Ratushniak Elementary School kindergarten and Grade 3 students boarded a bus for an artistic adventure last Wednesday. The classes have been practicing and playing singing games and scheduled a visit to the Allen Sapp Gallery the same day they were to perform at the Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival.
The students arrived at the gallery and were introduced to the work and story of Allen Sapp through a short video. Blended groups of grade 3 students, who have visited the gallery before and knew about art gallery etiquette, and kindergarten students spent some time looking closely at the paintings as they took part in a scavenger hunt. They spoke about the artwork, learning more about the stories, before breaking into class groups.
The kindergarten students stayed in the main gallery to play games while the older children made their way to the workspace in the basement. They discussed various types of printmaking, then donned garbage bags to protect the clothes they had chosen for the music festival. The students followed the instructions and created pieces of art they will treasure.
Following lunch in the gallery basement, the students hopped back on the buses to travel to St. Vital School in Battleford where they joined groups from several other schools. The kindergarten class was the first group to perform in front of the packed gymnasium in the Singing Games, Kindergarten Class. They performed two numbers, Amasee and Ha Ha This-Away. The Grade 3 group was in the Singing Games, Grade 3 Class where they performed Tideo and Dr. Knickerbocker. The students in both groups sang and danced while paying attention to their peers and keeping tone and rhythm.
The adjudicator called the performances "splendid," praising the students for their discipline and sense of fun. Both groups received marks in the high 80s signifying distinction and the Grade 3 group earned a mark of 88, signifying superior performance, for Dr. Knickerbocker. The students had a chance to enjoy some of the choral speaking before having to catch the buses back to Maidstone.
It was a day of fun and fine art, of creativity and accomplishment.
