This year, 30 four-year-olds in the Alexandria Headstart program learned much more than just how to play well with others. They learned about painting and sculpting and weaving and classical music.
The project was conceived by Gail C. Wiegl and was funded by the Alexandria Commission on the Arts and The Campagna Center. It was offered to two classes at the Jefferson-Houston Headstart site.
Weigl, who lives in Mt. Vernon with her husband, has been an educator all of her life. She has a doctorate in Asian Art History from the University of Michigan and has taught at universities throughout the area, most recently at the Corchran School in Washington, D.C.
“I enjoy teaching and have always looked for ways to bring art to people who might not have the opportunity to learn about it,” Weigl said. “I wrote this project about three years ago and was able to get it funded this year.”
She has been a volunteer at Headstart for four years, since a heart attack forced her to curtail her teaching schedule. Now, she walks every morning, spends three days each week working with the children and goes to her cottage in England for two months each summer. Her trip will be delayed this summer because the children are having an art show.
THE CONCEPT OF the project is simple — educate children about different things by using the arts. Each week, the children learned about a new topic. “We taught them about what they were going to see on their field trip, we took the field trip and then we used the knowledge that we gained to create some type of work of art,” Weigl explained. The Corchran Gallery was so much a part of the experience that it became another classroom for the children.
“We learned about colonial dress, got to spend time in the colonial portrait gallery and then got to make different types of hats,” Weigl explained. “The children also had the opportunity to learn to weave the cloth from which clothing was made.”
The children also spent time learning about different types of transportation, from horses to spaceships. “We tried to show them all of the different ways in which horses were used,” Weigl said. “They saw a wonderful picture of George Washington on his horse; cowboys and Indians on horseback and also knights going into battle on their horses. The children made shields.”
THE PROJECT IS based on educational theories that have proven effective at the Smithsonian. “Our goal was to teach children through the arts,” said Francine Williams, the director of the Alexandria Headstart programs. “Our goal was to help them to become more verbal, recognize shapes and colors and exercise their creativity. I believe that we have attained those goals.”
The project had a budget of $9,000 and relied heavily on the support of teachers and volunteers. “I saw some children use words more than they had before to describe what they were seeing in paintings,” said Sharon McKinnon, one of the teachers. “I also think that some of them learned colors more rapidly because they were using them so much. We are already talking about some of the changes we will make if the program is offered next year, though. I think that a field trip every week is a bit much. We might want to have one every two weeks or one each month.”
Weigl agreed. “Next year, I would hope to start the program in October or November as opposed to in March,” she said. “We tried to fit a lot into about three months.”
The year will end with an art show on June 18 to which families, Commission members and The Campagna Center Board members have been invited. “We did not apply for funding through the Commission for next year but we hope to fund the project through other sources,” Williams said.
WEIGL HOPES so as well. For now, however, she is looking forward to a summer of research and relaxation in England and to returning home in time for the birth of a new grandchild.
“I certainly hope that we can continue and even expand the program,” she said. “We are being evaluated by some graduate students from George Mason University to assess the effectiveness of the program. I would like to see us expand the program to as many Headstart programs as possible throughout the area. It was truly rewarding to see the looks on the children’s faces as they appreciated works of art at the galleries and museums and to have the parents say that, even though they had never been to a gallery, they would go again with their children, on their own. That’s what the program was all about after all.”