Program puts arts into classrooms

Ta, ta, ti ti, ta. Ti ti, ta, ti ti, ta. Fourth-grade students begin tapping the music rhythms out on their mallets.

Once they have the rhythm down, they play it on the xylophones sitting in front of them. The next step is to break the rhythms into parts, and by the end, they have a layered, three-part harmony.

Music is important to students and faculty at Oakridge Elementary, 4305 S. Jupiter Drive. The elementary is a model school for the art works for kids program and is infused with the arts.

On May 23, students performed some of the songs and skills they have learned for legislators and the state superintendent. The demonstration was intended to showcase the benefits of art programs and to encourage legislators to consider allocating funds for the Arts Learning Option for Academic Achievement. The motion would provide funding for a high-quality art program geared for students in kindergarten through third grade designed to improve test scores.

"This is one example of the kind of teaching and learning that can happen ... (when the school) is infused," said Lisa Davis James, a spokeswoman for art works for kids.

Dianne Krehbiel, music specialist for Oakridge Elementary, showed how curriculum was entwined in the music she teaches during the demonstration.

Students sang "Wheel of Water," which taught them the water cycle. "Amazing Rocks" emphasized all three types of rocks: igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary.

Jim Sorenson Jr., whose mother, Beverly Sorenson, founded art works for kids, said a study done at Jackson Elementary in Salt Lake City showed that students participating in the program had 30 percent higher test scores in language and math than others not in the program.

"They have a greater interest in learning and grasp concepts more when art is integrated into the core curriculum," he said.

James Sorenson, Jim's father, said art also becomes a gateway.

"Arts are a precursor to things students may do when they get bigger," he said. "Kids need something to show how art works for them. ... Art is not separated from science."

Nancy Nebeker, chairwoman of the Oakridge Community Council, also is a proponent of arts education.

"(The art program at Oakridge) takes education from black and white to color," she said. "It transcends all areas of learning ... (and) took education from teaching for the test to learning for life."

Art works for kids is a private Utah nonprofit foundation that has contributed more than $20 million over 12 years to support arts education in Utah schools and universities. The program has impacted more than 80,000 elementary school children since its inception.

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E-mail: twalquist@desnews.com