Art With a Heart’s mission is to provide hands-on visual arts experiences that educate and inspire children. Our programs uniquely reinforce academics within the artistic experience and strive to instill confidence in our kids, benefiting them in both school and life.
Art With a Heart offers a variety of art programs. Throughout the school year, we offer weekly after school programs, school-year programs within early childhood classrooms, and Saturday Studio classes for students who’ve previously exhibited a passion or natural talent for art. During the summer months, we partner with area summer camps to engage their students with visual art. Exhibitions are held at the conclusion of each program to celebrate successes and engage the community & parents with student masterpieces.
sweidenbach@artwithaheart.us
http://artwithaheart.us/
2605 E 25th Street, Suite 301, Indianapolis, IN 46218
Marion
317-602-7222
317-602-7227
Program Overview
Creative Classroom Connections draws upon the research supporting the importance of exploratory experiences in the arts during the early childhood years. Program goals, center activity designs, the implementation model, and assessments are reflective of this research as well as research-based practices regarding teaching and learning in early childhood, professional learning, and effective community partnerships.
Teachers receive materials, curriculum, professional development and in-class coaching to support an integrated arts program in their classroom.
Preschool
Our preschool program uses guided-exploration which provides students with feedback and brings them together to explore, examine, question, build new ideas, and develop new skills and excitement for learning. Children have weekly opportunities for self-selection of activities both independently or collaboratively, in which teachers and adult volunteers provide guiding questions, encouragement, and opportunities for sharing. Students spend approximately one hour per week in the program featuring:
Activity | Time Allotted |
Introduction with a book or famous work of art | 15 minutes |
Choice of art center activities; 3 centers available | 30 minutes |
Whole group reflective sharing and discussion | 15 minutes |
Kindergarten and First Grade
Kindergarten and first grade programs utilize a center rotation model. Teachers group children and lead rotations through three small groups, allowing for differentiation. Students rotate between the centers to participate in each center lesson approximately every 30 minutes. Art With a Heart will offer professional development for teachers as well as volunteers supporting the program.
Activity | Leader | Description |
Art Center | Classroom Teacher | Integrated art lesson |
Letter Book/Art Elements Book | Volunteer | Guided lesson integrating language arts and visual arts |
Discovery Center | Volunteer | Process-based opportunity to explore arts materials |
Shael Weidenbach
317-602-7222 ext. 2
sweidenbach@artwithaheart.us
Winter/Spring Session runs January – April. Fall Session runs September – December.
Preschool classes are 1 hour long and kindergarten and first grade are 1.5 hours. Both run for 10 week sessions with schools doing one session their first year and two sessions in subsequent years. Schedules are arranged with the schools based on availability of staff and classroom requirements.
Helpful to have sinks available or nearby.
All sessions are run in the school classrooms.
Program pricing depends on the number of classrooms and number of sessions. Art With a Heart partners with schools to help ameliorate the cost of funding the program.