Partner Organizations THE BLUEPALM ARTS PROGRAM: Bluepalm's mission is to build strong individuals and cohesive communities through the joy and rigor of the arts. The 'art' of Bluepalm is to infuse classroom learning with the life-altering power of artistic experience. The multi-arts method integrates a wide range of learning and teaching styles. During their 8-10 week residency, they use dance, theater, and visual arts to build focus, vocabulary, and standards-based connections to Language Arts, Science, Math, and Social Sciences. All program components - staff development, workshops, and live performance - are designed to encourage metacognitive skills. BLUEPALM trains staff and students to 'think like an artist' in the classroom, in order to find pleasure and a meaningful, lifelong relationship to learning based on one's experiences, knowledge, and culture. This program is available to OCS students only with a financial commitment from the school and as this is an annual commitment, funds must be raised in order to continue to provide our students with this opportunity. THE RIORDAN FOUNDATION 'COMPUTERS IN THE CLASSROOM' PROGRAM: With a generous grant from the Riordan Foundation, the 4th and 5th grades will now have computers in their classrooms allowing the core curriculum to be enhanced by computer-based technology furthering the academic success of each student. Danielle Boucher (4th grade teacher) and Jude Stabiler (5th grade teacher) were chosen to participate in the 06-07 Computers in the Classroom program as both have technological experience and both teachers want to spearhead the school's computer integration plan by mentoring other teachers as additional computers are added in the future. This grant is a matching grant, however, which means that OCS must contribute approximately $1,000 per computer donated by the Riordan Foundation. THE HOUSE OF BLUES FOUNDATION (IHOBF) MAKE AN IMPRESSION INITIATIVE: With the generous support of the IHOBF Make An Impression Initiative, the students at OCS have had the use of 10 guitars and 20 REMO drums. These guitars and drums have been used by students throughout the year in conjunction with the school's already flourishing music program and have opened the students' world to creating rhythms, reading music and playing music in a group setting. One of the most unique aspects of OCS is the school's outstanding music program. Since the IHOBF Make An Impression Initiative provides instruments and an opportunity for students to perform at the House of Blues, but requires that the school provide an instructor, it is with your generous support that OCS can continue to enrich the music program by building upon the partnership with the IHOBF.