Elementary School (K–5)

Our elementary visual art curriculum is sequential, balanced, and aligned with the New York State Visual Arts Standards to nurture your child's creativity, fine motor skills, and critical thinking.

The curriculum is structured around the Core Elements of Art: Line, Color, Shape, Form, Texture, and Space. Below is a grade-by-grade overview of what your child will explore each year.

Kindergarten – 1st Grade: Foundational Discovery

• Focus: Expressive discovery, motor skill development, and fundamental concepts.

• Line & Shape: Identifying line types (zigzag, wavy) through name designs, snowflake resist paintings, and basic geometric shape studies.

• Color & Form: Exploring primary/secondary color mixing using Model Magic clay, basic self-portraits, and creating 3D forms like 3D coffee filter flowers and caterpillar sculptures.

• Texture & Space: Experimenting with rubbing plates, torn-paper landscape collages, and basic foreground/background concepts in seascape drawings.

2nd Grade – 3rd Grade: Skill Building & Cultural Connections

• Focus: Expanding artistic techniques, cultural awareness, and observation skills.

• Line & Shape: Detailed Zentangle patterns inside shapes, scratch art etching, geometric robot collages, and quilt patterns inspired by Gee's Bend makers.

• Color & Form: Primary, secondary, and tertiary color mixing, Pop Art landscape studies, and 3D sculpting inspired by pop artist Wayne Thiebaud and "Kooky Kreatures".

• Texture & Space: Multi-directional line textures, radial symmetry mandalas, and symmetrical black-glue butterfly paintings.

4th Grade – 5th Grade: Advanced Techniques & Personal Expression

• Focus: Precision, 3D techniques, art history, and visual reflection.

• Line & Shape: Observational contour line still-life drawings, blueprint-style invented treehouses, personal coats of arms, and radial name designs.

• Color & Form: Value studies (tints and shades) in landscapes, color wheel mandalas, cultural mask sculpting, and Yayoi Kusama-inspired pumpkin dot patterns.

• Texture & Space: Close-up dragon eye drawings, copper tooling, optical illusion art, and drafting scenes with true one-point perspective.

South Side Middle School (6-8)

Visual art is an integral component of the middle school experience, fostering creativity, self-expression, and critical thinking. The curriculum is thoughtfully designed to provide students with a strong foundation in visual literacy while offering opportunities to explore specialized media and techniques as they progress through South Side Middle School.

Art 6

All sixth-grade students participate in Art 6 as a required compulsory course. This foundational, quarter-long, experience equips students with essential visual communication skills, vocabulary, and creative confidence. Through hands-on experiences spanning typography, transformation studies, art history, nature prints, expressive self-portraiture, and three-dimensional sculpting, students develop the artistic curiosity and technique needed for higher-level courses.

Art 7 

As a year-long, every-other-day course, Art 7 builds directly upon sixth-grade skills by deepening students' technical and conceptual understanding. Emphasizing the advancement of the elements of art, visual storytelling, and meaningful communication, this course encourages students to form their own aesthetic views and use art as a medium for personal and cultural expression. Art 7 ensures students are fully prepared to make informed choices about specialized elective pathways in eighth grade.

Studio in Art

Studio in Art allows students the opportunity to earn grant high school arts credit toward New York State graduation requirements. This advenced course offers a comprehensive, high-school-level exploration of visual media, including drawing, painting, printmaking, and mixed media. Students engage in rigorous technical skill development, master design principles, explore style and identity, and execute independent capstone performance projects.

Students who succsessfully complete Studio in Art display technical proficiency, confidence, and a deep appreciation for visual culture, setting a strong foundation for high school arts programs and lifelong creative engagement.  This course is a prequisite for all full-credit visual art courses at the high school.

South Side High School (9-12)

Whether your child is passionate about pursuing a college degree in the fine arts or simply wants to fulfill their graduation requirement through hands-on creative expression, our curriculum offers flexible pathways tailored to every student's goals.

The Foundation: Studio in Art Every student’s artistic journey begins with Studio in Art, which satisfies the high school graduation requirement for the arts. Please note: Students who successfully complete Studio in Art in Grade 8 do not need to retake it in high school. Completing this foundation early allows students to dive directly into advanced pathway courses as soon as they enter 9th grade.

Pathways to IB Visual Art

For students aiming for advanced, college-level study, we offer three specialized tracks:

• 2D Fine Arts: Painting & Drawing I & II

• 3D & Sculpture: Sculpture & Ceramics I & II

• Digital Media: Digital Media & Photography I & II

Completing Level I and Level II in any of these pathways prepares students for IB Visual Art. IB Visual Art is a comprehensive, 2-year program. All participating students must begin the program in Grade 11.

 Here is a clear guide to how our art courses fit together:

IB Visual Art 

IB Visual Art is a comprehensive, studio-focused curriculum designed for serious art students who want to develop their unique creative voice. The course centers on three main core elements: visual arts in context, visual arts methods, and communicating visual arts. Students engage in independent studio work, maintain an expressive visual research journal, and explore diverse media, historical traditions, and global artistic perspectives. This is a full two-year program; students must enter the course in Grade 11 and complete it in Grade 12 to earn IB Higher Level (HL) credit. Over the two-year sequence, students curate an artist portfolio, host an exhibition of resolved studio work, and submit visual journal documentation. Completing IB Visual Art satisfies the Group 6 (Arts) subject requirement for IB Diploma candidates and college credit is available.

Additional Offerings

Portfolio / Art Explorations is a full-year, 1-credit course tailored specifically for high school seniors. It is designed for students pursuing post-secondary art study who need a polished portfolio for college applications, as well as students who were unable to take IB Visual Art Year 1. Seniors enrolled in IB Visual Art Year 2 may also take Portfolio concurrently to give them dedicated studio time to refine their college application materials.

Open Electives: Unified Art & Fashion Design

Unified Art (½ Credit) is an inclusive studio experience where general education and special education students work collaboratively on 2D and 3D creative projects. Built around the power of shared art-making, this course pairs students together to foster meaningful friendships, mutual empathy, and a supportive, welcoming environment. By learning from one another and creating side-by-side, participants build both technical studio skills and a deeper sense of community. This elective is open to all grade levels and has no prerequisites.

Fashion Design (½ Credit) introduces students to the exciting world of wearable art, garment construction, and textile design. Students explore the fundamentals of fashion illustration, trend analysis, material selection, and hands-on fabrication techniques. Whether you are interested in sketching original collections or bringing 3D garment concepts to life, this hands-on studio course offers a creative outlet to express personal style. This elective is open to all grade levels and has no prerequisites.