Start with the Arts (SWTA) is an award-winning, accredited education program for preschool, kindergarten, and early primary aged children. It is designed to provide teachers, librarians, caregivers and parents with inclusionary, objective-based, thematic learning experiences for children that utilize the arts as a vehicle to enhance the already existing early childhood classroom curriculum. VSA arts of Kentucky has trained over 2,500 teachers, librarians, caregivers and parents throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky and has conducted a national training in SWTA for VSA arts home office in Washington, D.C.

What Start with the Arts is designed to do:

1. Integrates arts and humanities into your existing curriculum by using the arts as a vehicle to teach. SWTA includes curriculum-themed activities in visual arts, creative drama, creative movement and music. It complements the curriculum by involving children in innovative arts activities and helps prepare them in the arts and humanities.
2. Develops pre-literacy and literacy skills by immersing young children in a "print rich" environment, providing a children's literature enhancement section for EACH of the 65 activities. SWTA contains a children’s literature bibliography for each activity that interfaces with the theme of that particular activity. Throughout, SWTA references over 600 titles of the best in children's literature which reflects today's multicultural society.
3. To insure success for children, SWTA includes ALL children by providing inclusionary strategies for EACH activity and also provides a comprehensive appendix on adapting each art form to the specific disabilities: Learning disabilities, hearing impairment, sight impairment or blindness, behavioral disabilities, and developmental disabilities.
4. Includes parents in the learning process by providing easy to use companion materials that suggest specific activities and literature for parents to use at home to support, reinforce and extend their child's learning. The activities that parents can use at home will provide fun, quality playtime to share with children.
5. Supports education reform practices by engaging children in diverse modes of thinking and learning that enable them to develop many areas of intelligence they will need to be successful in school. The professional development helps renew creative energy in teachers and helps them more easily (and enjoyably) meet the needs of their students.
   

Training

The full day (six hour) SWTA professional development training is conducted at your site of choice. The trainer brings all the arts materials and books for each participant. The 500 page SWTA classroom resource book (containing over 60 activities) is included in the cost of the training for each participant. There must be at least 15 participants at each site in your district in order to meet costs. A maximum of 50 participants can attend each full-day site session offered.

Cost of the full day training--$95.00 per participant (includes the $65.00 SWTA resource book). Scholarships are available to help with the cost of the training. Teaching assistants can take the full day training for $30.00, if the classroom teacher will be taking the training and will have a resource book.

If you would like more information or have any questions, please contact:

Mary Claire ONeal, Program Director
VSA arts of Kentucky
21st Floor, Capital Plaza Tower
Frankfort, KY 40601
(502) 564-3775 (Voice/TTY)
(502) 564-7371
programs@vsartsky.org