRATION & CULTURAL STUDIES: In 2005, students were busy exploring the Tree of Life across time and across space as a cultural and artistic metaphor for who we are and where we come from.This project was an extended response to the dynamic study of taxomonies, adaptation and habitat studied with Mr. Leki, Waters School teachers, parents and CAPE artists in the afterschool SCALE arts integration partnership. Students looked at how the Tree of Life has been interpreted throughout time (beginning with Mayan rock art) and throughout the world (Mexico to Mozambique). Students created their own interpretations and created a mural that shares their interpretations with the Waters School community. Take a look at the final product in the community installation space across from the office.