Va. The TRW Foundation covered the costs for V.I.P., a state-funded preschool in the South Bay Union School District. Roberson is seeking corporate philanthropists to fund artists in residence who can teach preschoolers about the arts for up to seven weeks. Joyce Montgomery, principal of Silver Strand Elementary School and director of its preschool, said she, Roberson and other preschool directors have talked about opening a mini-Wolf Trap Institute for San Diego County. In recognition of preschool's academic importance, the California Department of Education last year issued standards for what children should learn before they enter kindergarten. The performing arts give children the foundation for later learning, Montgomery said.
Music is patterns, and familiarity with patterns helps with math.
Drama develops language, which leads to storytelling, which helps in reading and comprehension, she said. While the artists from Virginia were in Imperial Beach, they did not just put on an educational show for the children. They trained teachers to use the arts in their daily routine. They held workshops for parents on the importance of the arts in their children's lives. Sean Layne inscribe their visual, kinetic, auditory and tactile lessons on the closest thing they can get to tabula rasa in the classroom.