Artists enriching students

SPANISH FORK — Rees Elementary School officials believe the fine arts enhance a student's ability to learn basic skills.

So they're bringing in talent in a number of fine arts fields to help engage youngsters.

The school just concluded a three-week "Artist in Residence" program with artists from the fields of music, dance, visual arts and theater. Teacher Amy Bird said students will then showcase what they learned.

"(The arts) have a strong affect on reading and math and writing," said Chris Roberts, teacher and arts coordinator. "We focus on the whole kid. It adds quite a bit to (the learning process). They develop better self-confidence and problem-solving strategies."

Besides, he said, emphasis on the arts is in the state curriculum, although no tests are administered.

"Most schools don't teach the arts because they are not tested," he said.

At Rees, teachers are organized into five teams that then teach the various art forms. Students rotate among those teachers. Although the amount of arts teaching varies with the teams, teachers on Roberts' team teach the arts for 40 minutes every day, Roberts said.

Rees brings in professionals through a grant provided by the Utah Arts Council and Trust Lands fund. Visitors include visual artists Jann Haworth, Carole Warburton and Mary Wells; opera singer Serena Kanig, poet Lorraine Ferra and dancers Rachel Swenson and Chantall Downing.

Haworth, a pop artist, helped create the cover for the Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" album. She helped students create visual art.

Warburton taught students how to create clay objects.

Ferra wrote "A Crow Doesn't Need a Shadow — A Guide to Writing Poetry From Nature." She led students in several poetic exercises and taught teachers to write poetry.

Kanig led first- and second-grade students in the opera "Hansel and Gretel" and the older students in "The Magic Flute."

Wells taught children how to create a hand-made book.

Swensen and Downing taught students a dance based on the book "Old Turtle and the Broken Truth."

It all comes together beginning today when the first-grade classes present "Hansel and Gretel" from 1:15-1:45 p.m. From 2-2:45 p.m. the multi-fourth-grade classes will present "The Magic Flute."