The three Fine Arts teachers at Waters are a very innovative and passionate group who take art to a whole new level for elementary school students. They use the arts to express world culture and current events. They then work closely with the classroom teachers to create projects that integrate subject matter from the students' other classes. The Fine Arts are truly used as a learning tool as well as an enrichment program. Arts integration is embraced in all curriculum areas and students perform curriculum based showcases throughout the year. An innovative, flexible schedule for the fine arts team allows for team teaching and project-based learning. CAPE Waters is one of the few fortunate schools in Chicago that has a strong (and in this case, veteran) partnership with CAPE (Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education.) CAPE helps schools integrate the arts into their curriculum by providing art specialists and visiting artists to local schools. These artists work with the teachers to incorporate a six week focused art theme into their class. Upcoming examples: The computer/technology class will learn clay-mation. The gym class will have a Movement and Dance teacher on-site SCALE: An afterschool science and arts integration program for 5th and 7th graders featuring dance, bookmaking and video technologies. GRANTS A.R.T. (Art Resources in Teaching) Illinois Art Council Grant Oppenheimer Family Foundation Grants Visual Art Recent Examples: The Tree of Life Mural Project Science Integration, Cultural Studies Last Spring, students were busy exploring the Tree of Life across time and across space as a cultural and artistic metaphor for who we are and where we come from. This study was an extended response to the dynamic study of taxonomies, adaptation and habitat studied in the ecology program. Students looked at how the Tree of Life has been interpreted throughout time beginning with Mayan rock art and throughout the world from Mexico to Mozambique. Students created their own interpretations and created a mural that shares their interpretations with the Waters School community. Self Portraits as a Means of Self-Expression Kindergartners created Me & My Favorite Things self portraits to enhance their homeroom All About Me and I am Special Units. Students learned about Frida Kahlo and her art of creating self portraits filled with important images from her life (her pets, her gardens and her love of Pre- Columbian artifacts). Students created oil pastel drawings of themselves and their favorite toys, fruits and animals. A Mural in Two Voices: Spring 2006 3rd and 5th grade students will work in collaboration with Parent Project to create a mural on the 2nd floor of our school. Students and parents will reference Carmen Lomas Garcia's Family Pictures to create a people's history of Waters School. This project is being sponsored by a grant from the Oppenheimer Family Foundation.