School day residencies

Creative Movement & Curriculum Connections (Grades Pre-K -12)

Students explore the elements of dance - time, space, energy, and form - in relation to the subject chosen by the collaborating teacher. A theme or topic may be developed from Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies or any of the Fine Arts areas. Learning is reinforced as students examine the topic through expressive movement.Working together in pairs, trios, small and large groups, students cooperate and develop shared understanding.

Dance Exploration (Grades 1-12)

Students delve into the world of dance styles, which may include a combination ofWest African, Jazz, Modern, Haitian, Hip-Hop or Creative Movement. Students gain knowledge, techniques and the vocabulary of dance while making connections to a variety of cultural influences. Skill areas include physical coordination and fitness, counting, concentration, flexibility, spatial awareness, cooperation and performance.

Haitian Dance (Grades K-12)

Haitian folkloric dance combines African, French and Native heritage into a beautiful, polyrhythmic style of movement which mirrors aspects of human life and imitates elements of nature or animals. Accompanied by drum music and song, students build strength, balance, flexibility, coordination and stamina while learning geography, the cultural contexts of the dance and making linguistic connections.

Hip-Hop (Grades 3-12)

Students learn about Hip-Hop history and culture, which are the spine of this high energy dance form, and are exposed to the fundamental moves of break dance, popping and locking. Classes include warm-ups and instruction in basic break dance moves, followed by short combinations that build into a basic routine. Connections to African dance and other dance forms are discussed and explored through movement.

Adaptations: Literature & History Alive (Grades 1-12)

Bring Language Arts and Social Studies to life as students discover how to dramatize the curriculum with a theatre artist. COCA provides materials for simple props, set backdrop & costume pieces, and the program culminates in a performance for a school assembly or evening program.

Curriculum-Based Readers Theatre (Grades 3-12)

Classroom teachers and their students learn to create a short readers theatre script based on a curricular topic in any subject. Based on the work of Dr. Rosalind Flynn, the script writing process reinforces student learning and retention of the topic information. In the rehearsal process, students improve their reading fluency and tracking as they practice the performance techniques of gesture, sound effects, and vocal projection and expression. These short scripts may be performed for other students or for parents at a school assembly.

Idea to Script: The Playwright’s Process (Grades 5-12)

Integrate classroom literacy goals into the study of playwriting. Students learn about play structure and the elements of drama, including plot arc, character development and how to write theatrical dialogue. Each student will end the residency with a short, completed play that will be performed by fellow classmates for an end-of-term assembly.

Theatre Director-in-Residence (Grades 1-12)

A COCA theatre artist, collaborating with classroom teachers and arts specialists, directs a one-act play incorporating all the students in a given grade level. The COCA director teaches an audition skills workshop, conducts auditions and directs the casting process. COCA provides materials for simple props, set backdrop and costume pieces. The program culminates in two performances, one at a school assembly and one in the evening for family and friends.

The Art of the Book: Enhancing Classroom Literacy (Grades 1-8)

A COCA visual artist collaborates with the Art Specialist and participating classroom teachers to enliven literacy connections with any subject as students create a variety of book forms. Using stories and poetry, cultural exploration, family history or everyday experiences as the impetus for bookmaking and writing, students create shaped books, folded books, stitched bindings, and pop-ups.

Measures of Vision: Mural Installation (Grades 5-12)

Math, Social Studies and Visual Art intersect as students experience the process of mural making. Students research public art, muralists and famous murals and collaboratively decide on a theme for a permanent mural installation. Images developed by the students become the basis of a large-scale mural. They develop and submit a proposal for the project, create a full scale drawing of the mural and present it to the principal, the COCA education administrator, and a member of the community. After creating the mural, students see it unveiled at a public ceremony.

Videography (Grades 5-12)

Students brainstorm, write, produce, shoot, and edit their own video project while learning about camera operation, shooting angles and techniques, lighting, editing, animation and special effects. The final project, which may be either narrative or documentary format, will debut at a school assembly or parent event.

African Rhythms (Grades 1-12)

Students participate in a hands-on exploration of the different instruments in the drum orchestra. Playing hand drums, stick drums and a variety of small percussion instruments, they learn traditional rhythms ofWest Africa. As they work with the music and rhythms students discover the culture and countries the music comes from and even try out the language.

OPERAtion Sing (Grades 1-6)

Students discover a different kind of opera – one they create themselves. Participants work collaboratively on every aspect of this residency - writing or adapting the story, script, songs, selecting and auditioning for parts, designing and constructing basic sets, props, costumes, and finally performing their own opera.

Creating Musical Theatre (Grades 6-12)

Students get hands-on experience with the creative process involved in writing or adapting a music theatre piece. Students will collaborate with a singer/composer to craft an outline of plot, characters and musical numbers. Then they’ll focus on the creation of one or more numbers integral to the show and see the fruits of their process during the final session.

Design your own week-long residency that takes advantage of talented faculty. For example, in 2004, COCA provided a week-long residency in African arts at Mesnier Primary School.. COCA teaching artists collaborated with Mesnier teaching specialists in P.E., music and art to bring an integrated arts experience to the 600 students in grades K-3 who attend the school. During the five days of the residency, students learned a West African dance in P.E. class, explored African drum rhythms in music class and created visual art pieces based on traditional African folk art. We can design a program that fits your needs!