Wolf Trap partnership embeds arts in NNPS preschool learning
Posted: January 29, 2025
Maria Tripodi told students to freeze and walked around the room looking at how they have chosen to freeze in high, low or medium heights.
Preschoolers in various stances see what others imagined when asked to form a mini-parade and be prepared to stop in a pose. Tripodi, a guest artist, gave the students at Denbigh Early Childhood Center several more chances to create a new and different frozen position.
The fun, active and creative lesson is one of a bunch she integrated into the 30-minute Dual Language Immersion class. They included students singing the hello song, counting in English and Spanish, listening to her read a book while showing photos in it, and pairing off to twist a long elastic band into different shapes at various heights.
Students' imaginations were fully engaged as they enthusiastically participated, interacted and played off of Tripodi's cues.
Tripodi is one of several Wolf Trap master teaching artists visiting Newport News Public Schools preschools as part of NNPS' partnership with the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts. The program, now in its second year and funded by a Virginia Department of Education grant, provides learning experiences for students and both in-classroom and program-wide professional development for NNPS preschool staff.
"This has been one of the most powerful partnerships we've had in a long time for both our students and also our teachers," said Annemarie Hanrahan, NNPS preschool instructional supervisor.
This year the partnership grew to include family workshops for bilingual students and families in the Dual Language Immersion program.
Artists visited preschool classrooms November 11-15 and December 2-6 and led professional development training for staff on January 28.
Wolf Trap Master Teaching Artist Joe Pipik conducted the professional development training session demonstrating ways to use puppets in early childhood classrooms.
Kim Powell, a preschool teacher at Watkins Early Childhood Center, was among those who will carry forward teaching tools from his interactive sessions on introducing, voicing and animating various types of puppets. Wolf Trap artists have visited Powell's classroom this year and she said their arts integration is perfect for those ages four and five because they enjoy creativity and imagination.
"They like monsters; they like invisible things," Powell said. "Working with Wolf Trap helps their creativity whether it's through a story, through song, through puppets. It’s very expressive and this age group is very into it and it really helps. I've seen it in my classroom."
Classroom residency visits in November and December brought singers, dancers, actors, storytellers and puppeteers to teach curriculum-based skills. Teachers talked with artists ahead of time about units and lessons they were currently teaching. For example, a trees unit that includes shapes in math.
"The they talked about how to integrate some arts, whether it's movement or song or something visual, into the shapes part with the trees," Hanrahan said. "They start from what curriculum the class is doing and then they weave the arts into it."
Over the course of each five-day segment, teachers gradually moved into co-teaching with the artist. A daily de-brief allowed teachers to carry the teaching techniques forward to later integrate them on their own.
"Regardless of what the skill or artistic focus is, there's this undercurrent of movement, of building community and engaging all students regardless of what their experience or feeling is," Hanrahan said.
Artists were flexible and open about students' level of participation, making the interactions more about inviting them, helping them feel comfortable and encouraging them to try to find their own entry point. There was plenty of space for imagination.
Social emotional development is a big part of the preschool curriculum, and arts integration also helps children find their voices and develop those skills, according to Hanrahan. Following directions or learning to sit next to each other, for example, is indirectly learned as part of participating with the guest artist teacher.
"It's exciting," Hanrahan said. "They are all so highly engaged. It's really been fascinating to see."
