Enrichments
Art
The Country Day School art curriculum gives children opportunities to explore materials and media and discover works of art through observation and process-oriented activities. As the children experiment they are encouraged to be creative, realize artistic talents, solve problems and work collaboratively. The art curriculum is taught both in the classroom and in the studio.
Areas of emphasis in art for our two-year-olds include:
- Artist studies
- Elements of art including: line, shape, color, texture, mood
- Using materials such as water color, paint, collage, pastels, crayons, markers, pencils, paper, scissors, chalk
- Working individually and collaboratively to create individual and whole group projects
Areas of emphasis in art for our three-year-olds include:
- Artist studies
- Elements of art including: line, shape, color, texture, mood
- Using materials such as water color, paint, collage, pastels, crayons, markers, pencils, paper, scissors, chalk
- Working independently and collaboratively to create individual and whole group projects
Areas of emphasis in art for our four-year-olds include:
- Artist studies
- Elements of art including: line, shape, color, texture, mood
- Using materials such as water color, paint, collage, pastels, crayons, markers, pencils, paper, scissors, chalk
- Working independently and collaboratively to create individual and whole group projects
Areas of emphasis in art for Kindergarten include:
- Artist studies
- Elements of art including: line, shape, color, texture, mood
- Using materials such as water color, paint, collage, pastels, crayons, markers, pencils, paper, scissors, chalk
- Working independently and collaboratively to create individual and whole group projects
- Introduction to critique of their own work and other's work
Gardening
The gardening program provides hands-on large group and small group classes in which students plan, dig, plant, and water seeds on our beautiful four acre campus during the fall and spring. Weather, experimentation, garden critters, and life cycles are a few of the concepts explored throughout the growing season.
Music
The music programs at Country Day School focus on developing a love of music in the students. To accomplish this, each day the children sing, play musical games and fingerplays, listen to various genres of music, play instruments, and move to music.
The 2-year-old classes participate in such music activities as:
- Beginning to learn the elements of music (high/low pitch, loud/soft intensity, fast/slow tempo)
- Experimenting with instruments
- Learning melodies and words to songs
- Dancing to music
- Responding to music with movement
The three-year-old classes participate in music activities which include:
- Listening to sounds and music and identifying pitch (high/low)
- Moving to a beat
- Exploring our four voices (talk, whisper, shout and sing)
- Using simple instruments
The four-year-old classes participate in music activities which include:
- Recognizing pitch (high/low)
- Using our four voices (talk, whisper, sing, shout)
- Moving to and keeping a beat (rhythm)
- Determining intensity (loud/soft, getting louder/softer)
- Using simple instruments
Kindergarten participates in music activities which include:
- Accompanying songs and chants with body percussion and classroom instruments
- Imitating two-pitch (sol-mi) patterns sung or played
- Performing rhythmic patterns that include sounds and silences
- Using movement to enhance music, stories, and poems
- Recognizing and demonstrating expressive qualities of music
Spanish
The children at CDS are introduced to the Spanish language through songs, games, pictures, and finger puppets. The curriculum builds on concepts that are meaningful and age-appropriate to both the children’s interests and the classroom curriculum.
School-wide topics for the Spanish enrichment include:
- Greetings
- Numbers to 10
- Colors
- Shapes
- Body parts
- Families
- Seasons
- Animals
Enrichment Teachers
