April 7, 2020 (Wichita Falls, TX) – Schools may be closed, but the Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture (The Alliance) is open to help parents and teachers connect the arts to academic learning at home.

Today, The Alliance announces its A+ Initiative, an arts-integrated approach to reinforcing the knowledge and skills children need to stay on grade level and enhance their academic learning.

Margie Reese, Executive Director of The Alliance explains, “The A+ Initiative provides learning guides, arts activities, and lesson plans for parents-as-teachers and classroom teachers, engaging children in learning by encouraging creativity to problem-solving to enforce critical thinking skills.”

Parents, grandparents, classroom teachers, and everyone supporting at-home learning can facilitate these activities. Many are also presented as lesson plans that align with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) as adopted by the State Board of Education for grades K-5. The activities integrate the arts into core subject areas: Science, Math, English, Language Arts and Reading, and Social Studies.

Reese adds, “These services are ongoing elements of our mission to provide more arts to more people, however, the context of the current environment gives these services new relevance. The arts-integrated learning guides give us a way to support families and educators in Wichita Falls and surrounding communities.”

Parents and teachers are encouraged to submit photographs of student A+ artwork to be included in The Alliance’s online art gallery. For help facilitating activities, contact The Alliance staff at info@wichitafalls.org.

More information about the A+ Initiative can be found here.