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The Arts
The arts are central to the program at High Meadow. As well as being taught for their own sake, they pervade every area of the curriculum, as we attempt to teach every kind of learner. We like our students to have a broad exposure to techniques in each arts class, to experience the joy of creation, and to build confidence in their ability to express themselves in a variety of ways.
Dance: While the primary focus is on modern dance, all of our students gain exposure to ballet, jazz, and dance from other cultures. Over the course of ten years students gain grace, coordination, rhythm, control, and spatial sense. Many of our students, both boys and girls, go on to study dance in our after school programs.
Drama: Students begin with dramatic readings of books and short stories in the early grades to build sequencing, comprehension, and memory. As they move into third grade they put on their first class play with the assistance of a teaching artist.
Drama begins to be studied as a separate class in fourth grade. Here students build their skills of elocution, timing, blocking, and body language and become confident young actors. Students also build their audience skills such as focused listening, body stillness, and critical thinking.
Music: In the early grades our students begin with percussion and voice as their instruments as they develop listening skills, rhythm, and tone. Students learn about music around the world and through history.
In the third grade and fourth grades the program is split into two courses: Chorus, where students hone their instrument, begin the study of notation and theory.
Instrumental: Where students study the recorder, a wider array of percussion instruments, and make and play their own guitars. As students enter the upper school they choose one of three ensembles: guitar, band, or chorus. More complex theory and notation is learned and class time extended.
Visual Arts: Students work in many media learning and experimenting with technique and principles of composition, color, and design. Drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, graphic and fabric design, and ceramics are just some of the media in which students have the opportunity to immerse themselves.
Phys Ed: Our program incorporates noncompetitive and competitive athletic experiences that promote strength, balance, dexterity, coordination, endurance, concentration, and self-discipline. Students play team sports and new games, learn calisthenics, yoga, and dramatic movement techniques, and practice focusing through meditation. Students are also expected to attain certain behavioral strengths such as team-building, graceful winning and loosing, leadership, and persistance. These are ecplicitly and implicitly encouraged through discussion as well as the choice of activities.
Empire State Grant: As a result of the exemplary arts programming at High Meadow School, we were awarded a prestigious multi-year grant by the New York State Council on the Arts to build arts partnerships between classroom teachers and teaching artists.
Projects have ranged from a life size model of the human body possessing all body systems, to a dance of the life cycles of butterflies and frogs, to a civil rights variety show. In every case, the goal was to deepen learning through the integration of academic and artistic endeavors.