Category: Monday Message

Every year on April 15, World Art Day celebrates the fine arts and promotes awareness of creativity worldwide. The date of April 15 was chosen because it is the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci’s, one of the most famous artists in history.

Children benefit in many ways when they have opportunities to create art.

• Art facilitates a love of learning and creativity.
• Art can improve hand-eye coordination.
• Art builds self-esteem and motivation.
• Art supports emotional intelligence and can help children express emotions.

Here is a fun rainbow art project to try with your child.

Rainbow Art Project

Materials needed:

• Watercolor paper
• Liquid watercolors
• Paintbrushes
• Pipettes or droppers
• Small containers to hold your paints and glue
• Scissors
• Cotton balls
• Liquid glue
• Wax paper

Directions:

1. Start by making your colorful rainbow paper. Take a piece of watercolor paper and paint it with a layer of water so it’s all wet.

2. Use your droppers or pipettes to drop watercolors onto the wet paper. To get more of a rainbow design, try dropping the rows in ROYGBIV order.

3. Set your paper aside to dry. While your paper is drying, you can make your cotton ball clouds.

4. Take a piece of wax paper and place it in front of you.

5. Pour some liquid glue into a shallow dish or onto a paper plate.

6. Take one cotton ball and stretch it out. Dip it in glue, and then place it on the wax paper.

7. Grab another cotton ball, stretch it out, dip it in the glue, and place it on the wax paper.

8. Continue doing this until you have all the clouds you need.

9. Let the clouds dry in the sun or at room temperature overnight. When they are dry, you can peel them off of the wax paper.

10. Once your watercolor paper is dry, cut out some rainbow shapes from it, and add some cotton ball clouds to give your rainbow(s) a 3D effect.

Then hang your artwork!

What is autism?

Autism is a neurodivergence that can create differences in social and communication styles. Autism does not have one look. It is different for every person.

Autism Facts

• About one in 36 children is diagnosed with autism, according to estimates from the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network.
• Autism is diagnosed more than four times more frequently among boys than among girls.
• Girls are often diagnosed later than boys and miss out on opportunities for early support. Girls who have autism but not a diagnosis may grow up not understanding why they are sometimes confused in social situations. They might not be able to make friends as easily as others and can sometimes be targets for bullies. This can lead to a lifetime of feeling they’re failing and have character defects – or being told they do.
• Autism impacts each person differently.

Autism Acceptance Symbol

The new symbol for Autism Acceptance Awareness is the rainbow infinity symbol, which is used to represent neurodiversity. Over time, the puzzle piece symbol began to be viewed in a negative light, as it created the impression that autism was a riddle to be solved or that people with autism were incomplete. The criticism over the puzzle piece symbol was handed over to the Autism Research Journal’s editors, who initiated the process of updating the symbol. The group’s research led them to move toward a symbol that represents the autism spectrum more fully. In February 2018, the puzzle piece was replaced with a rainbow-colored infinity symbol to represent a spectrum, diversity, and difference.

Ways to Support Autism Acceptance Month

1. Learn about the history of autism.
2. Support anti-bullying initiatives that are respectful of diverse populations.
3. Read books about autism.
4. Educate yourself on terminology that relates to autism. Some of us may have learned people-first language, but there are different points of view on that.
5. Support actually autistic creators and business owners.
6. Spread awareness in your community.
7. Create inclusive opportunities.
8. Be an advocate and speak up.

Additional Resources

• Books to share with learners for Autism Acceptance Month
• Movies and TV shows about autism
• Shopping for products that support sensory differences

Did you know that every year on April 22, billions of people across the globe celebrate Earth Day? The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, and Earth Day falls on April 22 each year. The purpose of Earth Day is to bring awareness to environmental issues that negatively impact our Earth. The mission of Earth Day is to “diversify, educate, and activate the environmental movement worldwide.” 

To celebrate Earth Day, consider one of the following activities:

• Plant a tree or a terrarium.
• Go on a nature walk. 
• Separate your recycling items from your trash.
• Visit a local or national park.

Here are some fast facts about the beautiful planet we call home:

• Earth is the third-closest planet to the Sun.
• Earth is 4.543 billion years old.
• Water makes up much of the Earth’s surface.
• Earth rotates at around 1,000 miles per hour.
• One million Earths would fit inside the Sun.

Gris Ibarra, Student Support Coordinator:

Gris is one of our amazing Student Support Coordinators supporting our sites. She goes above and beyond to set up our learners and staff for success. She is here, there, and everywhere. The next time you see her, give her a smile for a super great day! Check out her interview below.

Name a role model who has inspired you in your career.

My grandfather, Juan Salas. He always led by example. He modeled compassion, equity, selflessness, and grit.

What led you to work in this field and with iLEAD?

My children. They’re all unique and learn so differently. I love iLEAD’s philosophy of teaching the whole child and the personal relationships my children had with their iLEAD facilitators.

What’s your process for turning a bad day around?

Having a positive attitude while focusing on the things I can control and not the things I can’t.

Reminding myself of my “why” always brings a smile to my face, even on those hard days.

What is something most people don’t know about you?

I love reading biographies and autobiographies of musicians.

What is the best piece of advice given to you?

Believe in something or you’ll fall for anything.

What is your enneagram number?

I’m a 9.

What fictional character do you relate to most? What character traits do you share?

The Hulk: humble, patient, empathetic, finds the good in everyone, strong and mighty.

What is your favorite color?

Black.

Meet Chantel Hubbard. Chantel is a Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant who works with learners at SCVi, iLEAD Agua Dulce, and iLEAD Exploration. Chantel feels fortunate to have worked with learners and families for the past three years. Chantel first came to iLEAD because she loved the creative opportunities iLEAD provides. She knows iLEAD is a place where a learner’s creativity is not only encouraged but nourished, and Chantel gets to support that creativity in learners every day!

Chantel has been greatly inspired by her first supervisor, Donna, her role model in the field of Occupational Therapy. Donna demonstrated a holistic approach to OT that looked at the individual as a whole. Her influence is evident in Chantel’s holistic approach to Occupational Therapy sessions. 

Chantel’s lead, Brooke, had the following to say about her: “Chantel brings so much experience, creativity, and a collaborative spirit to our iLEAD OT team as well as to all the learners she supports. Not only is she organized and dependable, but she also goes above and beyond to make sure she’s incorporating each learner’s strengths and interests into each of her sessions. She is truly a team player and a leader within our department. Chantel is a talented photographer outside of work and has a truly exceptional artistic spirit.”

Chantel likes to turn a day around with fun, positive, upbeat music. When asked the best piece of advice she’s been given, Chantel said, “Take life one day at a time. Living in the past or in the future takes away from the moment.”

We are so blessed to have Chantel working with learners and staff each and every day. If you see her around, stop and say hi. 

This month we are excited to highlight our learners and showcase their artwork!

A simple book like Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson can spark children’s imagination of colors and creativity. Young children are naturally drawn to pick up crayons to make scribbles or just to see the beautiful colors.

Art programs across the nation have continuously lost funding or been abolished altogether; however, a simple class has many lifelong educational benefits. Early exposure to art classes can aid in the development of fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and dexterity. Art in education contributes to cognitive development for visual processing, sequencing, and problem-solving. These are essential developmental skills for young learners.

Art in education has many benefits for older learners as well. Art classes in school aid in social-emotional development, including the growth of a positive self-esteem. The University College London conducted a longitudinal study in which they concluded that students who were exposed to art classes on a regular basis had significantly higher self-esteem compared to those who did not have access to art classes. Additionally, U.S News and World Report (2022) continued the research and found that art education can help kids:

• Engage with school and reduce stress.
• Develop social-emotional and interpersonal skills.
• Enrich their experiences.
• Handle constructive criticism.
• Bolster academic achievement.
• Improve focus.

Art in education has many long-term benefits, from motor skills development to cognitive and social-emotional development, and research backs the positive outcomes. Let’s embrace our future artists and continue to promote art in education.

Whether it’s the Grinch, Horton or Cindy Lou Who, we all know the Who behind these Whos. Born Theodor Seuss Geisel, this children’s author and illustrator is known to most of us as Dr. Seuss. As a child, Seuss would spend countless hours at the local zoo drawing animals. Seuss’s mom loved creating silly rhymes and drawings, and his dad loved to imagine intricately creative machines. In a home full of creativity, Seuss was drawn to the world of art. He was a doodler, which led him to take his first art class while in high school. Later he went off to Dartmouth College, where he became editor of the school’s newspaper to further his talents of writing and illustrating. This started his path of working as a cartoonist for several magazines, such as Life and Vanity Fair. As his love of illustrating grew, he was able to use his artistic talent to draw political illustrations during the war. But ultimately he was drawn to creating children’s books, as he had the desire to help kids learn to read. He liked to draw out his ideas and then create the stories around them. In 1937, after 27 rejections by publishers, Seuss published his first children’s book, And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. Today Dr. Seuss is a household name, with hits such as The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Over his lifetime Seuss wrote and published over 60 books.

This quote embodies Seuss’s life: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”

Seuss has not only helped countless children learn to read through his talents, but he has also inspired many to follow their dreams even when facing adversity.

For more information on Dr. Seuss’s artistic illustrations, check out these resources:

The Cat Behind the Cat: The Art of Dr. Seuss by Caroline M. Smith
The Art of Dr. Seuss Collection