b'This past year opened a door for me to return to my passion of teaching art to young children. I had been an art teacher for over 10 years when life advanced me into school administration. As a campus administrator, I kept seeing the importance of literacy and need for it to be taught through all subjects. Yet, each content having its own curriculum and each specialty class having its own agenda as well, this integration never truly was embraced. I had always advocated as an art teacher that I could teach anything through my art program, so this year gave me the opportunity to set out and do just that, and what better age to develop this methodology than primary students in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten.Through a Harris County Department of Education grant, our school districts visual arts department got involved in a program titled Literacy and Art. The direction wasnt clear to me since I had not written the grant but it gave me the resources to kick off what I had always believed was best practices, using childrens literature to build background while teaching art.Our students have connected to so many of the books we read and their artwork has only been enhanced by those deeper connections. The importance of reading to young children in their primary language and providing hands-on experiences through the art curriculum for young learners is so valuable.This philosophy has also prompted community engagement through family nights and parent support meetings on the importance of reading and the arts for young learners. My continual advocacy on the importance of art in developing a sense of self and community for our young learners as well as promote the power of art to shape and extend community awareness for the importance of this integrated approach supports the information I shared during a recent parent engagement event on Literacy and Art with Primary Students. The following information what I shared with these parents and what drives my integration of literacy through my art program.TRENDS // PAGE 20PAGE 21 // TRENDS'