The 7th Grade Integrated Arts class taught by Mrs. Hernandez chose the River Action Project for their Integrated Arts project for 1st Quarter. Students used the inspiration of Vik Muniz who uses recycled trash to make art. First, the students photographed the river and river clean up in action. Then each group chose an image to turn into a work. The students traced the image onto a large piece of paper and then collected trash along the river as the materials used to build the work. The class split into 4 groups. River Action Kids Community Partner: River Action American River Foundation Community Partner: American River Foundation Pollution Prevention Team Community Partner: Living Lands & Waters The Clean Up Team Community Partner: XStream Cleanup Each group researched their community partner organization as well as the studied about our river including its importance to our community and why we should support these efforts. Farmer's Market Fundraiser Students sold prints of their artwork and buttons they'd made to raise money for their 4 partner organization. Students raised $350! HELP IF YOU CAN!
We still have art prints for sale- please support our cause and purchase artwork. It will be available at Fall Fest, November 5th.
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From L to R: Ainsley, Ellerie, Sulymar & Matilda
A large part of the 6th Grade Communication & Life Skills course centers around speaking including proper debate skills, manners & etiquette, and public speaking which is highlighted by end of quarter Soapbox Speeches. Four 6th graders from the class our chosen to give their soapbox speeches for the other students and parents. Three students are chosen based on having the highest scores and one student is chosen by their peers. Peer selected speaker Ainsley spoke about autism including the different kinds of autism, symptoms of autism and bullying that happens to people with autism. Ainsley shared her own experiences with her autism and provided ways other students could support their peers who are autistic. Ainsley ended her speech with this quote, "I'm what autism looks like." Ellerie focused on the importance of healthy eating - reminding us to eat our fruits and veggies! Ellerie spoke about the overall impact healthy eating has on your health & wellbeing including lower risks of heart disease, diabetes, and depression. She spoke about the importance of taking your vitamins - especially getting enough calcium & magnesium. Finally, cutting down on saturated fats and sugars are important to a healthy lifestyle. Beginning her speech with a quote from The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, Sulymar "Suly" dove into her speech on Deforestation and its impact on our world. Suly listed all of the products that are derived from trees as well as the natural resources our trees provide including filtering our air and protecting our cities from UV rays and keeping them cool. Just 1 acre of mature trees provides the oxygen needed for 18 adults for one year. Suly talked about the small steps we can all take to help end deforestation and combat climate change. Suly ended her speech asking the students and attendees listening "Are you going to be that person who makes that small step?" Matilda "Mili" argued for Equal Pay and Gender Discrimination. Sporting a US Women's soccer jersey, Mili focused her speech on the recent fight for equal pay by the US Women's Soccer team. Mili questioned why it's called the Women's World Cup and the World Cup instead of the Women's World Cup and the Men's World Cup. Mili encouraged students to have a dialogue with their parents to vote for presidential candidates who support equal pay and motivated students to do the same when they're old enough to vote. The Creative Arts Academy rented Chris Manning the photography studio to photograph local wrestlers for promotional materials.
The Des Moines based photographer also took headshots for the 6th grade theater students and discussed his work and process with the 6th grade communication and media arts students. Students took a Figge tour that focused on the Haitian collection. This was in preparation for the collaborative studio 1 installation that students will begin in a few weeks. Students will be designing an interactive installation in conjunction with Didier Williams exhibit and the themes found in his work. Stay tuned for more details. Exhibit to open in February 2020. 7th Grade Communication & Media Arts students visited Edwards Creative Services on October 14th, 2019. Students toured their printing production facilities where they do graphic design, vehicle wraps, tradeshow displays, custom built corporate designs, and event signs. They visited with on-site graphics designer, Matt Pulford. Edwards Creative Services will be printing the large scale advent calendar designs that students created for the German American Heritage Center. These will be revealed each day starting December 1st.
A group of 7th Grade Integrated Arts students has chosen to communicate the need for adopting/fostering/volunteering/donating at King's Harvest Pet Shelter by making a video to post on the website of both King's Harvest and the CAA.
Joel Franken Department Head of the Creative Arts Academy, Davenport school board Vice President Linda Hayes, and Robert Kobylski Superintendent of Davenport schools cut the ribbon during their official ribbon cutting ceremony to honor their move into their new downtown campus, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in Davenport. JESSICA GALLAGHER / [email protected] Article courtesy of JONATHAN TURNER [email protected] Oct 17, 2019 Over a year ago, the Creative Arts Academy of the Quad Cities moved just three-tenths of a mile to its current home in the Charles J. Wright Transit Center at 306 W. River Drive. But a special ceremony on Thursday was proof positive that it has come so much farther. Leaders, staff, supporters, and students of the six-year-old public arts magnet school gathered in the second-floor theater space to officially cut the ribbon for and sing the praises of the facility, open to any grade 6-12 student in the area. "This is a fantastic day," CAA department chairman Joel Franken said, noting about four years ago, as he and his wife Diane were at the Figge cafe, looking across the street at the building, she suggested it as a larger home for CAA, which launched in the downtown Davenport Public Library. Its current space was formerly occupied by the Eastern Iowa Community College District. Joel Franken Department Head of the Creative Arts Academy during their official ribbon cutting ceremony to honor their move into their new downtown campus, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in Davenport. JESSICA GALLAGHER / [email protected] "The stars aligned and we are here, and we really love it here," Franken said. "Some say our ribbon-cutting is overdue since we've been here a year, but a year ago our priorities were somewhat different. We had to set up shop, had to get things going first. In our classrooms, we had to get them presentable for our students. And we had to move those darn cubicles out of here." "We still have a lot of work to do - this is our black box theater and we have to get it more a black box theater, with seating that is more stadium seating, and raise the ceiling," plus new sound and lighting, he said. New Davenport superintendent Robert Kobylski called CAA "one of the crown jewels of our school system." "Our main job is to engage students in the learning process and to do that, we have to be creative and innovative. We have to make sure we touch students in ways they feel that their education is relevant, and instill in them that burning passion to learn," he said. "This is what education should look like in the 21st century. We're doing it here. The student outcomes are quite extraordinary." Robert Kobylski Superintendent of Davenport schools speaks during the Creative Arts Academy official ribbon cutting ceremony to honor their move into their new downtown campus, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in Davenport. JESSICA GALLAGHER / [email protected] "When the academy was housed in the library, I remember visiting and looking at the wonderful things that were going on, but thinking it was such a small space," said Linda Hayes, vice president of the Davenport school board. "This building became available and now here we are in this wonderful, beautiful, state-of-the-art facility, where we're able to afford more children the opportunity to experience some of the arts not available in other communities." "We are a world-class facility right now and our students are able to benefit from that; that's what the district is about," she said. Davenport school board Vice President Linda Hayes speaks during the Creative Arts Academy official ribbon cutting ceremony to honor their move into their new downtown campus, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in Davenport. JESSICA GALLAGHER / [email protected] The CAA currently has over 300 students, including some from Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley and Illinois Q-C districts, said Jessica Taylor, CAA coordinator, and development specialist. At the ceremony, she thanked many CAA investors and supporters, families and community partners. "One of our tag lines is, the community is our classroom, and we value our project-based learning. Without our community partners, we wouldn't have these real-world problems our students get to solve, and they get to have a voice in our community." They have over 70 partners, including the Figge, Putnam, German American Heritage Center, River Music Experience, Vera French, King's Harvest and Rick's House of Hope. Creative Arts Academy students play steel drums before the ribbon-cutting ceremony at their new downtown campus. JESSICA GALLAGHER / [email protected] "I love the CAA; I would even go so far as calling it a second home for me," CAA 8th-grader Reuben Leveridge said. "I'm not gonna forget any of the things I've done here because this is the place. I came here and I was surrounded by a bunch of cool, kind, different individuals, capable of a lot of things that I wasn't. That was disheartening at the beginning, but I used that as an encouragement to be a better person inside these buildings and outside." "When I first started here, I was awkward and shy," said 8th-grader Olivia Reinbold. "I soon learned the academy is a great place to just be yourself. Anybody here who wants to be different is encouraged and helped."
Miss Iowa, Emily Tinsman of Bettendorf, speaks during the Creative Arts Academy official ribbon cutting ceremony to honor their move into their new downtown campus, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in Davenport. JESSICA GALLAGHER / [email protected] Miss Iowa Emily Tinsman, a Bettendorf High graduate, spoke about the importance of her platform, arts education, and CAA.
"It is a place where people are allowed to express themselves, create new friendships and have experiences they wouldn't have otherwise," she said. "I reached out to the Creative Arts Academy because of all the wonderful work they were doing for students, creating an outlet for them to go beyond what they were learning in their classrooms. "They're able to come here and work on developing their skills," Tinsman said. "This is such a unique facility for students to have access to. I want to use this place as a role model for other schools to take initiative, creating more opportunities for students." Yesterday, Broadway's Next Hit Musical Improv Comedy cast made a special visit to the Creative Arts Academy. Dance, music, and theatre students who signed up for the workshop first were treated to a broadway musical number - made up on the spot by their own suggestions. The suggestion: My Toothbrush. Based on that suggestion, Deb came up with the title of the musical: "Touched by Lightning." From there she and her partner Ron improvised an entire musical number. Students were then taught how to listen for musical patterns to create a "hook" based on rhythm or leaps: pairing the "Unusual with the usual." They were also challenged to The hilarious Broadway's Next Hit Musical is the only unscripted theatrical awards show. Master improvisers gather made up, hit song suggestions from the audience and create a spontaneous evening of music, humor, and laughter. The audience votes for its favorite song and watches as the cast turns it into a full-blown improvised musical - complete with memorable characters, witty dialogue, and plot twists galore. BNHM has been seen recently at The Triad, Tribeca Film Festival, and at the New York Musical Theater Festival, among many others. Students explored design through symmetry and watercolor techniques. Guess artist and watercolor extraordinaire, Ralph Iaccarino, graciously shared his expertise of the medium with 7th grade CAA visual arts students. |