S•M•Art Schools
“I can’t thank you enough for the experience you gave my students this week. The empowered looks on their faces and in their voices was pure magic today. ”
FCI educators, artists, scientists, and engineers bring multi-week residencies into public schools, offering student-led projects and showcases of learning for the community. FCI also offers direct professional development for educators.
Percussion and Sound Wave Technology: Youth Alive musician Jerome Edgarton leads the 4th grade students at Stearns Elementary School in an exploration of sound waves using drumming and rhythm.
Geology & Stop Motion Animation
W.E.B. Dubois 7th Grade students studied convection currents, geologic modeling, and the changing landscape of Monument Mountain. Working with FCI artists Angel Heffernan they made original stop motion movies to showcase their learning and share with the 6th graders in a Geology FilmFest.
Energy and Engineering: Creative Design to Save the World
Muddy Brook Elementary School 4th graders worked with FCI Executive Director Maria Rundle and local professionals Laura Stone and Larry Gould (who both have built wind turbines in the Berkshires) to delve into the state’s engineering design and energy standards through a hands-on project that generates electricity.
Inspired by biomimicry, students worked collaboratively to design wind turbine blades that would transfer wind energy into electrical energy. The residency culminated in a gallery walk of the various designs.
This residency at BHRSD was funded in part by a STARS grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Winter Shadows: Light and Shadow Puppetry
South Egremont School students explored Pre-K and K Science and Engineering standards about change of state due to temperature, animals’ seasonal habits, and what causes shadows and how they change with FCI educators Rachel Gall and Maria Rundle as well as musicians Mike Prentice and Chris Mullins.
This multi-week residency culminated in a retelling of a folk tale, Abiyoyo, using shadow puppets, song, and live banjo. Students led their families on an exploration of several science stations and fed them a feast based on their creative learning.
This Southern Berkshire Regional School District residency is funded thanks in part to a STARS grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Born to Groove: Music, Movement, and Science
Music and Movement with science themes for Pre-K learners. Students groove along with songs, rhythm games, call and response, led and freestyle dances.
Thanks to Charlie Keil and the Born to Groove fund for making this program possible at Falls Village Day Care Center, Canaan Child Care and Southern Berkshire Child Care.
Dynamic Dance
Undermountain Elementary School 4th graders explored physics and dance with FCI Educator Rachel Gall and local dancer Tom Truss.
Physics concepts of speed, kinetic and potential energy, collision and energy transfer were modeled through dance and movement. Students further explored the 4th grade energy standards through experimenting with ramps and rolling objects, creating a drum rhythm through the ramps, as well as creating working circuitry and LED snap bracelets and making their own thermometers.
As a culminating showcase, the 4th grade invited younger students to visit their Exploration Stations and taught them about physics through hands-on activities and dance.
This SBRSD residency is funded in part by a STARS grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Dynamic Dance
New Marlborough Central 4th graders explored physics and dance with FCI Educator Rachel Gall and local dancer Tom Truss.
Physics concepts of speed, kinetic and potential energy, collision and energy transfer were modeled through dance and movement. Students further explored the 4th grade energy standards through experimenting with ramps and rolling objects, creating a drum rhythm through the ramps, as well as creating working circuitry and LED snap bracelets and making their own thermometers.
This SBRSD residency is funded in part by a STARS grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Dynamic Dance
Lee Elementary School 4th graders explored physics and dance with FCI Educator Rachel Gall and local dancer Sarah Daunt.
Physics concepts of speed, kinetic and potential energy, collision and energy transfer were modeled through dance and movement. Students further explored the 4th grade energy standards through experimenting with ramps and rolling objects, creating a drum rhythm through the ramps, as well as creating working circuitry and LED snap bracelets and making their own thermometers.
The culminating event was a performance for the school and families with several science investigation stations as well as a series of dances, all accompanied by live fiddle music.
This Lee Public Schools residency is funded in part by a STARS grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Lee Educational Enrichment Fund.
The Moving Mantle
The Monument Valley 7th graders explored their Earth Science standards through sculpture, animation, and geologic investigations with Rachel Gall.
In this residency 7th and 8th grade students master concepts in plate tectonics by producing stop motion clay animations that model changes in the Earth’s crust over geologic time. The activity will culminate with an art installation of a geologic timeline.
This residency is funded in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Movement is Magnetic
Eighth graders at Mt. Everett will work with FCI Educator Lindsey Berkowitz to learn the state’s physics standards. Through experimentation and movement, students find evidence to support the idea that objects exert magnetic, mass-related, or electrical force on each other without directly touching - the theory of electromagnetic fields!
As a summative project students will create original magnetic levitation vehicles that demonstrate student understanding of the strength of electric forces with varying distances and magnitudes of electric charge.
This SBRSD residency is funded in part by the MA Cultural Council’s STARS grant.
Moving Mantle
Students at the Liberi School explored vast geologic concepts through sculpture, animation, and investigations with FCI Educator Rachel Gall.
Out of This World
5th grade students at Lee Elementary School worked with FCI Educator Rachel Gall to learn the Earth use stop motion clay animation to model the motions of the sun, moon and Earth, the cause of day and night and the effect of Earth’s motions on shadows throughout the day and year. Students ask questions and create models to explain the 5th grade astronomy standards about the cause of day and night and the effect of Earth’s motion on shadows throughout the day and year.
This residency was funded in part by the Lee Education Enrichment Fund.