Art Curriculum – Mrs. Celeste Gaber – K-8

            Fine Art is an important entity in contemporary society.  A Fine Arts program is vital so that students from Kindergarten through eighth grade can understand this important facet of their world.  It will provide students with the opportunity to deepen their awareness of God’s gift of creation and to respond creatively to the beauty and goodness of the world.  Through music, art, and movement experiences, values and needs of the individual are revealed and savored.

            The Art curriculum provides a holistic approach to education that incorporates many aspects of the core curriculum and can be integrated into the total educational experience.  Students have the potential to be perceptive, sensitive, expressive and creative individuals.  Providing art experiences for students develops perceptual awareness, inquiry research, experimentation, divergent thinking, creative personal expression, understanding of art and the artists and various career opportunities.  Thorough a quality art program, students learn aesthetic judgment, understanding, creative evaluation and develop skills which are needed in every subject area.

            Art is an important part of the student’s total development.  It stimulates inner sensitivities to make the real world more real and to make the unreal world a reality.  Therefore, art education, particularly in elementary school is essential to the growth of the total child.

            The Department for Catholic Schools, Diocese of Pittsburgh has established the following benchmarks for the Visual Arts Curriculum.  Students should:

1.       Understand and apply media, techniques and processes in both 2-D and 3-D art.

2.      Gain and use knowledge of the structures, functions, design elements and the design principals.

3.      Choose and evaluate a range of subject matter, symbols and ideas.

4.      Understand the visual arts in relation to history, cultures and religion.

5.      Reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits of their own work and the work of others.

6.      Make connections between visual arts and other disciplines.

7.      Learn to question art features to discuss elements like mood.

8.      Create artwork that incorporates the visual qualities to communicate a message.

9.      Understand how to interpret and analyze artwork by an aesthetic process.

10.  Compare multiple purposes for creating works of art.

A variety of teaching strategies will be used including, modeling, demonstration, step by step procedures, smart board instruction, and many hands on approaches.

Weekly evaluation of work ethic is given as well as rubric type evaluations.  Hard work is extremely important in the art room.  It is expected that the students show the utmost respect for the teacher, students and the works of their peers.