HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) – In August, it was announced that Stone Spring Elementary School was selected as one of five schools in the U.S. selected to participate in the Kennedy Center’s Changing Education Through Performing Arts (CETA) Model Schools program.

This month, SSES welcomed a guest artist from the Kennedy Center to begin training and consulting with staff and showcase lessons similar to the ones teachers will carry out over the course of the program. The CETA program provides new strategies for arts specialists to teach the arts and also helps teachers integrate other subject areas in their instruction through the arts.

Some of the introductory lessons with kindergarten students included identifying patterns, parts and wholes, along with a simple beat and keeping rhythm. Chris Booz, assistant principal for SSES, said staff have welcomed the new strategies from the first round of training.

“We have teachers here that are veterans, and then we also have teachers that have less experience, but all teachers have been very receptive and very open,” Booz said. “We are fortunate as a school [to be] the only arts-integration school in Harrisonburg City, and so we are thankful that we are able to reach our students through the arts.”

The CETA program is a multi-year partnership with the Kennedy Center. Booz said the guest artist will return in December for additional developmental help and lessons.

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