#BoardFeature

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Create colorful kabooms of brightness and fun with the Explosion Board by We R Memory Keepers! This handy tools lets you make explosion boxes for fun and dynamic memory keeping, gift giving, and more. It features guides and measurements to help you create boxes and lids in 7 nesting sizes, and 7 heart templates for decorative corner details. Make additional cards, pockets, and inserts to decorate the box panels, then add your photos, stickers, and washi tape, and your next project will be DIY-namite! This package includes one Explosion Board. INCLUDES: 1 Explosion Board FEATURES: Create boxes and lids in 7 nesting sizes, and 7 heart templates for decorative corner details PAIR: Pair with other products from We R Memory Keepers for awesome projects every time!

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Do More 24: Why do I support the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative?

Submitted by: Anna Walker, DC Collaborative Development Volunteer Images Submitted by: Anna Walker, DC Collaborative Monday, June 5, 2017

“Start Your Activism@Home” 

Why do I support the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative? 

I believe in the power of connecting classrooms with the creative community beyond the school walls. As Washingtonians, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to do more for the education of DC students. One way to do this is by participating in this year’s Do More 24 Campaign through the United Way. I’ve made my financial contribution to invest in the DC Collaborative’s work to provide arts and cultural field trips for students in our public schools and public charter schools, and I encourage you to do the same.

Start Your Activism @Home...

My commitment to the arts and humanities actually began many, many moons ago as a middle school student growing up in the inner city of Jackson, Mississippi. Our class was to join other schools in the city for a matinee performance of Verdi’s La Traviata at the Civic Auditorium. I grew up in a large family supported by my father’s modest salary as a brick mason. While struggling to provide for our basic living essentials, my parents would still gather up the necessary dollars required to have my siblings and I participate in school activities, including field trips. So, I was able to attend my first opera and I was enraptured, and the seed was planted for my lifelong advocacy for arts and humanities education.

A decade or so later, as an elementary school teacher in Jackson, many of my colleagues and I would often use our own money to make sure students whose parents could not afford to do so had the ability to go on field trips of all kinds, including arts exhibitions and performances. The joy I received in observing the light in my students’ eyes was immeasurable. Further, I noticed they demonstrated more interest and creativity in the classroom as a result of this cultural engagement. Later on my career path and life journey, I became an administrator with the local arts council and was able to use Community Development Block Grant funds to involve students from low-income families throughout the county in arts experiences in which they otherwise would not have had access.

Since transitioning to DC a few years ago, I have been thrilled to recently find the DC Collaborative, an organization whose unique mission is building connections between schools and the District’s vibrant arts and humanities institutions. It’s not just about bright eyes watching a performance; it’s about bright futures being nurtured. Let’s help families and schools not have to struggle to create these enriching educational experiences for DC students.  “Start Your Activism@Home” by contributing to the DC Collaborative through the Do More 24 Campaign. Your donation of $24 can make a difference for a DC student!

Make your donation now through June 8th by clicking here.

You could be the catalyst for bringing creative change to the education of our students and transforming a child’s life by inspiring a lifelong engagement with the arts and humanities.

~Anna Walker, Volunteer, DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative 

To donate to the DC Collaborative through June 8th: DoMore24

For more information about the DC Collaborative: www.dccollaborative.org

 Thanks Anna for sharing your story with us!

Quick Links:

Donate to the Collaborative’s Do More 24 Campaign

www.dccollaborative.org

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I Support the DC Collaborative

Board Member Feature: Gail Murdock 

Meet Gail Murdock, current member of the DC Collaborative Board of Directors. Follow Gail’s lead and support the education of students in the District by becoming a “Friend of the DC Collaborative” Individual Member.

Gail’s Background

Gail Murdock’s passion lies entrenched in early childhood education, and as an experienced teacher in the DC area, she believes firmly in the implementation of one thing: arts integration.

 “I have been teaching for a really long time. My heart is in early childhood education and I became interested in the idea of arts integration. I would try to introduce a lesson so that it might inspire the kids to think differently about whatever we were going to cover.”

Like many educators associated with the DC Collaborative, Gail feels strongly about hands-on learning and out of school experiences to keep students engaged. As an educator at Peabody Primary School, Gail along with her fellow colleagues, created “Art in the Garden,” an arts integration program that let students experience visual art firsthand in the school’s garden.

 “The program focused on Monet and Van Gogh.  The students would write their opinions of other artists and then write their opinion of their own art.  At the end of the year, we had a little art show. The program really integrated our curriculum.”

Beyond establishing “Art in the Garden,” Gail has an extensive background in curriculum writing, and has spent much of her career exploring different ways to keep children curious. Gail preaches the importance of hands-on learning, and she hopes that future educators will place more emphasis on these subjects.

 Most Memorable Field-trip

Gail has witnessed the positive impact of arts integration in her professional career and relies on her own childhood memories to keep in mind the importance of out of classroom experiences and arts integration. Growing up locally in Prince George’s County, her most memorable field-trip was with her class to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Gail remembers these trips well, and as result understands how much it means to her students.

 “Growing up school field-trips were such exciting experience for me. When kids go to museums, it has such a positive impact on their learning.”

Natural History Museum, image courtesy of http://www.abpan.com/smithsonian-natural-history-museum-in-washington-dc/

Why Gail Supports the DC Collaborative

Gail’s expertise in early childhood education and arts integration are part of what brought her to the DC Collaborative. Gail’s vision for arts education is a community where learning is fun, interesting, and interactive—for all students. Through her involvement as a board member at the DC Collaborative, she hopes to provide more access to out-of-school experiences as well as more arts integration programs.

Quick Links

Gail’s Bio

“Friend of the Collaborative” Individual Member

DC Collaborative Website