The Arts
The Visual Arts
In the art room, the emphasis is placed on process rather than product. Students learn that the creative process is not necessarily an instantaneous one by working on projects over several lessons. The purpose of our visual arts program at Mizzentop Day School is to foster creativity, imagination and creative thinking skills. A spiraling curriculum allows for increasingly complex experiences with a variety of media and a growing understanding of art concepts. The art program allows students to discover many solutions to the same problem. Offering open-ended projects encourages students to develop their decision making and problem solving skills as well as their own personal artistic nature, which helps build their identity of self.
Two dimensional media is explored each year including work with pencil, marker, cray-pas, watercolor and acrylic painting, collage and printmaking. Three dimensional works involve
papier mache, wood, fibers, clay and mixed media sculpture.
Students' artwork is displayed throughout the building during the school year, as well as in October at the F.R.O.G.S./Great Swamp environmental exhibit and in May at the school's annual art show.
Drama Curriculum
Mizzentop Day School is one of very few schools that teach Dramatic Arts as a separate, sequential, and cumulative year-long curriculum across all the grade levels. The Drama Program is designed to build a variety of theatre skills including stage presence, expression, improvisation, playwriting, and set design, while coordinating with grade level curricular goals. These skills are taught through a variety of theatre games, projects and "mini-performances" that are themed to relate to current classroom studies. Our goal is to give the students a wide variety of performance opportunities so that their dramatic experience will not be limited to a single large-scale performance with one lead actor.
Music Cirruculum
The objectives of all music experiences at Mizzentop are to create an environment rich in positive values where students feel appreciated, valued, and safe in taking risks with self expression. Students are active music makers at every grade level. Through singing, movement, playing instruments, and guided listening lessons, students gain an array of musical skills. They learn to read musical notation, to improvise and compose original music, and to perform in a variety of ensembles.
As students grow in their musical understanding, they begin to analyze the purpose for music in cultures around the world. Connections between social studies, literature, and music are an integral part of the Mizzentop arts experience, and we strive to help our young people appreciate all musical styles and genres.
Music Enrichment Program
In addition to our music instruction we are now offering group and private lessons through the Music Cottage.
For our Lower School students (Grades 1-4) we offer:
Group Programs
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Private Lessons
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For our Middle School students (Grades 5-8) we offer:
Group Programs
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Private Lessons
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Group programs and private lessons are offered throughout the year in three nine week sessions. Instrument rentals and purchases are available through the Music Cottage. Please contact the school for more information.
Library
Through the efforts of and donations from Lisa & Charlie Daniels, Mark & Ann Bottini and, Barnes & Noble Booksellers our library celebrated its Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting November of 2002. These donations as well as others from the MDS Parents Association and the Mizzentop community at large, quickly filled our shelves and continue to increase our book inventory to the present day. In addition, we now have an annual Scholastic Book Fair Fundraiser sponsored by the MDS Parents Association and a Birthday Book Program that adds to our ever growing library every year.
The goal of the Mizzentop Day School Library is to create an atmosphere in which our students will regard the library as a warm, inviting, friendly, fun and interesting place to visit where they will feel confident in choosing literature and conducting research. To help achieve this goal, our School Library currently has over 11,700 books for our students and teachers to enjoy -- all available by means of Follett’s ‘Destiny’ online cataloging system, which is accessible on every classroom and library computer. Each class, Pre-K to 4, visits the library once a week for library and book skills instruction at a grade appropriate level, taught in a comprehensive and sequential program. In addition, grades Kindergarten to 4 have the opportunity to check-out books for their reading pleasure. Students spend their scheduled class time learning the basics of library online catalog use, knowledge of award winning books, authors/illustrators and book genres all in fiction and non-fiction works, as well as navigation of the Dewey Decimal System. Our students in grades 5 to 8 enjoy our library using their new found skills where they are welcome to check-out library materials independently for both pleasure and research purposes.
