NPS: Curriculum Website K-12

The Arts

Overview of The NPS Arts Program

All students benefit from an education in the arts. In Newton, students from kindergarten to eighth grade will experience a comprehensive education in music and visual art, and in middle school drama/theatre is added to the arts program of study. Arts classrooms are highly engaging spaces, providing students with opportunities to explore and develop their creative and expressive selves independently and in groups. Through the arts, all students can develop an appreciation for the creative process and artistic expression and many students will discover the artist within themselves. Students who participate in the elective and advanced arts opportunities offered in the Newton Public Schools often develop their identity as performing and/or visual artists, leading to a lifelong vocation or avocation in the arts. In the Newton arts curriculum, students are given the resources and tools to learn how to create with artistic intent. Students have opportunities to perform and present the culmination of their arts learning. Students develop skills to look and listen critically, and they respond to works of art and their own work with thoughtful insight. Students make connections with their personal and cultural identities as well as apply their arts knowledge across academic disciplines. These are the four pillars of the MA Arts Curriculum Framework, revised in 2019, and now includes a fifth arts discipline of Media Arts which employs 21st century technologies across all arts disciplines. The K-8 span of arts curricula lays the foundation for all students to develop an appreciation for the essential role the arts play in our society, and many students will go on to pursue advanced studies in the arts in and out of Newton Public Schools.

Music

The music program in Newton Public Schools provides students with a dual track of General Music in grades K-8 and elective Music Performance Ensembles in grades 4-8. Performance ensemble classes are where students develop their performance skills and further develop their musicianship through the rehearsal process. Performance ensemble rehearsals culminate in public performances for the school community. In middle school, performance ensembles will frequently perform in adjudicated music festivals outside of the district. General Music Methodologies: Conversational Solfege, Dalcroze, Kodaly, Music Learning Theory, and Orff are among the primary methodologies that music teachers call upon to teach various aspects of music.Classroom Instruments: Students will learn to play classroom instruments including Boomwhackers, Guitars, Hand Drums, Keyboards, Ukuleles, Xylophones, and various other hand percussion instruments.Folk Dance & Creative Movement: Students will experience Folk Dance & Creative Movement: Dance is its own arts discipline, yet music and dance are naturally linked disciplines. Elementary music teachers frequently incorporate kinesthetic activities such as folk dance and creative movement into their music lessons. Chorus classes frequently incorporate “choral-ography,” whereby students incorporate physical movements and gestures into their choral performances associated with the lyrics.

Grades K-2: Key Concepts

Differentiating speaking & singing voice
Pitch matching
Steady Beat
Tonal Center
Identifying rhythms and patterns
Solfege: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do w/hand signs

Grades 3-5: Key Concepts

Playing musical instruments (3rd grade recorder, 4th/5th grade band & orchestra instruments)
Reading Music
Composition (Media Arts)
Choral singing
Rehearsal and performance

Grades 6-8: Key Concepts

Playing musical instruments in the classroom (guitars, keyboards)
Composition (Media Arts)
Music History

Elective Music: Grades 4-8

Grade 4: Introduction to band and orchestra instruments, group lessons (fee charged)Grade 5: Band & Orchestra Ensembles (fee charged)Middle School Elective Music Ensembles

Grade 6: Band, Chorus, Orchestra
Grades 7 & 8: Band, Chorus, Orchestra
Jazz Band clubs/electives

Middle School ensembles and individual student musicians (instrumental & vocal) participate in adjudicated music festivals sponsored by the Massachusetts Music Educators Association (MMEA) and the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association (MICCA).

Visual Art

Overview

The visual art classroom is an art studio where students engage in the process of creating with artistic intent. During the years that span kindergarten to eighth grade, students will spiral through a visual art curriculum experiencing most art materials and processes several times before they leave middle school. K-8 visual art teachers use a common curriculum frame for visual art known as Studio Habits. Studio Habits refers to the eight habits of mind that the visual arts develop in students. Visual art teachers foster student agency by presenting students with artistic challenges and modeling artistic practice, providing an array of art materials and tools, and structuring studio time for students to immerse themselves in their creative work. The Eight Studio Habits include:

Envision: Plan their artistic projects
Express: Convey their ideas and emotions through their art
Observe: Pay attention to details and gather inspiration from their surroundings
Reflect: Thoughtfully evaluate their work and make improvements
Develop Craft: Improve their artistic skills
Engage & Persist: Approach challenges with determination and enthusiasm
Stretch & Explore: Experiment with new ideas and materials
Understand Art Worlds: Gain insights into the broader world of art

These Studio Habits form the foundation of a well-rounded art education. We also provide opportunities for students to showcase their work in art exhibitions, allowing them to share their creativity with the school community and beyond.Studio Practices Grades K-8:

2D: collage, drawing, painting, markers, oil pastels, chalk pastels, charcoal, printmaking, sketchbooks
3D: ceramics, synthetic clay, assemblage, fiber arts, sculpture
Media Arts: animation, digital art

Student artwork is regularly exhibited throughout the schools and in school-wide art shows. Select exhibits are presented at the NPS Education Center and in various community settings throughout the school year.

Drama/Theatre 6-8

The middle school drama/theatre curriculum is primarily a performance-based program with some opportunities to learn about theatrical design and technical theatre. For all students, drama provides an opportunity to explore creatively, develop confidence, and practice teamwork and collaboration through drama and theatre games and exercises. The middle school drama curriculum also supports participation in the extra-curricular theatre productions where students with an interest in performance and technical theatre gain valuable experiences. Participation in the middle school drama program prepares students for the elective opportunities in the high school theatre programs - Newton North’s Theatre Ink and Newton South’s South Stage.

Grade 6: Drama

Key Concepts:

- Collaboration in an ensemble
- Actor’s Toolkit: voice, body, imagination
- Characterization
- Dramatization
- Improvisation
- Performing in an ensemble

Grades 7 & 8

Drama in 7th and 8th grade is currently not offered at all of the middle schools. Middle school teachers who offer drama/theatre classes in these grades are allowed discretion to offer classes that satisfy the needs and interests of students engaged in middle school theatre.Drama/Theatre topics are not common among all middle schools

Character study/monologues
Creative Writing/Devising - monologue & scenes
Directing
Improvisation
Intermediate and advanced acting
Scene study
Theatre Design & Stagecraft
Video/film projects (Media Arts)

The extracurricular theatre programs in our middle schools engage large numbers of the student body who come together and bond in their efforts to produce plays and musicals. The middle school theatre programs may also participate in the annual adjudicated Middle School Drama Festival produced by the Massachusetts Educational Theatre Guild (METG).

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