Kindergarten Art

Beginning in Kindergarten, the students are formally introduced to art with an art specialist. In art class the students work on a new project in a new medium during each session. Here, they add to and build on the skills taught in the preschool classroom, explore a variety of mediums and involve all their senses in a creative and imaginative way. Art class time often begins with a story for inspiration.

Major projects often include:

• clay african guinea fowl
• coil pots
• picasso inspired self portraits
• skeleton artwork honoring Dia de los Muertos

How can I support and communicate with my teammates? –In the first grade students learn the importance of teamwork. Each activity is guided by cooperation, problem-solving, encouraging communication and positive social interactions.

• Team Building
• Variation Games (Balloon Volleyball, Scoops, etc.)
• Beginning Juggling skills
• Cooperative Challenges

Elementary classes engage in physical education twice a week for 45 minutes.

Can I perform this skill better? – In the second grade students are introduced to a variety of activities and sport games that promote skill development. Cooperative activities consist of skill practice, performances and fun challenges.

• Jump Rope
• Juggling/ Throwing and Catching
• Variation Games (Balloon Volleyball, Scoops, etc.)
• Cooperative Challenges

Elementary classes engage in physical education twice a week for 45 minutes.

What is sportsmanship all about? —In the third grade students become begin to transfer fundamental skills to competitive sports games. We learn to both win and lose gracefully and instill the importance of working on a team.

• Team Sports and Games (Volleyball, Basketball, Soccer, Lacrosse, etc.)
• Creating a Class Sportsmanship Document
• Problem solving solutions (Peace Process, Ro-sham-bo, etc.)

Elementary classes engage in physical education twice a week for 45 minutes.

Social Studies

Building on the third grade curriculum, the history and social studies units continue to offer hands-on activities and provide opportunities to explore new concepts that help them embrace diversity and understand and appreciate a wide world. The children continue to record information in learning logs and are assessed through tests and/or special projects.

Sample units include:

• California History: In this unit, the essential question we seek to answer is, “Who and what are California’s Riches?” The unit focuses on the California gold rush of 1848 and the many groups of people who immigrated during or around this time. California’s wild and colorful past is brought alive as the children participate in a simulation of the gold rush and write imagined journals of their own.

• Africa (Ghana): In this unit, the essential question students seek to answer is, “How does learning about another culture help me understand myself better?” Our goal in teaching the unit on Ghana is to have students begin to see the depth and complexity of social and historical culture that just one African country embodies. We also look at how the political ideas, language and arts of Ghana have influenced peoples worldwide. Children study the Asante people in depth through film, slides, books, art, music, food, guest speakers and lectures.

Science

Fourth grade science activities encourage children to inquire and guide their own learning based on their interest.

• The central goal of the unit, “The Scientific Method” serves to answer the question, “How do scientists work?”. Allowing students’ inquiry around electricity to unfold, students are introduced to the Scientific Method step by step. We focus especially on conducting experiments that involve controls and variables and keeping a science journal that includes sketches, labels and detailed descriptions that can lead to logical conclusions.
• Students develop questions based on their own findings and interests. From these questions, each student designs his or her own experiment. Students refine their observation skills, practice the scientific method, write lab reports and learn about laboratory safety. Children design their own exhibit and determine the best way to communicate their growing understanding of the question being pursued. After sharing projects with each other in class, the children show and explain their work to parents and other students on the day of the science fair.
• During our Oceanography Unit, students explore the question, “How can life exist in the greatest depths of our oceans?”. The children develop respect for our water planet as we look at ocean ecology and learn about the diversity of life in the seas. We study biological classification, the deep ocean habitat and basic ideas of evolution, including adaptation, diversity of species and the relationship between form and function.

Fifth Graders are at a unique time in their development, which is an important aspect of their art curriculum.  They are able to handle more complex thinking, specifically for concrete tasks. In addition, this year is often marked by a developmental proclivity for increased social engagement that is collaborative and group oriented. To support these developmental markers, the arts curriculum focuses on concrete subject matter aimed towards developing mastery of skill. In the second half of the year students work collaboratively on building structures through a Design Thinking unit. 

Major Units of Study

• Contour, gesture and value study drawings of shoes
• Shoe ceramic sculpture
• Architectural block print of chairs
• Woodworking
• Acrylic thematic paintings
• One point perspective drawing
• Set and prop construction for school plays

At the beginning of the three-year Middle School art program, Sixth Grade students focus on concrete skill building in drawing, painting and ceramic sculpture. The foundational skills during this year are revisited, practiced, and deepened during the following Seventh and Eighth Grade years. Students attend art class once per week for 90 minute sessions throughout all three years of the program. The Sixth Grade arts curriculum integrates closely with the humanities curriculum. Projects are designed for creative exploration, skill building, and reflective learning about both self and the cultures they are studying.

Major Units of Study

• Thematic acrylic painting
• Self portraiture
• Two point perspective drawings
• Ceramic slab building
• Ceramic sculpture
• Charcoal drawing
• Interdisciplinary Asian arts studies
• Book cover design

Seventh Grade art continues to build on skills introduced in Sixth Grade art. The curriculum aligns with studies in humanities and introduces more abstract and complex approaches to creative expression. Students study the Renaissance and are introduced to significant artists and genres that arose during this time. Then, students apply significant art techniques and thinking that emerged during that time to their contemporary work.

Major Units of Study

• Thematic acrylic painting
• Symbolic self portraits
• Atmospheric perspective landscape paintings
• Nature drawing and printmaking
• Ceramic hand built vessels
• Still life
• Interdisciplinary humanities Islamic art

The Eighth Grade year, SFS’s final year of regular and rigorous attention and application in the arts, culminates with students who head off to high school as more self aware, culturally literate and creatively confident young adults. The year begins with a focus on individual work that is inspired by the American Arts and Crafts Movement. During the second half of the year, there is a movement towards group projects as students work on various projects related to their drama performance, trip to Nicaragua and graduation. In addition, a Design Thinking Unit, done jointly with the Science Department, supports students in moving from individual creative projects to team-based creative collaboration.

Major Units of Study

• Arts and Crafts-inspired ceramic vessels
• Thematic acrylic paintings
• Printmaking
• Self portraits
• Roller coasters
• Still life studies
• Papier-mache sculptures