Arts

We believe that the arts are an invaluable part of a young student’s education. Research backs that up. According to the US Department of Education, creating works of art benefits students in their intellectual, personal, and social development. Painting and drawing, for example, can improve complex reasoning, writing, and reading readiness, partly because the critical and creative faculties required to generate and appreciate art transfer cognitively to future learning experiences, and partly because the arts make learning fun: a student personally invested in his/her work will be far more likely to stick with it, (edutopia.com). There are strong relationships between learning in the arts and fundamental cognitive skills and capacities used to master other core subjects, including reading, writing, and mathematics.

Beginning in our PYC program and throughout the Kindergarten Division, students experience the visual arts in every day classroom activities. Formal music classes are conducted twice weekly. In First Grade, students begin formal visual art classes. Drama Club is available as an optional co-curricular activity for all BDS students in Third Grade and up. All students in Fourth Grade and up may participate in the school’s annual musical theatre production each spring. Middle School students continue their arts education by selecting from a menu of choices, including hand bells, chorus and visual art, for their semester elective classes.