Art and the Written Word

Art and the Written Word of 2004 integrates art and literacy, supporting the school’s philosophy that the creative process is a catalyst for enhancing children’s emerging reading, writing and oral language skills. Children are studying the development of writing forms from prehistoric times to the modern age – pictograms, hieroglyphics, clay tablets, parchment, wax seals, paper making, and the printing press.

The project is used by several after-school classes as part of their literacy curriculum. In the first-grade classroom, the teacher and environment educator incorporated a study of trees and paper recycling, culminating in the making of their own recycled paper. The second-grade classroom is investigating the materials used in writing and learning about the plants that can be used to make paper. The children made their own paper from daylily leaves harvested in the garden.

As part of the project, the artist-in-residence encourages the children to design their own symbolic and written language, experiencing the deeper connections of language as an art form, creative expression, and exciting way to understand themselves, each other, the world and its history. Once completed, the children will install their ceramic scroll in the schoolyard to revisit and reflect on their exploration of writing throughout history.