Ross Elementary 2nd graders were in for a treat
today when guest presenter Jon Schwartz visited their classroom.
Schwartz represents Rockademix, a non-profit organization that
teaches through the use of music and the arts. Schwartz, an avid
underwater-photographer from San Diego, uses his book, “The Kid From Cabo,” to
teach school children that living things are built in ways that help them
survive. Specifically, how several species of fish are darker on top than they
are on the bottom, protecting them from predators.
Schwartz used songs to help him deliver his lesson, a tool
he utilized during his 15-year career as a classroom teacher. “When I first
started to use music to help my students learn, my 1st graders were
picking up everything from phonics to geography to mathematics through song.
After a lot of encouragement from education professors, I started looking at
developing a curriculum that other teachers could use,” Schwartz said.
Stacy Neumann, music coordinator at both Ross Elementary and
Eisenhower Middle School, was thrilled to have Mr. Schwartz back at Ross for
the second year in a row. “We’ve gotten so much district support for (these
kinds of presentations) that we knew we wanted to keep providing them for our
students,” she said.
The students here in land-locked Kansas had a great time
learning about aquatic oceanic animals. Thank you, Mr. Schwartz, for presenting
such an entertaining lesson!
