The Colquitt County Board of Education has contracted with the Colquitt County Arts Center to bring a comprehensive fine arts program to students in the 10 elementary schools in Colquitt County.

This new program is three-fold as an opportunity for the students to have an exciting and memorable arts experience while meeting the needs of the curriculum in the arts, science, history and math.

Every 2nd and 4th grader in the system will experience the Kaleidoscope Children’s Museum and the Sensory Garden during a daylong visit to the center during 2013-14.

Staff from the arts cebter will teach ten projects in the visual arts to a maximum of five teachers and/or paraprofessionals from each elementary school in order to empower schools to provide K-1st, 3rd, and 5th graders with hands-on, site-based art activities. Two day long workshops in September will be conducted at the arts center for this professional development, and projects will then be introduced to the schools for classroom activities.

An additional “Arts Experience” for all elementary schools will be a traveling trunk and display of Frederick Remington Bronze Sculptures.

 The exhibition will include components of science and history along with the arts as students discover the artistic process of casting artworks into bronze and the life of the artists.

“These activities and experiences will allow for the integration of several disciplines: the arts, science, and history with the intent of highlighting the relationship between disciplines and of targeting specific Georgia performance standards,” said Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum/Instruction Dr. Todd Cason.

Arts center Director Jeff Ophime said he and his staff are excited about the opportunity that this program will bring to students.

“We are always looking for new ways to share the arts,” he said.

 “This is a perfect approach to expand our audience while bringing arts to the students of the Colquitt County Schools.  It is a win-win for everyone.”