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12-27-2007 By MICHELLE MILLER Staff Writer Ritter, who has been teaching for 26 years and has been at MCS since 1991, applied for the grant in August 2007 when she received a list of grant opportunities through one of the educational publications that she reads. Ritter said she went online to the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation Web site to apply and received the grant the week after Thanksgiving. "I was very excited to have my proposal selected from the many that were submitted," said Ritter. "This will be a wonderful opportunity for the children to create a quilt fashioned after the artistic style of Ezra Jack Keats." Ritter said the quilt pieces will resemble the collage style of Keats' illustrations, and the entire class will work on the quilt project as part of the English language arts portion of the class' curriculum. Each child in the class will design an 8x10 quilt square using a variety of textiles and materials such as corrugated cardboard and sandpaper, said Ritter. The grant, which came in the form of a $180 check, will be used to cover the cost of supplies and materials needed to create and complete the quilt, said Ritter. Ritter said the quilt is anticipated to be finished by March, and will be displayed in the school somewhere. "We have not worked out the details yet," she said. "But we are looking forward to completing this collaborative project." According to ezra-jack-keats. org, The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation was incorporated in 1964. The site states that, while Keats was alive, the foundation served as a vehicle for Keats' personal contributions, but when he died in 1983, his will directed that the royalties from his books be used by the foundation for the support of programs helpful to humanity. Keats had illustrated over 85 books for children, and written and illustrated 24 children's classics by the time he died of a heart attack. According to ezra-jack-keats. org, Keats is known for crossing social boundaries by being the first American picture- book maker to give a black child a central place in children's literature. The Web site says the characters in Keats' books come from the community around him. Ritter said she believes children can relate to Keats' characters because his characters are based on his community and his personal experiences. She said many of Keats' stories illustrate the simple pleasures and problems children encounter in their daily routine. Ritter said she also believes Keats' work is very appealing to children because the art work is colorful, bright and inviting. "Keats is part of our study of Caldecott (picture book award)-winning books" said Ritter, who said she has a classroom set of the 1963 Caldecott award winning book "The Snowy Day." Ritter said she also has several others of Keats' books in her classroom. She said the MCS library has numerous additional titles, and elementary library media specialist Pam Clarke is working with her to garner other titles from the interlibrary loan system. Other books Keats wrote that have received honors include "In a Spring Garden," which received the Library of Congress' Book of the Year in 1965, "Goggles," which received Caldecott Medal Honor Book in 1970 and "Hi, Cat," which received the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for illustration in 1970. Keats is mostly known through his children's books, and according to the foundation's Web site, the public at large knows relatively little about his legacy of oil painting, watercolors, pen and ink, and pencil sketches. |
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