Awarding funds
Congratulations to the Marshwood Education Foundation for funding two projects recently that will benefit learners in their communities.
Thanks to the foundation members for their commitment to education and for providing the funds to make the following two opportunities possible.
The first $3380 grant was awarded to Central School 2nd Grade teacher Pam Mulcahey and parent Brian Evan-Jones for “Literacy Through Poetry” and will fund an artist-in-residence program to support 2nd graders in poetry writing. In addition, the residency will support a Creative Writing Group for any 1st – 3rd grade students, along with mentors from Marshwood High School. The residency program will work with 2nd grade students and teachers to help build student confidence and writing skills and improve teacher instruction. Each student will have 1 poem that will be published and printed by Chapbooks. A Student-Parent writing event will also be organized to give students and parents the opportunity to write a poem together. The creation of a magazine will also provide students with another opportunity for publication.
Brian Evans Jones is on the Maine Arts Commission Teaching Artist roster at https://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/Teaching-Artist-Roster. The artists on the roster have demonstrated mastery of an artistic discipline, knowledge and expertise in sequential arts instruction, good communication skills, planning and organizational ability, and an understanding of their target learners. The Maine Arts Commission maintains the roster as a service to artists interested in teaching in Pk-12 school settings and community organizations as well as schools looking for artists to provide residency’s for students.
The second grant, in the amount of $5100, was awarded to Diane Reppucci at Eliot Elementary to fund “Local Stories”, an integrated arts project that combines local history, research and community collaboration to create a mural that documents and preserves the stories of Eliot. 2 artists-in-residence from “Local Stories” will work with all 2nd grade students to help them conduct interviews, research and investigations to create a school mobile mural and a live theater performance.
