“This world is but a canvas to our imagination.” – Henry David Thoreau
Parent Lindsey Burns is making a classroom difference in a special way, leading once-a-month art discussions and hands-on activities that help young students explore their creativity and imagination.
Burns is a parent Art Docent at Heron School, one of two Natomas Unified campuses – Natomas Park Elementary is the other – offering the program in which volunteers receive online training and are provided access to age-appropriate class lessons and art projects to share with students.
“I think this is a great program for Heron and any other school that uses art docents,” said Karlye Fitzhugh, the 4th grade teacher whose class benefits from Burns’ leadership of a 90-minute segment each month, which includes discussion and a hands-on activity.
“I think it just brings a little bit of enrichment to these children, a little bit of art and a hands-on activity,” Fitzhugh. “I think it’s awesome, too, that it’s done by a parent volunteer, someone outside their teacher. I think it’s a really cool experience for kids.”
At one recent session, Burns discussed artistic features of lithographs featuring trains, such as dimension, color, light absorption, refraction. The 4th graders then created the image of a train using Lego-like blocks, traced its shape with a marking pen, then hand painted the image.
As the lesson drew to a close, Fitzhugh asked her students whether they would like to continue painting during their quiet time later that day. The kids’ response was quick, emphatic and nearly unanimous – yes!
The Art Docent program is consistent with Heron’s emphasis on STEAM learning, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. It also reflects NUSD’s District Goal to, “Engage parents and families to support student success in school.”
“I think each child has a different gift, and sometimes math and reading and some of the more standard subjects aren’t necessarily reflected in that gift,” said Burns, who gets satisfaction from encouraging kids’ creativity and imagination.
Fitzhugh said that learning about art also can benefit students in other, more traditional academic subjects.
“Art can be integrated in so many ways,” she said. “Art is part of our history, art is important to science, and a lot of artists use math – so I think art is important to integrate in all aspects (of education.)”
At Natomas Park Elementary, Lindsey Blair, a parent who heads up the school’s docent program, said she thinks art is good for kids emotionally. “I just think it’s good for the kids to do art. Sometimes, for kids who are stressed, it’s a way to get the stress out or express themself. I know my kids enjoy it, so I thought, ‘I can do this.'”
Perhaps 20th-century physicist Albert Einstein touted the value of imagination and creativity most eloquently, but simply, by saying: “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
