Marin Preparatory School: Cross-Cultural Creatures

Marin Preparatory School:
Cross-Cultural Creatures

Marin Preparatory School (MPS), located in the Castro district of San Francisco, is a nonprofit, transitional school, offering classes from kindergarten through eighth grade. The school’s mission is to provide opportunities for students to achieve their personal best; become positive, responsible community members; and embrace learning in a warm and productive environment. The school’s multilayered academic approach includes STEAM curriculum (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics). The school also offers Spanish-infused educational program that embraces interactive thinking and nurtures the individual strengths and needs of a diverse student population. MPS emphasizes cross-cultural learning through art. The goal is to stimulate a lifelong desire to seek knowledge and build a strong sense of community among students, faculty, and parents.

Cross-Cultural Creatures features artwork from first- through fourth-grade students and was inspired by artists and art from China and Cuba. Fourth-grade students studied Chinese dragons and their identifying features. The students then designed and created a dragon that expressed their particular point of view. Third-grade students, inspired by Chinese artist Wang Yani’s passion for painting monkeys, created images of the animals frolicking in the wild and dangling from trees. And first-grade students, inspired by the artwork of Cuban artist Mariano Rodriguez, made images of roosters by blending different chalk pastels.

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