Often, the fine arts are set on a pedestal and viewed as intimidating. This class aims to draw students into delighting and engaging with the fine arts. We will take the approach that artists, poets, composers, and writers can become familiar friends.

Each class will open with a Psalm for the day. From there, students will encounter the arts through listening, singing, reading aloud, and simple observation. They will learn that appreciation grows through attention, not expertise. They do not need special training to respond honestly to a painting, a poem, or a piece of music. We will build confidence and affection for the fine arts by becoming familiar with them.

With this being our country’s 250th birthday, our class this year will pay particular attention to American poets, artists, and composers. Students will listen to and learn folk songs from America, such as Simple Gifts and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. We will read the poems of American poets like Langston Hughes and Edgar Allan Poe. We will look at paintings by American artists such as Norman Rockwell and Grandma Moses. We will listen to music by American composers such as Aaron Copland and Scott Joplin. We will grow familiar with their work through repeated exposure. We will practice memorizing poetry and develop a familiarity with how an artist’s life, time, and place shape their work. We will learn to notice, name, and love what is good and beautiful.

Literature will also have a central place in our class. We will read aloud a play by William Shakespeare (not an American!) alongside a work of American literature, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Students will enter great stories together through listening and discussion. By the end of the year, students will have shared a rich common experience of words, music, images, and ideas that nourish the imagination and foster a lifelong relationship with the arts.

There will be no outside homework for this class, and no need to purchase supplies ahead of time.

I will provide everything needed. The supply fee will cover books read in class, art prints observed in class, and printouts of the poems and songs we will learn.

Tuesday

Time: 2:35-4:05
Grade: 6-8
Cost: $350
Supply Fee: $100
Tutor: Meredith Hall