What’s New

Fourth graders at Lyseth Elementary School recently participated in a Side x Side program integrating a science and literacy unit on Maine owls with printmaking and drawing. First, students learned about the adaptations that allow Great Horned, Barred, Saw-Whet, and Snowy owls to survive: hearing, eyesight, talons, beaks, and feathers. They then worked with Side x

Pre-K students at Lyseth Elementary School recently wrapped up a Side x Side program led by teaching artist Meg Christie. Integrated with a literacy unit and titled, “You’ve Got This!” students worked on emotional awareness, impulse control, managing disappointment, and identifying the size of the problem through stories, movement, and improv activities and games.

Fifth graders at Ocean Avenue Elementary School recently participated in a Side x Side program integrating art with a Wabanaki studies unit. The program kicked off with a visit to the Osher Map Library at the University of Southern Maine. Following the field trip, students worked with teaching artist Anne Ackerman over the course of several

Fourth graders at East End Community School recently participating in an arts-integrated Side x Side program called, “Poetic Forms and Inspiring Minds.” A collaboration between Side x Side teaching artist Leah Cross and classroom teachers, students wrote original poetry and used drawing, watercolor, and collage to visually represent their poems and the inspiration behind them.

Earlier this school year, first grade teachers at Ocean Avenue Elementary School collaborated with Side x Side on a “Who We Are” International Baccalaureate (IB) unit. Working with Side x Side teaching artist Sarah Boyden, students created inquiry notebooks with self-portrait puppets and puppet theaters to use throughout the school year.