'The Very Creative Classroom' with Kim Ratliff
August 12, 2024 - May 31, 2025 | Five in-person sessions (50 minutes each)
Program Cost: $500 per classroom. Scholarships and discounts available.
Grades Pre-K – 2
Dramatic storytelling and social and emotional learning (SEL) through the world of Eric Carle!
Want to get your students actively engaged, help them express and understand their emotions, and instill in them the love of literature?
Using the beloved books by Eric Carle, students will learn through dramatic storytelling how to express and examine the characters’ emotions, as well as their own feelings. Teaching artist Kim Ratliff will combine her skills from 30 years as a classroom teacher with her background as a trained storyteller to lead your class through creative lessons they will always remember!
Kim Ratliff has a unique background in both the arts and in education. Her educational background includes two bachelor’s degrees (in English Literature and Elementary Education) and a master’s degree in education. In addition to her teaching career, Ratliff has led professional development training in arts integration from California to Indiana. Starting her teaching career in Pasadena, California, and continuing in the Shawnee Mission School District allowed Kim to see the diverse needs that can be found within every class.
In her three decades as a classroom teacher, Ratliff embraced an arts integration approach. Incorporating visual arts, music, creative movement, and dramatic arts in her classroom experiences daily helped her young students learn to be creative thinkers and collaborate from a very early age.
Ratliff’s performance background includes training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and improvisational comedy at the Groundling Theater. She has also worked as a Teaching Artist for Kansas City Young Audiences for 20 years.
When she was selected to participate in the KS/MO Kennedy Center Partners in Education training, Ratliff embarked on developing lessons that incorporate dramatic storytelling, children’s literature, and social emotional learning. Weaving these elements together, she created "The Very Creative Classroom." This residency has helped students grow their own emotional vocabulary and explore what empathy looks and feels like. The communication skills and critical thinking that are embedded in these lessons are the skills that will help young students grow into healthy, creative adults.