Conference Workshops

Donna Washington - Keynote

Language, Literacy and Storytelling!
Storytelling is a powerful tool in the arsenal of building vocabulary, strengthening communication skills, and developing a lifelong love of literacy. Donna will share information about how storytelling interacts with the language centers in the brain, how to use it to improve vocabulary, why it is one of the best ways to build community with a disparate group of people, and how it encourages even the most reluctant readers to find their way toward literacy. 

Donna Washington

Put The Book Down!
If the prospect of telling a story to a group of people without felt boards, books, or some other prop is terrifying, then this is the workshop for you! By the time you leave this workshop you will have a step by step process on how to put a story together, how to practice it, and how to tell it.

Games to Build Vocabulary, Communication, and Listening Skills
Humans learn kinetically, especially when we are young. Connecting the brain to the body is a useful tool in engaging a student. Story based games are a great way for students to learn from each other, increase the overall classroom vocabulary, learn to listen to each other actively, and stretch their own creative muscles. Improvisation isn’t easy for everyone, but in these low risk, high reward activities, students learn to be more confident while being exposed to a larger pool of language and content from their peers.

From Creation to Presentation: How To Stand a Story On Its Feet or Turn It Into a Writing Exercise
There are so many ways to use storytelling in the classroom. In this long form workshop, we will complete two activities that you can do in an educational setting that can be turned into writing exercises. Both exercises are fun, interactive, and require everything from listening to improvisation (an important skill in the writing world). You will walk away from this workshop ready to get your students excited about writing!

Jill DeVilbiss

Let Your Voice Be Heard
In this session, participants will learn how the voice works and specifically how to work with children’s voices.  Topics that will be explored and practiced in this session include warm-up exercises, singing through octavos, how and when to introduce harmony, how to choose music literature for children that is developmentally appropriate, and how to conduct a group of children.  Participants will walk away with basic skills and the confidence to start a children’s choir in their classroom or school.

What Would You Put “In a Jar”?
Explore beautiful things to put in a jar and share with your students. We will look at beautiful sights and sounds in nature and how to integrate them with music. 

Cynthia Davis-Nordfelt 

The Art of Shadow Puppets in Education: K-6 Hands-On Workshop
Experience shadow puppetry start to finish by making puppets, screens and scripts that you’ll then use to practice puppetry techniques and artful storytelling; and it’s all made from recyclable materials. Learn how shadow puppets easily embed into lesson plans from all core curricula adding experiential learning for your students. Materials and handouts will be provided.

Elicia Timpson Gray

Jar of Joy
How can you capture the sound of the ocean? Can you trap a rainbow inside of a jar? What makes your heart happy? In this integrated lesson students will explore simple clay techniques in order to create a “Jar of Joy.” While sculpting their 3-D mini masterpieces students will make curriculum connections with reading, writing, math, and visual arts. Students will identify beautiful things and experiences that bring them joy. They will create simple imagery on plastic shrink film that when heated will reduce in size to create tiny little charms. The charms can be placed inside of their ‘Jar of Joy’ or they can be shared with others.

Collection of Curiosities
In renaissance times, wealthy aristocrats would travel the world in search of strange and mysterious objects. They would bring these items home and put them on display for friends and acquaintances to enjoy. These assemblages became known as ‘cabinets of curiosities.’ In this integrated lesson, students will curate a collection of their own curious and valuable ideas and turn them into a pocket-sized mini museum. They will connect reading, math, and language arts as they create a mini accordion book based on a theme of their own choosing. They will gather, research, and illustrate their ideas inside of a handmade tiny album that can be easily shared with others.

Katherine Ross Hejazi-Far

Syllables, Soundscapes and Rhymes?! OH MY!: Using Music to Deepen K-2 ELA Standards
In this session participants will experience how music can be used to deepen students’ understanding of English Language Arts standards by exploring the rhythms produced from syllables and poems. Workshop participants will also learn how to take a book and create a meaningful music lesson by exploring timbre and how different sounds can bring that book to life.

Natalie Nish

Stop Motion Animation
Learn how to use stop motion animation in your classroom as a vehicle for students to tell stories, explain processes, and demonstrate comprehension.  In this workshop participants will learn how to create a storyboard, create characters and scenery out of a variety of materials, and create an animation using the Stop Motion animation app on an iPad.

Sharon Cook

Fine Arts and the Five Senses:  Integrating Fine Arts within the Core Curriculum
Children learn and retain knowledge more deeply when taught through the use of as many of their physical senses as possible.  In this session, we will explore and practice a variety of ideas for implementing our five senses while integrating music, visual art, movement, and drama within the elementary curriculum.  

Tina Misaka

Dance in a Jar: Creative Movement Deep Dive
This workshop will dive deep into the basic concepts of dance and how to integrate movement and core curriculum subjects into engaging learning experiences for students. Using the book In a Jar by Deborah Marcero as inspiration, participants will bottle a favorite moment, a favorite day and perhaps a beautiful sight through creative movement while brainstorming connections to science, math, and language arts at all grade levels.

Dance in a Jar: Creative Movement Integrations for Grades K-2
This workshop will explore dance and creative movement techniques appropriate for younger children by celebrating the wonderment and imagination indicative of children in grades K-2. Participants will find inspiration in the book In a Jar by Deborah Marcero to integrate dance with other subjects while providing engaging and playful connections to everyday life, memories, and friendship.

Dance in a Jar: Creative Movement Integrations for Grades 3-6
This workshop will focus on how to integrate the core curriculum of 3^rd through 6^th grade with dance to help students master learning objectives in both. Participants will find inspiration in the book In a Jar by Deborah Marcero to integrate dance and creative movement with science, math, and language arts.