Jazz and NYC at the Museum School

The Harlem Renaissance? Jazz? Poetry? Art? France? 2nd Graders? All going on at the Museum School in the Bronx. Over 3 workshops these second graders experienced jazz and the Harlem Renaissance through music, art, poetry, history and international flavor. Each class focused on a different part of jazz and Harlem. First was looking the historical background and how jazz traveled across the country and the world to end up in the neighborhood just South of them. The second class looked at art; how it was influenced by feelings of jazz. Each student created their own "Jazz Art" piece of their favorite part of New York City in an emotion of their choosing. The "happy" Coney Island screamed for ice cream and sun and the "sad' Statue of Liberty teared up in blues. The final class took the words of poets such as Langston Hughes and Claude McKay and put them to jazz. The students then created their own poems inspired by their own pictures. We are just waiting for their final event to see how this poetry jam turned out.

   The Bronx Zoo

  Everyone is fighting
  Terrible, angry, mean
  Animals, tigers, elephants
  They are always fighting each other
  Raaawwrrr

Globo Gorilla at PS636

Meet Globo Gorilla: a friendly yet air-travel frightened friend, who has started a journey through the ethnic neighborhoods of New York City. Over this coming spring, the second graders at Public School 636 will send Globo all over the world in their own backyard. This program is aimed at creating an awareness and acceptance of the different cultures around New York. It started with a fantastic visit from Lucia from Spain. She took them on a theatrical visit to her favorite holiday, the Night of San Juan. The students helped her mix her sangria, cook up her omelet and sit on the beach before they all created their very own fireworks to shoot up their dreams and desires into the sky. After, the students each gave Globo some suggestions about what he could do in Spanish Harlem. Perhaps Globo might grab himself a sangria or hot chocolate, as Lucia had described? Or maybe he'll wear the golden earrings and fan that Lucia had brought for the students to try? Or he could try his feet at some flamingo dancing? Whatever it may be, this was a fantastic first visit for Globo and all the students at PS636. We can't wait to see where the next Global Guide takes us!

Globo Gorilla Artwork by ecol