Art Program at Thurgood Marshall Acad Lower School

Teacher art workshop with The Studio Museum in Harlem

The Thurgood Marshall Way

At Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School, we stand apart because of our excellence in academic achievement. There are qualities unique to TMALS that we need to maintain in order to remain a school of choice in our village of Harlem. Our students are aware of their heritage, they are cultured and talented. Our students are artistic and have visited various museums and galleries throughout NYC and beyond and exhibited their own work for the community. Our students recite the poetry of Langston Hughes . Our classes are named out of respect for leaders and Harlem landmarks. WE ARE SPECIAL. WE ARE DIFFERENT. Our goal is to continue to raise the self esteem of our children. They will achieve greatness if they believe in their own greatness. We have to nurture and care for this garden in order for it to grow.

In order to expand while retaining our special qualities as a school community, we must continue to work together. We strive towards a community of mutual respect. Together we have, through conversations and meetings compiled a list of school wide rules and procedures that we must all be aware of and adhere to for our continued success. We must work as a team and a family to make this possible.

Introducing…

“The Thurgood Marshall Way”

The Thurgood Marshall Way (continued)

The Thurgood Marshall Way

v Students will know and recite our creed

v Students will walk through hallways silently

v Students will walk in two quiet lines when traveling with teachers

v Students will be closely monitored and not left unattended

v Teachers will adhere to introducing the monthly leaders for Leaders Lane and will also adhere to the poetry reciting schedule

v Staff, PTA and families will strongly encourage our uniform policy

v Caps will not be worn by boys in the school building

v Instructional time will be valued and used appropriately to the benefit of the students

v Students will speak respectfully towards adults and one another

v Etiquette and manners will be modeled and expected from all members of the school community

v Classes should be bathroomed as a group

( students will be permitted individually in cases of emergency. Lower grade students in pairs if traveling downstairs)

v Students in hallways will walk with a pass

v All classes will use the Adam Clayton Powell staircases to travel downstairs to lunch and ALL classes will use the Frederick Douglas staircase to travel up from lunch

v Teachers will schedule meetings with parents and refrain from meeting with parents while in charge of their classes

v Staff will adhere to the daily schedule so as not to inconvenience other staff and students by late arrivals and pick ups

v School heading will be uniformly written across all grades

v All staff will encourage the behaviors as outlined in the International Baccalaureate Learner profiles and Attitudes. These will be posted in all rooms, hallways and cafeteria

v All staff should MODEL professional behavior, tone and attire for the students while encouraging them to exhibit the same

v During Lunch, school yard will only be used by those classes having lunch

v In order to preserve valuable instructional time, yard time will be scheduled, limited and granted by request only

v Students will be closely monitored during yard time, staff members will remain attentive and focused on students when they are in their care

v Staff will praise and encourage students as often as possible for positive behaviors

v To maintain safety, students should enter and be seated quietly by their teachers. Teachers should arrive on time for lunch pickup, gather students quickly and exit the café in an orderly manner

Art Letter to Parents 2009 - 2010

September 1, 2009

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome to another fabulous year in the arts at Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School!!!

This year your child will participate in the Faith Ringgold Museum Ambassadors Art Program at Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School. We have attached some information to describe the program’s highlights. We are renaming our art program this year to emphasize the wonderful relationship we have maintained with artist/historian/storyteller Faith Ringgold and her Anyone Can Fly Foundation. We have received a great deal of recognition for our art program here at TMALS and expect that it will continue this year. Our students, parent and grandparent artwork will be exhibited and published throughout the year. So far, we have partnerships with The Abyssinian Development Corporation, New Visions for Public Schools,TASC, The Studio Museum in Harlem, MOMA, The Anyone Can Fly Foundation, The UFT minigrant, HBO Family and more. Our art program has been featured in the Amsterdam News and the New York Teacher.

We are attaching media release forms that will grant us permission to use the students’ artwork, photos, videos and writing throughout the school year in relation to these partnerships and future partnerships. We have our own media form and individual organizations that we partner with may also have their own media release forms. Please sign the attached forms if you give permission for images to be used. Parents and family members who participate in workshops and special events may also be photographed and or videotaped for the same purposes. If you want to view some examples of the publications that we have participated in, you may visit the following websites. In order for your child to participate in these special programs and publications as well as future programs, please sign all attached media release forms.

Current websites featuring the Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School Visual Art Program:

http://tmalsartprogram.blogspot.com

http://www.uft.org/news/teacher/feature/maxi_learning/

http://www.uft.org/news/teacher/feature/fund_city/

http://www.uft.org/news/teacher/feature/world_class_education/

http://tmalsartprogram.blogspot.com/2009/07/link-to-spaghetti-book-club.html

www.artsonia.com (this is new this year and student work will be added to this site)

We expect this list to grow as we continue to highlight the amazing work of our students, teachers and families at Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School, we hope you will join us in this celebration of our excellent work.

Sincerely,

Dawn Brooks DeCosta, Fine Arts Coordinator, Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School

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Art Program at Thurgood Marshall Acad Lower School

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The People Behind the Art Program

Important Information

The Thurgood Marshall Way

The Thurgood Marshall Way (continued)

Leaders Lane 2009 - 2010

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Blog Archive

Contributors

Art Letter to Parents 2009 - 2010

Download Annual Arts in Schools Report

More Information about our school

Celebrating the Anyone Can Fly Foundation

Kindergarten & 1st Grade Art - 2006/2007 school year