Special Needs Residency: Fall 2018

We just wrapped up another season of our Special Needs Residency program at P.S. 15! This year we worked with two ACES classrooms serving K-5 students with a range of intellectual and physical disabilities. Our fall curriculum topics were human bodies (K-2) and architecture (3-5). Teaching Artist Ruth Wetzel led 6 workshops for each classroom.

The younger students participated in individual and group projects on the theme of "all about me." They used drawing, collage, rubbing, printing and storytelling to explore different parts of the human body. Anatomical topics included teeth, fingerprints, faces and skeletons.

The older students worked on larger group projects, such as a woven paper mural of the NYC skyline depicting different times of day. They used the cityscape subject to discuss foreground/background, the positions of the sun and moon, and building structure. They also designed and planted sod beds, and used slotted cardboard to build experimental constructions without a binder like glue or tape.

We're so proud of the ongoing success of this program and hope to keep it going in the spring of 2019! Special thanks to Ruth Wetzel, our PS15 classroom teachers, Vice Principal Julie Cavanagh, and interns Lindsay Casale and Rebecca Young for their amazing assistance!