The Arts

Enhancing Self-Confidence, Creativity, and Self-Expression

The Lower School performing and fine arts program offers a rich variety of experiences in the visual arts, music, movement, and drama that stimulate imagination, awaken aesthetic awareness, enhance skills, and foster natural creativity. The curriculum in the arts classes builds multicultural awareness and integrates thematic studies from each of the grades.

Performance and fine arts often provide a spontaneous language, either verbal or nonverbal, that helps to elicit what a student holds inside. Our students communicate thoughts and feelings through painting, ceramics, drawing, weaving, stitching, carving, printing, woodworking, papier-mâché, computer graphics, and other media. They learn progressively more sophisticated elements of listening to, reading, singing, and playing music. We teach students to play Orff Mallet instruments, recorders, and guitars and to ring belle plates and handbells. Fourth graders learn the basics of choral singing. Students share their acquired skills during performances throughout the school year.

Creative Movement helps our younger students use their bodies to express ideas and emotions. Units on oceans, butterflies, Japan, and Mexico provide opportunities to use drama to invite first and second graders to enter another time, place, or frame of reference. Third and fourth graders improvise, recite prose or poetry, act out multicultural folk tales, put on plays and mini-musicals, and present choreographed performances at assemblies. Even our youngest students share songs and dramatic readings with the Lower School at assemblies.