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The Art Program at the Lower Campus of Indian Mountain School has many goals for our students in grades pre-kindergarten through four.

Key objectives include:

* Developing core artistic skills, techniques, and discipline
* Laying a strong base of vocabulary and knowledge of art terms for each student
* Creating an environment that fosters creativity and risk taking in each child
* Delivering a balanced and positive experience of individual and collaborative projects for each child
* Encouraging the use of imagination, artistic skills, and time management to create work that satisfies the imagination and vision of each student

On a weekly basis, one-hour art classes are held with grades pre-kindergarten through four. Our goal is to create a vibrant and engaging environment for every child. Each class creates art projects of many genres that are both age appropriate and challenging. Throughout the year, all grade levels will study past and present artists, multicultural art techniques, watercolor, pastels, printmaking, sculpture, collaborative work, self portraiture, still life drawing, large sculpture, collage, and many other mediums and techniques. The classroom environment puts a high value on respect, community, problem solving, and independent responsibility. Art class is a place where all children can explore and be challenged and where all children can enjoy a great level of success and satisfaction. We support and applaud resilience, accepting differences in peers, resisting negative peer pressure, taking artistic risks, and working with focus and diligence.

In the spring of each school year, the Lower School has a wonderful Art Show Reception. Projects are collected throughout the year and put up all over the school on display for this grand event. Parents and friends are invited to come and enjoy a lovely evening that celebrates our community of young artists.

The kindergarten year at IMS is a year of great academic and social development. Building upon the skills developed in pre-K, kindergarteners continue to learn the patience, problem solving, and listening skills needed to succeed in school through play, guided activities, and direct instruction.

Kindergarten is a year of increasing reading readiness. Students are read aloud to everyday to build listening and comprehension skills. In addition, students are taught foundation language skills such as phonemic awareness, which is an essential part of learning how to read. Students are taught to recognize each letter of the alphabet in correlation with its sound, to know the difference between vowels and consonants, and begin to read short (CVC) consonant-vowel-consonant words (ie. dog). Kindergarten also focuses on the recognition of high-frequency sight words.

Along with reading comes writing. For kindergarten, this includes learning proper letter formation in both upper and lowercase print. At the beginning of the year, a student may dictate a sentence to the teacher and illustrate it. By the end of the school year, however, students will be able to complete entries in a journal of his/her own.

Mathematics focuses on sorting, patterning and comparing data. Students will also learn number representation and formation and begin to learn the basic operations of addition, subtraction, time, money, and fractions.

In science and social studies, the focus in kindergarten is on the world that surrounds us. Discussion and activities related to home, families, holidays, and traditions are central to the curriculum. In addition, kindergarten takes part in the Lower School’s year-long study theme, such as Native American Studies or Outer Space. Throughout kindergarten, the goal is to encourage each student’s interests and abilities, teach basic academic skills, and to foster respect and love for both learning and the school community.

In the Indian Mountain School pre-kindergarten class, 4-year-old children join together to learn, work, and play. Problem-solving skills develop through play, as classmates learn to share and take turns. They make new friends–not only among their peers but also with older children in the school, ranging from kindergarten playmates to third-grade “Reading Buddies” and fourth grade friends too. Pre-kindergarteners grow in habits of mind required for independent learning: the readiness to try new activities and the patience to follow a project through to completion. The children develop phonemic awareness skills, learning to identify letters and sounds as they study topics related to the alphabet. (“Aa” is for apples, so we might make apple pies; “Dd” is for dogs, so we create our own stuffed, sock dogs.) All of the stories we read–fiction and non-fiction alike–are the subject of lively discussion, developing the children’s listening and comprehension skills. Block building, drawing, painting, modeling with clay, and manipulating toys provide enjoyable ways for class members to improve their fine-motor skills. In mathematics, we build number and counting skills and learn about sorting and patterns. The children measure objects and compare their sizes, graph the weather, and learn about place value in numbers as we keep track of the number of days we are at school with our “straw box.” We study topics in science and social studies and we participate in the Lower School’s year-long study theme, such as Native American or Maritime studies. Consistent throughout pre-k, the goal is to nurture each child’s desire to learn, teach them the routines and responsibilities of the beginning school world, and foster their ability to put new skills and knowledge into action.