February 2014: Expressing Yourself Through Art

In February, we revived our popular “Expressing Yourself Through Art” program. The idea behind this month’s theme was to teach students that the written word is just one of the many ways that they can express themselves. From 9 am to 10 am, students at our Jackson Elementary and Villa Parke locations worked with volunteers to improve their reading skills. Jackson Elementary, our newest location, saw a record turnout of students.

                                                     A KRS volunteer reads to a group of students at Jackson Elementary

For the second half of the morning, from 10 am to 11 am, we turned from reading to art, an opportunity for students to participate in some hands-on exercises and make a bit of a mess in the process! At Villa Parke, art therapist Amanda Sargenti spoke to the students about her love of art and how it allows the artist to express himself without necessarily using words. Using construction paper, glitter, and other donated art supplies, students made Valentine’s Day cards for their parents, their pets, or anyone else they could think of. Board member Karen Nakashima led the program at Jackson Elementary.

                                                                  Valentine's Day cards for every member of the family

We’d like to thank our wonderful speakers for donating their time and the art supplies for this month’s program. If you are interested in volunteering with us, we have the greatest need for reading tutors at our new Jackson Elementary site.