St. Louis King of France debuts schoolwide unit on Bayou State

Having already completed original works of art inspired by George Rodrigue’s “Blue Dog” and Clementine Hunter’s “memory” paintings, fourth graders at St. Louis King of France turned their attention to making individual kinetic sculptures in anticipation of a special classroom guest: Kinetic sculptor – and Louisiana resident – Lin Emery.

The fourth graders’ Louisiana-infused art unit was part of a nine-week, teacher-created curriculum called “Louisiana: Where We Live, Learn, Work and Play.”

For the special syllabus, grades pre-K3 through seven were assigned a different topic related to Louisiana’s culture: “Children’s Books” (pre-K3); “Louisiana Alphabet” (pre-K4); “Agriculture and Food” (kindergarten); “Plantations” (first grade); “People” (second grade); “Music” (third grade); “Art” (fourth grade); “Government” (fifth grade); “History” (sixth grade); and “Architecture” (seventh grade).

The curriculum’s co-creators – St. Louis King of France librarian Katie Windham and kindergarten teacher Kathy Gervais – said they wanted to address the knowledge gap that had resulted from the elimination of Louisiana history from their school’s curriculum. In past years, the subject traditionally had been taught to eighth graders, when that grade was part of elementary school.

“We want our children to learn about where they live,” said Windham, who successfully pitched the concept for her and Gervais’ “Louisiana Project” to St. Louis King of France’s principal, Pamela Schott.

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”1″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_thumbnails” override_thumbnail_settings=”0″ thumbnail_width=”240″ thumbnail_height=”160″ thumbnail_crop=”1″ images_per_page=”20″ number_of_columns=”0″ ajax_pagination=”0″ show_all_in_lightbox=”0″ use_imagebrowser_effect=”0″ show_slideshow_link=”1″ slideshow_link_text=”[Show slideshow]” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]“We also wanted to bring the whole faculty together to teach one thing – essentially a love of place – as a family,” Windham added. “We were able to schedule the classes in such a way that on one afternoon a week, at the same time, all students in pre-K3 through seventh grade would be studying something about Louisiana. I just love that!”

The state-related activities on each topic included doing research, going on field trips and creating art projects.
For example, St. Louis King of France’s 3-year-olds received a visit from New Orleans author Denise McConduit, who penned the “D.J.” series of children’s books.

Kindergartners went to Crescent City Cooks in the French Quarter, where a chef taught them how to make gumbo, jambalaya and Bananas Foster and treated them to samples afterward. Other class projects, combining science and art, had the youngsters planting  strawberries, okra, sweet potatoes, rice, red beans and cotton from seeds and roots.

After listening to jazz, zydeco and Cajun music, the school’s third graders made mock fiddles, shakers, washboards and triangles. They also joined their fourth-grade schoolmates on a field trip to the Contemporary Arts Center, rotating through art, music and dance lessons.

“(The musician) was a woman who taught us all about the washboard; the third graders had been studying the washboard in their unit, so it was very synchronous!” said Windham, who also put several dozen books about Louisiana on display inside her library during the nine weeks of focused study.

The unit was seamlessly integrated into the school week, rolling out every Tuesday and taught by homeroom teachers from each grade and other co-curricular teachers. An abbreviated schedule was run on these “Louisiana Tuesdays,” enabling students to complete their regular subjects by 2:40 p.m. and study Louisiana until the 3:20 p.m. dismissal time.

The project culminated with an exhibit of student work on March 18 – Grandparents’ Day.
Windham said she hopes the curriculum will become a part of St. Louis King of France’s school culture.

“Ideally, each (grade-specific topic) will become a traditional rite of passage for our students, and both something to look back at fondly and look forward to with anticipation,” she said. “By the time a student leaves us, they will have had a very unique and well-rounded education in the place they call home.”