Contact us today to receive your free Creativity Express Online Teacher license, active from the date of login until June 30, 2010!

The Family Choice Awards was founded by the Family Magazine Group, America’s largest free parenting publication, and is recognized as the premier resource for the very best in children’s and parenting products and services.

View more information here: http://www.ed.gov/programs/artsedmodel/applicant.html

View the request page here: http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r8/asesuni09rfa.asp

Acer and Intel believe that giving kids the tools to learn can be transformational—inspiring students to reach their potential, and teachers to excel.

Now’s your chance to transform a K-12 school library into a 21st century learning lab—with the latest technology and expertise from Acer and Intel.

Nominate the school of your choice by January 17, 2010 and see what a difference you can make.

Click here to learn more…

Education Department town hall covers students’ questions on college, academic standards, and global competitiveness

“We need to be much more creative and innovative in how we do things,” Duncan said. For instance, students today use cell phones and PDAs on a regular basis, he said, so coming up with creative ways to deliver content and curriculum involving technologies that students like to use is one way to grab students’ attention.

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All of the New York City Parks & Recreation After School Sites have been using Creativity Express since early 2008. Click here to download a PDF sample exercise used in their classroom.

Here are some examples of student’s artwork to go with the lesson:

Check out this report from The Center for Arts Education on the direct correlation between Strong Arts Programs and High Graduation Rates!

http://www.cae-nyc.org/staying-in-school/arts-and-graduation-report

Check out this artwork created by this 6th grade middle school student from Jackson Hole Middle School, from his own photo!  This is from our Creativity Express Creativity Builder “Monkeying Around.”

A recent 93-page report on online education, conducted by SRI International for the Department of Education, has a starchy academic title, but a most intriguing conclusion: “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”

Click here for the full story…

Does education in the arts transfer to seemingly unrelated cognitive abilities? Researchers are finding evidence that it does. Michael Posner argues that when children find an art form that sustains their interest, the subsequent strengthening of their brains’ attention networks can improve cognition more broadly.

Check out this fascinating article at The Dana Foundation’s website - Click Here

Woodcraft Rangers’ Huntington Park Elementary After School program in Los Angeles using Creativity Express!

Special thanks to Mandy and her dad Steve for sharing with us:

“My 6-year old daughter Mandy loves drawing and, she and I went through most of the Creativity Express lessons and plan to finish all of the lessons soon. She has learned a lot from them. Here’s some of her artwork.”

-Steve

The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to providing leadership in arts education by inspiring all young Americans through rich arts experiences. A high quality education in the arts opens a critical gateway to a lifetime of appreciation and engagement. For two reasons, learning in the arts is an indispensable part of American education: 1) children celebrate and participate in their cultural inheritance, and 2) academic and social maturity follow directly from arts education experiences.

The Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth category offers funding for projects that help children and youth acquire knowledge and understanding of and skills in the arts. Projects must provide participatory learning and engage students with skilled artists, teachers, and excellent art. Funded projects apply national or state arts education standards. All projects submitted to the Learning in the Arts category must include:

• Experience: Students and their teachers will have the chance to experience exemplary works of art — in live form where possible.
• Study: Through the guidance of teachers, teaching artists, and cultural organizations, students will study works of art in order to understand the cultural and social context from which they come, and to appreciate the technical and/or aesthetic qualities of each work. Where appropriate, study will include the acquisition of skills relevant to practicing the art form.
• Performance: Informed by their experience and study, students will create artwork. In the case of literature, the primary creative activities will be writing and/or recitation.
• Assessment: Students will be assessed according to national or state arts education standards. Where appropriate, projects will employ multiple forms of assessment including pre- and post-testing.

NOTE: The required Learning in the Arts components may be provided in partnership with other organizations.

The Arts Endowment strongly endorses the arts as a core academic subject area. Organizations must provide curriculum frameworks and carefully designed evaluations to assess every child’s progress in achieving proficiency in the arts. In this category, the Arts Endowment hopes to call attention to projects that recognize and cultivate best practices in the field of arts education for children and youth.

Click here to view more information or to apply.