Weekly Media Roundup: July 8, 2015

Students Add Creativity to NOTO Mosaic (Topeka Capital-Journal, Kansas)

About 35 students turned a nondescript concrete retaining wall in front of the NOTO Arts Center into a colorful, creative work of art last week, placing pieces of cut tile and mirror in various animal shapes to form a mosaic. The students are part of the Quincy Elementary School Summer STREAM (science, technology, reading, engineering, art and math) program, which focuses on developing reading skills, problem-solving and creativity and in young kids. Each day, the students spend 45 minutes reading, take field trips and participate in theme-based activities, including the NOTO Arts Camp. It exposes them to a wide range of hands-on learning experiences like creating the NOTO mosaic, which many of them enjoyed. “I like this, because I get messy,” fourth-grader Danniell Johnson told the Topeka Capital-Journal. “It’s so fun to put it on the wall.”

Keeping Young Minds Active (Daily Ardmoreite, Oklahoma)

Nearly 400 children are getting the typical summer camp treatment at St. Mary Catholic Church, participating in arts, crafts, music drama and games. But instructors are sneaking in math and language arts skills to campers in between all these fun activities. “It is summer and we want the kids to enjoy what we are teaching them,” instructor Ashley Huggins told the Daily Ardmoreite. The camp hopes kids will find the fun in learning as they read stories, put together fairy tale mad libs and take part in service learning projects like Color Me a Smile, where campers create cheerful drawings for senior citizens, and writing thank-you letters to troops overseas.

Hartford Police Officers Rap with Youths to Erode Stereotypes (New York Times, Connecticut)

A music program in Hartford is breaking down barriers between young men of color and police officers. The 12-week program, known as Good Vibrations, brought together about 20 mostly black or Hispanic middle school boys and six police officers for guitar and rap lessons. At the start of the program, the officers mostly just observed the class from the sidelines; as the weeks went on, they became more involved, joining in on the guitar sessions and contributing lyrics to the rap songs. “I thought police officers were just to catch bad guys and be in a bad tone,” 12-year-old Kayke Lopes told the New York Times. “But these guys are awesome… They do stuff with us. They help us. They give us advice and everything.” The program will continue through the summer and expand to include up to 60 boys and 15 officers in the fall.

Cooking Camp Gives Hands-on Lessons to Children (Twin Falls Times-News, Idaho)

Children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Magic Valley learned to cook in a week-long summer camp through the University of Idaho extension’s Eat Smart Idaho program, according to the Twin Falls Times-News. Each day, the kids received a cooking lesson and produced culinary creations like smoothies, hummus and mini pizzas. For the hummus lesson, they had a chance to mash garbanzo beans, grate a lemon and peel garlic. They also learned about hand washing, flavors, fruits and vegetables, breakfast foods and the government’s MyPlate nutrition guidelines.