The Whole Child

Library

We invite you to tour our newly renovated Library and Media Center!  We hope our bright, engaging new space will encourage our students to choose to read, to choose what they read and to become life-long learners.  We encourage parents to read at least 20 minutes every day with their children.  Read to them, and have them read to you.  Even short books can be read and reread over several days.  Each time you read the book, you will find something new to talk about.

We also want our students to become effective users of information and technology.  Our new library includes a computer media center where students learn computer skills and work with interactive math and reading software designed to supplement classroom instruction. 

Art

The Gordon Parks Art Program encourages students to explore, experiment, create and discover the potential of the creative self. Art exploration helps students learn to problem solve and develop skills that will aid them in other academic areas.  Art lessons incorporate the Gordon Parks core curriculum through books, media, exposure to history, artists and relevant events in the world and the community.  Our goal is to ensure that our children approach school as enthusiastic, open learners and leave Gordon Parks knowing they are armed with evolving skills to keep them that way forever.

Be sure to check out the Art Gallery with images of recent student art work!

Physical Education

The goal of the Gordon Parks Physical Education Program is to help our students achieve optimum physical growth and development.  Students attend P.E. class for 60 minutes each week.  Through physical activity, students gain team skills and positive attitudes and behaviors that are conducive to a healthy lifestyle.  Activities vary widely from basic locomotor movements such as walking, running, skipping, hopping, jumping, leaping, galloping and sliding, to non-locomotor movements such as bending, swinging, turning, twisting, pushing, pulling, fleeing, chasing and tagging.  Students also work on other manipulative activities that involve complex motor patterns such as throwing, catching, kicking and striking.  Students work on both individual skills as well as team building activities.  All activities can be adapted for a wide variety of special needs students.  At the elementary level emphasis is not placed on winning, it is placed on having a positive experience! 

In addition to P.E. class, students participate in a daily Structured Recess program for 25 minutes. Structured Recess serves as an extenion of the P.E. class and gives students an additional opportunity for physical development.  

Music

The Gordon Parks Music Program features contemporary, familiar songs that children love as the basis for lessons in music theory about melody, rhythm, harmony and pitch.  Music helps develop keen listening skills and improve reading and writing skills. Our students learn basic music concepts such as the beat value of notes, the difference between melody and harmony, and the definition of pitch.  Every grade has a 60 minute music sessions each week.  Music lessons are also used to prepare students for special performances throughout the year such as the Winter Concert and Black History Month Celebration.  Because children naturally enjoy singing and dancing, music class is also the perfect medium in which to integrate other areas of our school’s core curriculum.

Field Trips

Each year, we take our children on a variety of local field trips that allow them to gain a broader view of the world and reinforce classroom curriculum. Our students have also gained experiences in nature such as a 5th grade overnight trip to the Wildwood Outdoor Education Center in La Cygne, KS.  We also explore other unique experiences regionally such as orchard visits and dance/theatre performances.  As part of our science program, students harvest fresh vegetables and flowers from our school garden, learning to prepare fresh, healthy meals. 

Aftercare

The Gordon Parks Aftercare Program provides students the opportunity to participate in enrichment and extracurricular activities in a safe and nurturing environment.  In addition to tutoring and homework help, the Aftercare Program offers enrichment activities and programs in the areas of academics, athletics and character building.  Highlights of the Aftercare Program often include martial arts instruction, debate club, African dance instruction, reader’s theatre, Pets for Life, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and Girls on the Run.