Plains second graders show off science knowledge through art

PLAINS – Second graders at Plains Elementary School showed off what they had learned about the arts and animal habitats of the area, last week, by putting on a play for the community.

There were two plays performed, one for each of the second grade classes. The first was the story of a grizzly bear who was trying to learn who he is; as he traveled the wilderness, he lamented not being able to do the things other animals did, but eventually learned about his own capabilities that made him special. The second play was about two brown bears trying to find their home and searching the various habitats of Western Montana to find more bears.

After each play, the students gave a fact about the animals they portrayed. These ranged from what the animal eats to information about their biology.

For most of this term, the students had weekly sessions with guest instructors and artists. For approximately an hour and a half each Friday, the kids learned about art, theater and music. They then had these applied to their science lessons, learning about animal habitats through the arts.

This is a learning system called arts integration. The theory is students learn the subject matter better when they are actively involved in it, rather than just listening to the teacher; by drawing, painting or acting out how an animal lives and where they make their home, the kids should retain the information longer.

The plays were written by the students and the sets as well as costumes were made as craft projects. They had the help of their teachers and the guest art instructors, but the creative processes were all on the kids.

According to Rosie Ayers, one of the guest teachers, they taught the kids about writing stories and the different aspects needed in them. As they started creating their scripts, the teachers gave the kids lots of freedom in their storylines. She recalled the stories were very close to the students and the struggles they are starting to face, asking who they are and where they belong.

“The interesting thing is, at this age the themes … are very prevalent,” she said. “So it was actually very natural from the curriculum and backstory work we had been doing that they all just naturally picked themes that were similar.”

The arts integration curriculum was a test run of the program in the school. Second grade teachers Nichole Cockrell and Ruth Hamilton both felt the program was a resounding success though and are looking forward to hopefully doing it again in the future.

Ayers also hopes arts integration is brought back for another year; she hopes to see such programs adopted for all the grades of a school. 

She said she hoped funds were provided to allow the school to bring the program back in the future. She felt integrated arts were a new frontier in education; being able to bring artists in from the community would help strengthen the kids’ ties to their neighbors as well as making education a community endeavor. 

“Our educators work so hard and they need the community’s support,” said Ayers. “Especially artists and professionals … to help them teach bigger and broader subjects.”

Ayers felt teaching the arts was big for the kids and their future. She noted the process of creating the plays improved their improvisational and problem solving skills as well as teaching them the curriculum content. These skills will also help them succeed better in their future career opportunities.

“I think it was a wonderful opportunity for them to learn science through theater and I think they demonstrated their knowledge tonight,” Cockrell said.