Giving students the gift of music Pleasant View Elementary students played “Name That Tune” with a visiting string quartet. Then they learned about the big surprise. Colorado Public Radio (CPR) and Mr. Holland’s Opus donated 19 musical instruments to fifth and sixth grade students so they could participate in Jeffco’s elementary instrumental music program. Pleasant View’s PTA president, Laurie Arnold-Kelly applied for and got the grant from CPR. “I’m a parent and a piano teacher and a lot of the kids in this school, they don’t have the opportunity to take private lessons. They can’t afford it,” ArnoldKelly said. “So I thought if they could get involved with music at the school level, that would be a good thing.” The students thought it was a
good thing, too. They jumped right in, trying out the different instruments, under the supervision of elementary music teachers Cid Breeser and Barbara Casanova. Fifth-grader Andie Micklich knew exactly what she wanted to play. “The cello because it’s big and loud,” she said. As students bowed and blew and tapped on their new instruments, Pleasant View Principal Janace Fischer marveled at the energy. “We feel really honored,” she said. “And it’s been a great partnership with Colorado Public Radio and our Parent Teacher Association,” Meantime the students agreed with fifth-grader Danny Barraza. “Cool!” he exclaimed.
Pleasant View Elementary Principal Janace Fischer and fifth-grader Gabe Frankel check out a donated bass.
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Colorado Rookie Art Educator of the Year, D.J. Osmack, at Kyffin Elementary School.
Art teacher named Rookie of the Year “Where’s your nose?” elementary art teacher DJ Osmack asked, pointing to a second-grader’s self-portrait. She giggled and started sketching a nose into her portrait. “Do you like the way this looks from far away?” Osmack asked another student, holding her portrait up so she could view it from a distance.
Osmack, who teaches at Kyffin and Ralston elementary schools, is always in motion. He visits each student’s table, asking questions, talking about lines, shapes, and textures. And the students love it. “He’s a cool teacher,” said Kyffin second-grader Joseph Wyatt. “’Cuz he does art really good.” That’s one reason the Colorado Art Education As-
sociation named Osmack the 2012 Rookie Art Educator of the Year. The association gives the award to a Colorado art teacher who has been teaching for five years or less. Osmack says he feels like he was born to teach art. “It’s just so inspiring for me to see how their minds work,” said Osmack. “The artist in me feeds off the energy and I love coming to
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work everyday.” He says coming to work reminds him of how he felt as a student in art class. And he says, his reward for his work is seeing students solve problems. “I think it’s that wow factor,” he said. “They get that spark in their eyes, when it’s like wow I figured it out. There’s no right or wrong answer in art, and that’s what I love.”
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October 2012