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2013 Elementary School Winners

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Agassiz
Performing Arts
Under the Sea at Agassiz
Students in the Agassiz Crew Club will produce the musical "The Little Mermaid Jr." Students will create sets, costumes and props and be trained in sound and light design and operation.
Nicholas Hall - Laura Florczak, Jan Heyn-Cubacub
Armstrong, G
Fine Arts
Our Textiles
Students will learn the arts of weaving, crocheting and knitting and understand how their cultures used fiber arts as a decorative and functional art.
Stephanie Katele
Ashburn
Fine Arts
Let the Grouting Begin!
Students will learn the process of creating mosaic art. They will teach these techniques to a parent/guardian in a one-day workshop in which they will work collaboratively on a piece of art.
Suzanne Drake
Azuela
Service Learning
Community Fashions!
Students who participate in Community Fashions will learn to create patterns and use a sewing machine to create bags and clothing items designed for residents at our school's local nursing home.
Sara Simon
Barry
Performing Arts
Musical Library
Students will create audio accompaniments for picture books. The books and CDs will be available in the school library for all students and their families to enjoy.
Colleen Cetera
Boone
Performing Arts
Musical Movie Madness
Students are immersed in the study of movie musicals. They discover how movies are a reflection of society. They will learn dances from and create their own choreography.
Gina Spears
Boone
Fine Arts
Identity Matters
Students will create sculptures focusing on "Fitting In" to a new culture. They will make connections to their own migration experience through the application of critical thinking skills, artwork and research.
Gail Locke
Carroll-Rosenwald
Performing Arts
Broadway at Carroll
Students will use dramatization as a way to portray characters from several literary sources.
Stephanie Campbell - James Barnes, Yalonda Neff, Shauntel Savage
Catalyst - Howland
Performing Arts - Music
Literacy and Orff
Students will learn to take classic grade level literature and to compose lyrics and music to enhance the books. Orff instruments will be used to accompany the pieces.
Emily Garnett
Chavez
Gardening
Urban Environment Renewal
Students will clean the neighborhood and plant a community garden. They will emphasize learning to positively influence their dietary behaviors and enhance their environmental awareness and appreciation.
Andrea McGehee - Nathanael Ortega, Joshua Lerner, Erendida Alcantara
Chicago Academy - Ele
Performing Arts - Music
Let's Make an Orffestra
Students will use Orff instruments along with our tubanos, Joia tubes and other classroom instruments to create an Orffestra where students will play and experience a variety of styles of music.
Carolyn Williams
Courtenay
Fine Arts
Up, Up and Away
Up, Up and Away will open the eyes of seventh and eighth graders to the wonders of the United States space program through language arts, science and art.
Lindsay Mcgowan - Sabrina Severns
Dawes
Performing Arts
Ready, Set, Act!
As part of the “Ready, Set, Act!” club, students will write, perform, and produce their own play. Students will create sets, costumes and props and be trained in sound and light design and operation.
Patricia Fuentes Landeros
Dawes
Gardening
Going Green
Students will plan, plant and care for a community garden so that they can learn about the environment and contribute to their community. They will work together to enhance our community garden.
Amani Abuhabsah
Dirksen
Performing Arts
The Broadway Experience
Students will rehearse, run "tech", manage the house and perform the two-act production of "The Wizard of Oz." The play will run four times and be double cast.
Susan Unti-Smith
Disney
Science
Connecting With Nature
After exploring birds in nature, students will create mini-fact books about birds, write poems, take pictures of birds on their trips and draw different birds, flowers and plants in their sketch books. They will create a Power Point about their birds.
Yollande Gottlieb
Disney
Performing Arts - Music
Easy Strings Guitar Club
Students will learn, among other things, fundamental guitar skills, musical theory and care for instruments. By the end of the year they will be performing popular pieces ranging from The Beatles to Green Day for large audiences at school functions.
John Beck - Jason Fahrenbach
Disney II
Publications
Bilingual Poetry & Art
Students in grades three to six will use poetry and art as mediums to analyze, discuss and write about the theme of time and culture using multilingual literacy techniques in English and Spanish.
Evelyn Levin - Euna Lee, Mary Haddad, Maria Schnaufer
Eberhart
Language Arts
Inspiring Kids to Write
Students will create and write about masks and emotions, using realistic and fictional story boards. They will create eco-friendly watercolor, pastel and arylic paintings and more. They will learn about art, relating it to content knowledge.
Sylvia Marrero
Edison Gifted
Fine Arts
Viking Invasion
Viking culture will invade the classroom. The students will discover and study Viking history and culture. Using their knowledge of Viking culture, they will create visual art and performance pieces.
Deni Drinkwater
Edwards
Gardening
Google Sketch Up Garden
Students will design a garden using the three dimensional computer design program called Google Sketch Up. Then, students will create the garden in front of library bay window.
Angelo Chavez - Mary Rodriguez
Edwards
Performing Arts
Wonderful Wizard of OZ
Students will present "The Wonderful Wizard of OZ”, learn the valuable skill of collaboration, acquire the techniques of theatre and have an opportunity to join the Thespian club.
Danielle Rocco - Diana Betout, Kate Salisbury
Edwards
Fine Arts
Everyday We're Learning
Students will experience integrated learning in LA - literary elements, Science - periodic tables, History - timeline of Chicago history and then create tile mosaic murals demonstrating their learnings.
Dolly Tovar - Martha Balcazar, Paula Miranda
Edwards
Science
Out of this World
Students will learn science with art by creating on large size model of the solar system planets. In addition to learning about planets and the solar system, they will learn how to plan, work as a team member and present to the class.
Esmeralda Cuellar
Fiske
Performing Arts - Music
Fiske in Need
Students will learn polyrhythms, how to sing and play songs of other cultures. They will gain strong character, teamwork and team-building skills and they will increase their vocabulary by writing about their learnings.
Heidi Hilgenberg
Franklin Fine Arts
Fine Arts
The Canvas Comes to Life!
Visual arts and dance students will collaborate in creating performances that interpret motion in works of art. Dancers will learn and perform choreography inspired by pieces of art.
Amanda Olson - Margaret Koreman
Gillespie
Science
Conserving Rain Water
The project will stress the importance of conserving one of our major natural resources, water. Students will learn about how rain barrels can be used to recycle water and reduce water usage.
Monica Rozelle
Goethe
Performing Arts
Origami Performance Art
Students will adapt a script from Sadako's 1000 Cranes text and collaboratively contruct set pieces that will include giant Origami structures as part of a culminating performance piece.
Armando Gutierrez
Grimes
Fine Arts
Peace Poetry Mosaic
Students will create The Peace Poetry Mosaic which will incorporate arts, math, language arts and attention to appropriate social skills. Joining us will be artists and community members as we explore history, space and peace concepts before starting the mosaic.
Noel McNally - Alisa Mazur, Jennie Escobedo, Elizabeth Chaps, Susan Cummings
Gunsaulus
Performing Arts
Tap Dance
Students will learn the skills and choreography for a tap dance using math, rhythm and beat. They will perform a choreographed dance at the end of the project.
Amy Ahmed
Harte
Performing Arts - Music
My Sound, My Voice
After studying sounds of various types of music through a school performance and research, students will use the Garage Band iPad app to create a song using the tools and instruments available.
Emily Forrest-Mattfield
Hawthorne
Publications
Hawthorne Press
Student writers, artists and editors will publish Hawthorne's first literary magazine. All students in grades six through eight will receive copies. Fifteen students will join the editing staff.
Susanna Lang
Healy
Publications
Poetry Collection
Students will compile their poetry in a hardcover book. Each page, designed with stencils and markers, will match the theme of the poem, leaving students with a book they can treasure for years.
Danielle Dvorak
Hedges
Fine Arts
Form Vs. Shape
Students will create 3D sculptures such as self portraits. They will study form and shape, create canvas paintings and write to explain their use of the visual arts.
Jequeline Salinas
Henry
Publications
Henry Hawks Highlights
Students will participate in journalism and publishing as they express their voices through the creation and distribution of biweekly newsletters, brief school broadcasts and yearbooks.
Christine Benson - Lisa Cantu, Katina Sopikiotis
Henry
Performing Arts - Music
Piano Power
Students will learn the basics of piano technique, including proper hand position and use of all fingers; how to read and use music notation; and will discover simple strategies for improvisation.
Dru Wagner
Hurley
Performing Arts - Music
We Like to Play The Djemb
Students will learn to express themselves using drums by studying West African culture, music theory, time signature, tempo and musical notation. They will sit in drum circles and lead drum circles.
Sharon West
Inter-American
Fine Arts
Ceramics of the Americas
Students will learn about the art and functional ceramic wares from the pre-Columbia Americas. Depending on the grade level, studies integrate art, math, science and creation stories. Students will use terracotta clay to create types of pre-Columbian vases, jugs, figurines and masks specific to the Tainos, Inca, Maya and Aztecs.
Alex Mendez
Inter-American
Fine Arts
World Cultures in Glass
Students will create stained glass windows that contain designs, symbols and specific styles of various world cultures. Stained glass windows will offer a "world view" into different artistic cultures.
Alex Mendez
Kilmer
Performing Arts - Music
African Journey
Students will explore and then perform music and art from one of the richest diasporas of human civilization, Africa, through connections made in history, sociology, art, music and world languages.
Andrew McGuire - Bonnie Goldenberg, Mirian Vasques
LaSalle
Fine Arts
Ceramics Program
All students K-8 will learn how to sculpt and shape clay to make functional and decorative pieces of art. Their projects may range from pots to Aztec suns to mugs. Interested students may join the Clay Club where they will create clay installations.
Alyssa Wesdorp
Lee
Fine Arts
School Improvement Murals
Upper grade students will conceive, plan, construct and install two murals in the school. One is a mosaic mural and tile countertop for the main office and one is a painted mural on an external wall.
Sean Brice
Lincoln
Science
Beneficial Bugs
Students will learn how to become environmental stewards by rearing and caring for beneficial insects and raising their host plants. They will also learn about the life cycles of those organisms.
Demetrius Sajous-Brady
Lloyd
Science
Head Start on Hydroponics
Head Start students will build a hydroponic garden inside their classroom so that they can learn about a different method of growing edible plants.
Alejandra De la Pena - Mary Villa
Lorca
Fine Arts
Brightening Our Landscape
Students will design and paint a mural reflecting the four seasons on two concrete flower planters outside our school building.
Lauren Klopack
Lyon
Life Skills
Being Sensational
Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder will have a designated area designed to help them process movement, touch, smell, sight and sound. This area is to foster optimal functioning in academic and social settings.
Maria Diaz - Mai-Phong Johnston
Lyon
Fine Arts
Follow The Alphabet Road
Students will learn mosaic techniques for creating mosaic stepping stones for our school visionary garden. Each stepping stone will be a letter of the alphabet to help promote literacy.
Casey Carlock - Dena Milano, Marianne Galassani
Madero Middle
Fine Arts
Tree of Life
Students will study math, social studies and language arts to inform their creation of a Tree of Life mosaic that communicates diverse thoughts, feelings and experiences.
Rita Marquez
May
Science
Butterfly Buddies
Butterfly Buddies is a hands-on learning project that allows students to witness first-hand the wonders of nature. The students will observe butterflies while creating a beautiful garden for them.
Perry Schroeder - Janice Coats
McNair
Social Studies
Cook and Learn!
Students with special needs will plan, shop and cook meals in appropriately designed activities.
Lisa Taylor - Daniel Davy, John Kierig, Norine Ortega
Mitchell
Performing Arts
Over the Rainbow
Students make the journey “somewhere over the rainbow” to discover and develop talents and overcome inhibitions while building self-confidence and teamwork in a musical production of "The Wizard of Oz."
Lorabel Araos - John Carroll, Katherine Arbuckle
Moos
Fine Arts
Connecting to Art
Students will explore and create art using drawing, collage and sculpture to discover connections between art and literature.
Anna Berg
Morrill
Science
Conservation Now
First Graders will study composting and water conservation through a multidisciplinary approach in science, fine arts and writing. Their writings and painted rain barrels will be displayed around the school.
Kiah Nolan - Eileen Durkin
Morton
Science
Windology
Students will learn about wind energy by building a model of a wind turbine. This inquiry-based project will help to introduce students to wind energy and prepare them for the future workforce.
Kendra Mallory - Rosalind Ali
Mozart
Performing Arts - Music
The Ukulele Project
Sixth graders will construct their own ukuleles, paint them in art, and learn how to play them and perform on them in music.
Rachel Atlas - Lisa Macri
Newberry
Performing Arts - Music
Rhythms of Ghana
Students will perform African music on classroom instruments including tubanos and rattles. They will play Zimbabwe children's games and learn Kenyan, Ewe and Zimbabwe dances.
Heidi Farrand
Nightingale
Fine Arts
Two Peas In a Pod
Students will explore the many facets of live musical theater while discovering their true voices within the crowd and developing a better sense of who they are as persons.
Steven Rigik - Ginny Caponigro, Mary Ann Kennedy, Emily Cozzie, Donna Kos, Mary Ella Kelm-Palacios, Jan Murphy
Nightingale
Fine Arts
Our Journey
Students will collaborate with community members to create a mural describing the journey of many Mexican American community members. Students will also create a book of immigrant stories and photographs.
Christina Jennings
Orozco Fine Arts
Fine Arts
Color Blanks
Students will learn color and design by creating human figures from plastic forms in the tradition of public art.
Edward Pino
Pasteur
Performing Arts - Music
Guitar/Latin Culture
Students will develop basic guitar skills along with an appreciation for Latin Jazz music. The project will collaborate with the visual arts department and hold workshops.
Aldo Mazzotti - Arturo Barrera, Julia Vazquez
Peirce
Performing Arts - Music
Growing!
Students in each grade will each learn aspects of musical performance around the theme of food. One class will write a script and compose music, one will perform a story as an opera and one will perform a mini-musical.
Brooke Thompson - Michael Richie, Haneefa Muhammad, Vivian Leventis
Peirce
Performing Arts
Circus!
Students will be transformed into circus stars right before your eyes! Students juggle, walk the tightwire, ride unicycles and act like clowns at the annual production of the Peirce School Circus!
Jennifer Foss
Portage Park
Performing Arts - Music
Mallet Magic
Students enjoy both listening to and playing rhythms using diverse percussion instruments, discovered as well as student-made instruments, folk dances of various countries and body percussion.
Mark Britt
Ravenswood
Performing Arts - Music
Journey to West Africa
Students will learn to read, write and play traditional rhythms from West Africa, Brazil and Cuba as well as have a deeper understanding of their people, culture, history and geography.
Deborah Sanchez
Reinberg
Publications
We Have the Write Stuff
Students will experience the thrill of seeing their names in print! They will write and publish a book and then read the book to others. To conclude they will create digital videos and ebooks!
Bonnie Hoffman - Theresa Twardowski
Salazar
Mathematics
Math Fair
First grade students will master important math skills while putting on a classroom math fair for grades pre-k through first grade. They will be responsible for managing math stations.
Nancy Pena
Saucedo
Publications
Life Through Letters
Fourth graders will be pen pals with Northwestern University students, visit Northwestern’s campus, analyze two novels with the college students, create books showcasing the visits and perform plays.
Arlyn Madsen-Bond
Sawyer
Mathematics
Sawyer Suppliers
Sawyer Suppliers will be a self sustaining business providing school supplies and uniforms managed and employed by seventh grade LRE learning disabled students. At the end of the year they will introduce the daily operations and train the sixth graders.
Anna Waywood - Kathy Ford
Schmid
Performing Arts - Music
Keyboard Music Lab
Students will learn the elements and history of music through keyboard performance and composition. They will learn improvisation, composition and performance skills.
Sarah Morgan
Sherman
Publications
Art and Literacy Magazine
A new student-directed publication will solicit submissions from fifth to eighth graders. They will seek work with exemplary writing, self-expression and new genres. All students in the school will receive a copy.
Vivian Redwood - Christopher Hill
Smyser
Fine Arts
Digital Dreams
Students will use and explore visual structure, time, narrative and point of view. Technically, they will be introduced to digital cameras, camcorders and audio recorders. Student projects will be shared through the school web site and in an art exhibition.
Emily Porter - Susie Lee
Stock
Performing Arts - Music
Let's Make Music Together
Students with special needs and typical developing children will have access to outdoor musical instruments. The opportunity to play with outdoor musical instruments will foster appropriate interaction between all students.
Donna Hill - Kristen McManus, Julia Joehl, Lauen Collins
Stone
Performing Arts
Stone's 76 Trombones
In preparing a production of "The Music Man, Jr.," students in grades 5-8 will grow as performers, enhance their creativity, imagination and learn about the importance of an arts education.
William Marsland - Jamie Perry
Suder Montessori
Fine Arts
Doing our pART!
Suder students will work, in collaboration with families and community members, to conceptualize, design and create a transformative mosaic mural on the exterior of our school.
Amy Gale
Swift
Performing Arts
Let's Make Music, Man!
Students will perform the production of “The Music Man Junior.” Students will be a part of every aspect of the production including stage crew, scenic art, sound, lights and performance.
Renee Holman - Katie Loveland, Gordon McCall, Ben Rogers, Sara Knox, Marilyn Duff, Sandi Lerner, Sam Gamble, Angela Maniaci
Waters
Publications
Rivers Connect Us All!
Students will document rivers of their homelands, their ancestors and their world. Publication of student discoveries will be in the form of a traditional literary arts journal and video journalism.
Amy Vecchioni - Debra Del Campo, Nadine Zelle, Susan Termini
Wildwood
Science
We Think Like Scientists
Students will think like scientists as they explore virtual and actual animals in their habitats through observation, research and inquiry using print and non print materials, including technology.
Catherine Tanner - Stephanie Stankus
Zapata
Mathematics
Quadratics and Catapults
Students will collaborate and construct a catapult to learn and discover quadratic motion. In line with the mathematics portion, they will create a business plan to sell their product to the staff.
Christopher McCabe - Denise Vazquez
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