Braelynn Hudson, 7, plays a bongo drum during class Friday at Mark Twain Elementary.
The students at Mark Twain Elementary School spent the afternoon Friday experiencing the arts.
For two hours, the students relinquished their normal class schedules for The Art Experience. Mark Twain partnered with the Nevada Arts Council and brought in art experts to teach the students everything from dancing to poetry to karate.
“My goal with all of this is to bring something they may not always get to experience in their life,” said Ruthlee Caloiaro, principal of Mark Twain. “With all the things we have to teach, art is usually the first to get squeezed out. And the families at our school may not always be able to take the students to art museums and such, so we want to give them that exposure.”
Caloiaro received a grant from the Nevada Arts Council to be able to bring in experts from the organization to work with kids and teachers.
“The Nevada Arts Council graciously provided funds for us to be able to pull experts in fields that our teachers may not be experts in,” Caloiaro said.
The students were split into two sections; one who went to a karate demonstration in the gym that taught about bullying and respect, and the other section got split into six separate sessions and the students went to learn about either music, painting, visual arts, poetry or earth science. After about an hour, the children all switched sections.
First grader Julian said his favorite part of the day was getting to watercolor paint in class. Students were split into groups where each of them got to use two colors on their paintings to later put them together and create a giant school art piece.
“I like today with the art” Julian said. “I like getting to paint because we only can do it sometimes.”