Art in Action art supplies.
Photo courtesy of Art in Action.
As your children head back to the classroom, you are given a seemingly endless list of volunteer opportunities. From handling room mom duties to manning snack bars at after school events to sharing professional expertise with students, parents can get involved in myriad ways. If you're lucky, your school offers Art in Action, a largely volunteer-run program that teaches art history and appreciation by letting kids get crafty.
Art in Action is a non-profit organization that works with schools to bring art into the classroom, and its San Francisco Bay Area headquarters are in Menlo Park. It offers age-appropriate curriculum for Kindergarten through eighth grade, and each year introduces a wide variety of artistic media by famous artists. Each grade's curriculum has a theme, such as perspective in art, and a monthly lesson taught by a parent volunteer.
For instance, Kindergarteners learn about Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" painting, and then they use tempera paints to create their own version of the famous still life. Also, first graders learn how to make clay sculptures similar to those made by Native Americans, second graders analyze the Lascaux cave paintings and use natural pigments to draw animals, third graders talk about Joan Miro's "Carnival of Harlequin" and learn about the different artistic elements used in an abstract painting, and fourth graders use Salvador Dali's "Swans Reflecting Elephants" as a jumping off point for their own fantastical paintings. Fifth graders focus on American art, from colonial artists like Winslow Homer to pop artists like Andy Warhol, sixth graders learn about ancient art and continue working with tempera paints, chalk and oil pastels, and clay, and seventh graders analyze the work of Renaissance artists, including Jan van Eyck, Sandro Botticelli, and Leondardo da Vinci. And in the final year of the Art in Action program, eighth graders experiment like the American realists have, telling a story with mixed media, drawing black and white portraits, and creating collages to express an opinion.
Being a volunteer Art in Action teacher is one of the most fun ways to volunteer in the classroom -- and it's easy. Art in Action provides a binder to walk you through each lesson, and when you get to the classroom, you explain the month's artwork, demonstrate the art project, and encourage your students to create their own art. And at the end of the school year, each child has an impressive portfolio of artwork.
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