Students learn core values through art

Compassion, excellence, integrity, unity, respect... the core values spoken at Thompson Falls School District.

How do you teach a child what these complicated words mean? Crystal Buchanan with Sanders County Coalition for Families knew the answer: with fun, hands-on projects.

Buchanan organized Thompson Falls Elementary School's seventh Family Literacy and Art Night, which took place last Thursday evening.

"She tied the core values and found books that teach that value and then had a project to go with it," Falls secretary Diane Hedahl stated in reference to Buchanan, "which is not easy!"

In each classroom, selected stories were read aloud and shown on smart boards while families displayed their artistic talents in creating a masterpiece associated with each story and core value.

To teach what compassion means, Buchanan selected A Home for Bird and paper balloon lanterns were crafted. Library Lion was selected to relay excellence while attendants made paper lion bookmarks. The ever-famous Dr. Seuss classic The Cat in the Hat represented integrity. Families exited this station fashioning brightly-colored, custom hats. Mini canvases with yellow painted thumbprint chicks were a popular hit as unity was exhibited by the reading of Chickens to the Rescue. Lastly, Harry the Dirty Dog helped relay the message of respect. White dogs were available for everyone to color as they wished; some were debating whether they would have a white dog with black spots, or a black dog with white spots as the story goes. Either way, everyone got to take home their own personal Harry to remind them of respect.

"The event was definitely a success," principal Len Dorscher said. "The participation numbers were a little lower than usual, and most people attribute that to cold weather, potentially."

The elementary student council held a bake sale at the event to raise funds for school improvements.

"We are unsure how much the bake sale made, as we have not counted that money yet," Dorscher stated. "Our student council will decide what to use those funds for in time."

Buchanan is a regular at the school, teaching art to students. "She has done an amazing job of tying our core values to art and reading," Dorscher added, giving her a huge thank you for her efforts in planning the last few Family Literacy and Art Night events.

Thompson Falls combines multiple areas of interest into one event, and this approach has been positive, according to Dorscher. In the spring, a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) event will be hosted by the school.