September 24, 2024 by South Shore Conservatory
South Shore Conservatory (SSC) announces a new partnership with Rockland Public Schools’ Esten Early Childhood Center this fall to offer ImagineARTS, an arts and literacy program designed to increase pre-literacy skills for kindergarten students. According to Principal Janice Sheehan, the program starts in late October.
“Esten Early Childhood Center in Rockland is excited to partner with South Shore Conservatory’s ImagineARTS program this year,” said Sheehan. “Rockland Public Schools has provided our kindergarten students with a full-day program since 2010. Last year, the district combined all the kindergarten classrooms into one location at Esten School. We aim to continue building equitable educational opportunities for all our kindergarten students at one school. By adding ImagineARTS to our weekly schedule, all kindergarten students will benefit from integrating the arts and early literacy one day per week during their daily academic intervention block.”
“We are excited to get started and share what we learn with our families and the Rockland community,” Sheehan added.
SSC’s ImagineARTS residency program partners with public schools to bring weekly art-integrated literacy instruction throughout the school year. Using music and the arts as a teaching tool, ImagineARTS targets specific literacy skills such as sequencing, rhyming, letter sounds, and re-telling. It introduces topics such as animals and hibernation, giving, weather, and planting, while providing professional development for classroom teachers and a bridge to reading and the arts for families.
ImagineARTS Program Manager Paige Taylor is thrilled about the new partnership benefiting so many more children. “I am excited to be partnering with the Rockland School District this year. ImagineARTS started over ten years ago in kindergarten classes in the Brockton Public Schools and has since pivoted to PreK classes there. We now have the opportunity to engage with kindergarten students in Rockland, aligning the scope and sequence of our program to match their curriculum. I look forward to a great relationship between ImagineARTS specialists, Rockland kindergarten teachers, and Rockland Public Schools administration!”
Learn more about South Shore Conservatory’s ImagineARTS program at https://sscmusic.org/imaginearts/ or find South Shore Conservatory on Facebook orInstagram.