THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 9, 1996 TAG: 9607090232
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: 128 lines
Thirty-five children plunged their hands into the Caribbean Sea Monday, danced their way up the mountains of Jamaica and went shopping for pineapple in an open-air market.
The 4- and 5-year-olds made their Caribbean trip in less than an hour, all in the safety of their Head Start classroom, all to the rousing beat of reggae music.
``Let's do some Caribbean dancing!'' said Terlene D. Terry-Todd, a dancer from Sterling who was their Caribbean guide. ``One-two-three, hop. Swing your arms now.''
Terry-Todd's visit to three Head Start classes at the Mary Peake Early Childhood Center this week is part of a pilot program in which artists use art, dance and music to teach 3- to 5-year-olds.
With a $200,000, two-year state grant, the artists are now branching out across Virginia. The goal is to help children - through the arts - learn about different cultures, the environment and geography, and to lay a better groundwork for reading, writing and mathematics.
The professional artists come from the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, a Vienna, Va.-based group that has received honors from the White House for its work with at-risk children.
The institute was founded in 1981, and has artists in 1,000 preschool classrooms in 30 states. In Virginia, the Wolf Trap artists have taught mainly in Washington-area schools.
Terry-Todd's one-week residency in Hampton is the first in Hampton Roads. Other Virginia cities that will host Wolf Trap artists this summer are Reston, Galax, Alexandria and Chesterfield. No South Hampton Roads cities are included on the summer or fall schedule.
``Does anyone know what imagination is?'' Terry-Todd asked her first round of 10 children.
``It's like when you imaginate yourself to another world,'' said 5-year-old Levi Santiful.
``I put on my imagination like this,'' Terry-Todd said. She slapped her knees, squeezed her eyes shut, threw her arms high in the air and yelled, ``Imagination!'' The children followed suit, with eyes closed tight and faces scrunched up.
``It's coming down over my head, over my arms, over my whole body. Now make sure you have it on your feet, that's very important. I need someone to zip mine up. Will you help me? OK, now fasten it at the shoulders. How does it feel? Pretty good?''
The children nodded as they zipped up each other's imagination suits.
Next stop: The Caribbean.
The institute's focus on preschool children has garnered the group grants from the National Education Association and Head Start, a federal preschool program for low-income children. And now, the state of Virginia has pitched in.
``We've found a niche because not a lot of art organizations work with this age group,'' said Ellen Alvord, regional program coordinator for the institute. ``At this age the children are so receptive. They don't have any inhibitions. And all the research is showing that early exposure to arts can help children with their numbers, with colors, with sequencing, verbal skills and fine motor skills.''
A study published in the May journal of Nature, in fact, showed that young children who receive an intensive course of music and arts do better in reading, writing, and mathematics. Art and music instruction is of particular help in teaching children the ordering skills of math.
``Children are like sponges,'' Alvord said. ``They absorb everything.''
In the classroom, Terry-Todd asked the children to step into a bubble that would carry them to the Caribbean. ``Step inside, pull it up, and lock it,'' she said, pulling an imaginary bubble over herself.
The children floated away, arms extended, as they wove through the room. Then, Terry-Todd rolled out a turquoise, red, orange and pink cloth with fish swimming through the sea. Together they picked up the cloth and waved it gently through the air.
``The water in the Caribbean moves very gently, not too rough,'' she told them. She ducked down under the cloth. ``Oh it's so nice down here under the water. I've been waiting all day for this swim.''
The children took turns ``swimming'' under the cloth as the taped sound of a wood block beat out a rhythm.
Soon the cloth was transformed into a beach that the children skipped and hopped across. ``Let's cross to the other shore,'' Terry-Todd sang out.
Terry-Todd has been with the Wolf Trap Institute since 1992. She specializes in children's creative dance and movement, and has developed dance programs for the learning disabled.
Her assignment in Hampton came as a pleasant surprise - she graduated from Hampton University in 1972 before getting master's degrees at American University and the University of Northern Colorado.
``The children are very impressionable at this age,'' Terry-Todd said as she strode from one preschool class to another with a bag full of Jamaican instruments, colorful scarves and even a box full of sand. ``The key experiences they learn at this age will carry over into the elementary and junior high grades.''
Later in the week she'll let the children taste mango and papaya, ``so they'll have all the senses involved.''
Besides working with the children here, she'll also teach Head Start instructors how to follow up with more activities that use movement and dance and music.
After the children ``traveled back'' to Hampton Monday, they flattened and folded up their travel bubbles, and stuffed them in their pockets to use the rest of the week.
``Spread your arms out like starfish,'' Terry-Todd told them before putting stickers on the children's hands. ``Miss T. will see you tomorrow,'' she said, slipping out to the next classroom.
Five-year-old Levi wasn't ready for her to leave. ``Can we go back to the beach?'' he asked his teacher.
``Tomorrow,'' teacher Bernadette Williams said. ``Miss T. will be back tomorrow.'' MEMO: Schools and centers can apply for a Wolf Trap Institute for Early
Learning Through the Arts residency at no cost. For applications, call
(703) 255-1933. ILLUSTRATION: Getting a head start
[Color Photos]
MIKE HEFFNER photos
The Virginian-Pilot
Terlene D. Terry-Todd, left, a dancer from Sterling, helps Kimberly
Canka and Eli Morgan, right, cultivate their imaginations Monday.
Paris McKnight participates in Monday's program by artists from the
Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts. It took
place at the Mary Peake Early Childhood Center in Hampton.
MIKE HEFFNER
The Virginian-Pilot
``The children are very impressionable at this age,'' says Terlene
Terry-Todd, shown working with 4- and 5-year-olds Monday in Hampton.
``The key experiences they learn at this age will carry over into
the elementary and junior high grades.'' She graduated from Hampton
University in 1972. by CNB