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Teamwork adds to the special glow at Springwood

Teamwork is a way of life at Springwood Elementary School. One of the best places to see it in action is in the subject areas of art and music. Though art teacher Sammantha Sanchez has…

Teamwork is a way of life at Springwood Elementary School. One of the best places to see it in action is in the subject areas of art and music. Though art teacher Sammantha Sanchez has only taught for two years, she knows veteran music teacher Mary Register is eager to share her wisdom acquired through nearly 20 years in the classroom. 

“Me and Mary spend every minute together,” said Sanchez. “I couldn’t do half of what I do without her. I tend to vibe off people and we’re on the same page. The connection was made immediately, and the kids can tell that too.” Register agrees and added, “I love when we do things together. When we feed off each other, it makes everything better.” 

This kind of cross-disciplinary and collaborative approach proves to be beneficial modeling behavior for the students. Register especially sees the effects with her Ritmos percussion ensemble. Spanish for rhythm, Ritmos is comprised of fourth and fifth grade music students. In addition to their regular music studies, they work for 12 weeks to learn material which culminates in a performance for family and friends. 

“This group is very driven and very helpful to each other,” said Register. “I love the teamwork that comes out of it. A lot of the parts have three different layers to the rhythms. Sometimes, I would teach the rhythm and I would ask them to go work it out among themselves.” 

Similarly, Sanchez hosts an extra-curricular Art Club “that allows me to do more in depth things with them,” she said. She’s also impressed with the cooperative attitude she sees among her students.

Recently, the Art Club and Ritmos collaborated on a special performance and art showcase honoring the school’s mascot. The production, titled “Black Light Owls at Night,” took place entirely in the dark and featured nocturnal sights and sounds made possible by various special effects. 

One of the crowd’s favorite numbers made use of the school’s new set of FireStix. These light enhanced drumsticks were purchased by Register using an art education grant awarded by the Council on Culture & Arts. These FireStix give visual evidence of rhythmic accuracy and teamwork, improve student engagement, and motivate them to practice and persevere. 

Rounding out the performance were several other optical tricks including glow in the dark cups and artwork created with UV reactive blacklight paint. Fifth grader Sadeana Brown is a member of the Art Club and she enjoys it because “we get to have fun and be creative and focus on the task.”

She explained her process using the special paint. “It just looks like white paint but when you put it on, it goes clear a little bit. When you put the UV light on it, it shines and looks pretty.” 

By taking part in the Art Club activities, Sadeana has come to realize “art’s one thing I’m passionate about. It helps me be more confident in my work. Ms. Sanchez encourages us to encourage each other and be positive about our artwork.” 

Read the rest of the story by visiting the Tallahassee Democrat

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