The Arts

Performing Arts

The performing arts curriculum is designed to assist students in developing the vocabulary, skills, and attitudes necessary for a high level of accomplishment and a deep level of understanding and appreciation of music, dance, and theater arts.

The dance program is a child-centered approach designed to expand creativity through movement and self-expression. When appropriate, classroom content and grade themes are incorporated into movement instruction. Elements of dance such as space, time, and energy are taught throughout the year. Students are introduced to basic dance vocabulary and choreography. There are opportunities for performances through Evenings of the Arts, the Winter Performance, and the Spring Performance.

The music program is a child-centered program with an Orff and Kodaly emphasis. There are five objectives in music in each grade level that are thematic and sequential: singing, playing, creating, movement, and performing.

Open to all students with previous private lesson instruction, Orchestra provides an ensemble experience for string players and a combination of wind and percussion instruments. Orchestra meets once a cycle and may perform at certain school functions. The Chorus consists of the fourth and fifth grade classes. The students perform for the winter and spring performances, and various school functions.

Visual Arts

The visual arts curriculum provides the opportunity to explore properties and use of materials as well as the elements and principles of composition on an increasingly sophisticated level. Students create a variety of art including drawing and painting from life, ceramics, printmaking, cut-paper collage, and various sculptural techniques based on various classroom units as well as the cultures studied in their social studies classes. Art history and appreciation are explored through the study of famous artists in varied media and time periods.

The primary function of the visual arts program is to nurture the capacity to make expressive forms. Instruction, discipline, and direction are fundamental in the development of this ability. Students use elements of art to develop visual literacy by viewing the works of a particular artist, artistic period, or culture, and using art as inspiration. Artists include Georgia O’Keefe, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky, and Sam Rodia.