JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — There are many ways to teach a kid something. One of the most fun—and perhaps most memorable—is to entwine it with kids’ natural creativity. 

That’s what happened with a Sullivan West program late in the school year. Fourth-grade teachers Tara Brey and Juliya Schumacher worked with teaching artist Ron Littke to teach in a different way: by turning lessons into movies.

Littke’s background is in filmmaking, video and radio. He’s been involved with arts organization Franklin Furnace since the ‘80s, and “we worked in schools” in New York City, weaving lessons into movies. “Then I came here,” he said. 

Last year, Littke worked at the Eldred School; this year, it’s Sullivan West’s turn.

“The project is based on something they’re studying,” he said. “The kids made a script and filmed. [They] did all the work, basically—acting, they made costumes.” They collected or made props too.

Brey’s class made “Why,” which features two pourquoi tales—stories that explain why something is the way it is. The class filmed “Why Bees Buzz” and “How Beetle Got Her Jeweled Coat.”

Schumacher’s class made “The Mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke,” about the English colony that disappeared in 1590, leaving behind two carved words: “Croatoan” on a gatepost and “Cro” on a tree.

When not leading filmmaking projects in schools, Littke runs Icehouse Arts, which offers summer film camp for kids at two local libraries, as well as script readings and video workshops for adults. 

The camps will be held at the Tusten-Cochecton Branch of the Western Sullivan Public Library in Narrowsburg, and at the Sunshine Hall Free Library in Eldred. 

The Sullivan West project was funded by Franklin Furnace, and the videos will be shown publicly at the Big Eddy Film Festival.

Learn more about Icehouse Arts’ programs at www.icehouseartsny.org. 

The Big Eddy Film Festival will be held in Narrowsburg starting September 29 and run through October 1. For more information on the festival, visit www.bigeddyfilmfest.com.