Art, Library, Music, P.E. & Spanish

Program & Curriculum

The Island School, a private school on Bainbridge Island, offers engaging Art, Library, Music, P.E. and Spanish programs for students from the Kitsap Peninsula, including Poulsbo, Suquamish, Indianola, Kingston, Hansville and Silverdale.

Our school provides an excellent academic education as well as the social/emotional learning (SEL) that is just as critical to a child’s lifelong success in building relationships with others.  Social/emotional learning has been part of our educational program since The Island School was founded more than 40 years ago because, in our community, teaching children to be kind, respectful and inclusive is as important as teaching reading, writing and math.  It is part of our mission to inspire in our children a lifelong enthusiasm for learning AND an appreciation and respect for themselves and others because this is education of the heart as well as the brain.  We focus on the whole child, academically, socially and emotionally, while celebrating what makes each child unique.

Art

At The Island School, we believe that art is essential to the growth of every child. Art stimulates creative thinking and provides a means of communication and self-expression. The study of art heightens aesthetic awareness, enhances the ability to visualize, provides problem-solving/decision-making opportunities and serves as a balance to classroom activities. In each of the six grades at The Island School, art skills and art appreciation are taught.

The art curriculum is designed to introduce children to a myriad of mediums, techniques and concepts. Students at The Island School will be introduced to ceramics, drawing, printmaking, color theory, book arts, painting, sculpture, fiber art, recycle art and collage. Each student learns vocabulary that enables him or her to talk about art and describe the tools and techniques of art making.

Traditional elements and principles of design are explored as essential parts of visual literacy. Throughout the school year, students look through the lenses of line, color, shape, texture, space and form when interpreting art objects and practicing art making.

Art appreciation is an important focus at The Island School. Students learn about artists and visit museums and galleries to develop viewing skills. Students regularly look at works of art by diverse artists and explore traditions from around the globe.

The creative life of each child is honored and supported at The Island School. Most of the student's time in art class is devoted to the experimental process of creating art. The instructor works closely with each child, helping the child to self-assess effort, focus and production. Children are encouraged to be innovative thinkers, to pursue personal inspirations and to learn the value of art making in a community setting.

The following lists are examples of concepts, skills and techniques that students at The Island School will explore during a typical year in art class. We focus on elements of art and principles of design. Many other themes will be explored each year in addition to these fundamental concepts.

Kindergarten and First Grade:

  • Students begin to explore and participate in creative art making processes and learn to use a step-by-step process to create artwork.
  • Students begin to develop observational skills, fine motor skills, and sensory connections.
  • Students learn how to share their ideas and explain their artwork to others.
  • Through their experiences with the visual arts, students develop an awareness of their own community and environment.
  • Students create and respond to visual arts experiences that are meaningful in their lives.
  • Using a variety of materials and techniques, students begin to experience and use the elements of art and principles of design in classroom projects, including:
    • Drawing many types of lines and combining lines to make shapes.
    • Repeating lines and shapes to make patterns.
    • Exploring ways to use drawing to express emotion.
    • Discovering geometric and organic shapes and learning how to draw these shapes.
    • Recognizing patterns and beginning to use patterns in artwork.
    • Discovering primary and secondary colors and using these colors to make a color wheel.
    • Using white paint to make colors lighter and using black paint to make colors darker.
    • Exploring warm and cool colors and how colors express feelings or mood.
    • Identifying 3-D shapes: spheres, cubes, and cones.
    • Exploring visual textures and actual textures by making rubbings with objects and making collages with textured papers.
    • Exploring space and form with 3-D collages that assemble a variety of objects.
    • Exploring form with clay.

Second Grade and Third Grade:

  • Students create and respond to multiple visual arts experiences that are meaningful in their lives.
  • Students make connections across disciplines, cultures, place and time.
  • Students use established guidelines to reflect upon and explain their artwork to others.
  • Students continue to develop an understanding of the elements of art and principles of design by exploring and using a variety of media, genres, styles and techniques, including:
    • Drawing diverse types of lines to express ideas and feelings and to build images with shape and pattern.
    • Drawing objects from observation.
    • Exploring primary, secondary and tertiary colors and using these colors intentionally in artwork.
    • Exploring monochromatic art, using white paint to tint colors and using black paint to add shade to colors.
    • Identifying warm and cool colors and using color combinations to express feeling in artwork.
    • Exploring complementary and analogous colors.
    • Discovering positive and negative space and using it in artwork.
    • Identifying symmetrical and asymmetrical artwork and creating symmetry in artwork.
    • Identifying visual and actual textures and drawing several visual textures. Creating collages with a variety of textured papers and other textured objects.
    • Exploring space and form through 3-D collages. Building architectural structures with paper and found objects.
    • Exploring form, using clay.

Fourth Grade and Fifth Grade:

  • Students create and respond to art and make connections across disciplines, cultures, place and time.
  • Students use established guidelines to present and reflect upon their own artwork and the artwork of classmates.
  • Students build on their previous understanding of the elements of art and principles of design to create artworks. To do this, they use a variety of media, genres, styles and techniques, including:
    • Repeating a variety of lines and shapes to make increasingly complex and detailed patterns.
    • Identifying primary, secondary and tertiary colors and using them in artwork.
    • Creating a 12-color color-wheel using primary, secondary and tertiary colors.
    • Creating monochromatic artwork by adding white paint to a color to make a tint and adding black paint to a color to make a shade.
    • Identifying warm and cool colors and using color combinations to express feeling in artwork.
    • Identifying complementary and analogous colors and choosing to use these color combinations to achieve certain effects.
    • Drawing a landscape using placement and overlapping to create depth in artwork.
    • Recognizing symmetrical and asymmetrical artwork. Creating symmetry and asymmetry in artwork and using radial symmetry to create a repetitive design.
    • Identifying visual and actual textures. Drawing many kinds of visual textures. Creating multi-layered collages with textured papers and other textured objects.
    • Exploring form, using clay.
    • Exploring space and form through 3-D objects.

 

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