Kids learn through movement

In an unusual partnership, a technology conglomerate, a dancer and a West Las Vegas elementary school are working to better prepare at-risk pre-schoolers for kindergarten.

TRW Environmental Safety Systems, a $12 billion company with Las Vegas operations, this week is sponsoring traveling choreographer Cynthia Word at Booker Elementary School. Word is teaching 3- and 4-year-olds how to use movement to expand their minds and imaginations.

Word is an artist with the Virginia-based Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, which sends artists into schools all over the nation.

TRW this year is sponsoring a $250,000 grant for 30 schools nationwide -- including Booker -- for a program called stART smART, which pairs artists with schools.

The company, which produces automotive, space and defense technology products, operates Yucca Mountain. Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site in the nation being considered for a high-level nuclear waste dump.

TRW officials admit the partnership with Booker seems odd, but giving money to educational programs is part of the company's mission, TRW spokesman Hank Osterhoudt said.

"When I first heard about this I thought it was strange myself," Osterhoudt said. "I thought, 'Why are we teaching kids to sing and dance?' But we don't. It's learning using the arts as a vehicle."

This week, Word, a choreographer on the faculty at George Washington University, is huddling with about 50 3- and 4-year-olds at Booker.

In one lesson Monday, Word used music to teach a group of 4-year-olds dances that introduced them to the concept of human bones. In another lesson, students flapped their hands, imagining purple butterflies and jet airplanes.

"By letting their minds work that way, they see they have an inquisitive mind," Word said. "We're trying to access higher-level thinking skills, not just give them rote information."

Pre-kindergarten teacher Geri McGrath said the pupils respond well to music.

"It's a good way for them to channel their energy," McGrath said. "They see it's OK to jump around and use their bodies to learn."

Booker is one of a number of Clark County schools with pre-kindergarten programs that meet four hours a day and are aimed at preparing students for kindergarten. Many Booker kindergarteners who do not go through pre-kindergarten classes can not recognize colors or shapes or perform simple motions like cutting or holding a pencil, teachers say.

"They just aren't taught those things (at home)," Al Van Sciver, another pre-kindergarten teacher, said.

archive