Through music, art, drama, and woodworking, children both shape and respond to what they are learning. At all grade levels students have regularly scheduled arts-related classes with adults who are themselves practicing artists. Studio Art . Teachers search for a balance between instruction and self-expression as students learn to shape their own points of view and feelings, while discovering new techniques to manipulate the materials before them. In fifth grade they begin working with machine tools.
Careful planning anticipates each child's project.
Cradles, boxes, shelves, chairs, wooden masks, all lovingly sanded and finished, are among the objects proudly displayed and taken home throughout the year. Shady Hill's music program helps build a sense of community through its role in regular school assemblies, festivals and concerts. While singing is the foundation of musical experiences in biweekly classes and singing assemblies, the program also incorporates movement, listening, playing instruments, reading and writing notation. A number of special choral groups and a school-wide orchestra are available tointerested students. Often classes present a musical play related to their Central Subject or thematic study.