Extended Learning Time Partner: Redhouse

The Redhouse Mission

Redhouse’s School District Partnerships provide unique and artistic educational experiences that stimulate imagination, encourage critical thinking, and promote inclusivity. By reinforcing common core curriculum, promoting social/emotional learning, and developing the culturally responsive classroom, this partnership fosters the further development of a positive school community.
 

 

The Redhouse at Danforth School

The Middle School program at Danforth School provides unique and artistic enrichment experience with a vocational focus, inspiring students to explore career fields in the arts. Students are given the opportunity to choose their unit(s) of study each marking period.

Core Curriculum Through the Arts

Teaching Fellows trained in dance, music, drama, and design from around the country work with students to promote classroom learning and the arts. By participating in our immersive, project-based curriculum, students learn creativity, problem solving skills, and social and emotional skills. Each of the 8 arts based units engage, apply, and reinforce language arts, math, science, and social studies. These units are designed to meet NYS standards of learning for the core curriculum and the national standards of performing arts. Writing components based directly on the work of Lucy Calkins are integrated throughout the school year in order to create seamlessness between enrichment time and school district literacy initiatives. Our units culminate in a “shareformance”, a school wide celebration and student showcase.

Danforth Highlights for 2017-18

• Danforth’s Specials teachers are partnering with the Redhouse Fellows to implement exciting new curriculum in and out of their classroom
• Mr. Smith and Ms. Jackson are teaching students about the Harlem Renaissance. Together they will help students create works of art from this period
• Syracuse University’s Women’s Basketball Team and Men’s Football Team joined Mrs. Wright’s students to discuss teamwork and being a professional sports player

Coursework

• Storytelling: Mr. Smith is working with Ms. Jackson to focus on African American artists who were prevalent during the Harlem Renaissance. The students are able to understand the significance of African American art in history and relate it to their personal lives. Students are also able to make works inspired by those artists.
• Music Industry: Students will explore the roots of hip hop and rap, learning how to combine lyrics and create freestyle verses. The class will then examine what it means to be a musician and an artist before learning the skills needed to deejay. 
• Dance: This year’s dance classes combine dance and costume design to create a sensational final performance. Focusing on student choice, groups of students will choose songs to choreograph to. They will create costumes to complement 
• Fashion: A key component of this class is the design process. Students will learn how to bring an idea from conceptualization to final product. Along the way they will gain hard skills in sewing and working with fabric.
• S.T.E.A.M.: Middle school students enrolled in the S.T.E.A.M. class are learning about the engineering design process and will be exploring sound, chemical reactions and polymers. Their final project is to engineer a contraption to protect an egg being dropped from different heights.