Art News:
- SMOCKS!! All students in grades K-3 should have an art smock that they keep at school to protect their clothing. Also, please be mindful of the day of the week your child attends art when deciding what to wear to school.
Art Philosophy & Curriculum Overview:
Art education prepares all students for success as lifelong learners by providing them with opportunities that challenge thinking and encourage problem solving and the communication of ideas. It is an integral part of the core curriculum and has a fundamental presence in all curricular areas. Art instruction provides an opportunity for self directed learning. Students develop the ability to analyze, interpret, and evaluate their own decisions regarding their artwork and the work of others.
The art experience makes a significant contribution to students’ mental, emotional, and social growth. The art program recognizes the individuality of each student and provides unique opportunities for self expression, exploration, and discovery. Art is a language through which diverse learners can learn about life and the world we live in.
Grades K-4:
The elementary visual arts curriculum helps students understand how media, technique and process are used to create works of art; how artworks are structured; how art has a variety of functions; how to identify, analyze and select subject matter, symbols and ideas for personal/cultural expression; how historical and cultural contexts provide meaning for works of art, and how to assess the merits of their own artworks and the artworks of others.
Grades 5-8:
The middle grade levels visual arts curriculum expands on the elementary foundation in understanding and skills in the visual arts in an exploratory manner. Students will develop increasingly sophisticated creative strategies, skills, and habits of mind through artistic practices; apply design literacy to a wide variety of traditional and new media; acquire increasing complex procedural knowledge, skill and craftsmanship in art making while exploring an expanded range of media; develop more sophisticated aesthetic judgment that supports the making and understanding of rich meaning in art; explore a wide range of notions about the meaning and purpose of visual art; form a broader knowledge and understanding of life through art.