Creative Launchpad

On average, area elementary students receive only 40 minutes of visual art or music instruction a week. Furthermore, dance and theatre are largely absent in Alabama elementary schools. Arts on the Move aligns the Alabama dance and theatre courses of study with Alabama’s physical education content standards, bringing dance, creative movement, and theatre games to elementary P.E. classes. Launched in 2022, Arts on the Move now introduces dance and theatre to K-3 students targeting 14 Huntsville City and Madison County public schools.

What do you get when you combine a dynamic teaching artist with a dedicated classroom teacher? Deeper student learning and engagement across the curriculum. Arts integration units ensure that students master standards in both the core curriculum area and the selected arts discipline. Examples of Creative Launchpad AI missions include:

•  Creative Writing & Visual Arts – Students create comic book stories and characters using basic drawing techniques and character development models.
•  English & Drama – Students learn performance skills and stage combat techniques while creating their own scene adaptations from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
•  Science & Music Technology – Students produce music videos to showcase their knowledge of the periodic table.
•  Science & Music Performance – Students build cigar box guitars and receive introductory guitar lessons while studying sound and sound waves.
•  Science & Visual Arts – Students create cell models with clay and use stop-action animation techniques to replicate cell life cycles while studying plant and animal cells.
•  Science & Dance – Students explore concepts of movement and choreography while studying the muscular and skeletal systems of the body. 
• Social Studies & Music Technology – Students compose music and create songs and raps based on their research of ancient African civilizations and cultures.

When teachers use Creative Teaching Strategies, research shows that student engagement and academic learning increase. Creative Teaching Strategies are easy to learn techniques from all artistic disciplines – theatre, dance, music, and visual arts – that can be incorporated into lessons in any core subject. The Creative Launchpad offers school-based, district-level, and regional professional development to train educators to use these dynamic teaching tools.