Woodrow Wilson celebrates life in parade

Woodrow Wilson Elementary School held its “Procession of the Species” event Oct. 27.

The “Procession of the Species” was an artistic parade that illustrated how community members not only hold an important relationship to each other but also to the natural world.

Principal Lynda Hart felt that due to Woodrow Wilson’s diverse population, the focus should be a celebration of life on Earth. Visual Art Specialist Rosemary Mitchell and Kelby McIntyre-Martinez, director of Professional Development from University of Utah’s College of Education, were charged with integrating curriculum and the arts to demonstrate the connectivity of life on earth to the arts. Together they worked with teachers for seven weeks on various combinations of art, music and dance.

“Each class chose a curriculum-centered topic of study, enriching it with vocabulary, movement, rhythm and the visual arts,” Mitchell said. “The procession included seasonal trees, caterpillars, butterflies, frogs and pond life, pollinating flowers, bees, desert biomes, crickets, clouds, seagulls, Utah fish, defense mechanisms, chameleons, crabs and opossums, microorganisms and sunflowers. Students made their own colorful costumes.”

Carrying banners and other props to help signify what they were representing, the students, teachers, staff and the Toyota Family Literacy parents, made their way through the halls of the school, the Granite Education Center and the Granite Technical Institute.

“This was a most rewarding experience for all involved,” Mitchell said. “The students were shining during the event and are still shining over the event. Many of them were able to use their handmade costumes for Halloween and are still wearing them to school. The students learned more about their core-centered topics because they were able to perform it and tell their stories through art.”

The procession made an appearance again that evening, parading before more than 500 parents and guests at the Afterschool “Lights On!” celebration.