Arts

All Kindergarten through 3^rd grade students in the Scottsdale Unified School District receive general music as part of their well-rounded curriculum.  Throughout the school year, your child will be exploring and creating with several different grade specific musical concepts. Before naming each concept, we prepare it through singing, speaking, moving, and playing in accordance with the Orff Schulwerk process and Kodaly method. After experiencing each concept through a variety of mediums, we present the concept by giving it a name. Finally, we continue practicing the concept, using its labeled name, and intentionally focus on how that fits into the greater picture of our current knowledge at each grade level.  Please refer to the district curriculum pages for more detailed pacing guide. 

This course if for those students interested in music, but maybe did not participate in band or strings or just want to deepen their knowledge of music.  Students in this class will learn basic music theory, music history, how to play an instrument and how to compose.  Students will be exposed to many different avenues of music in this course from the performing to the composing.  

In 4^th and 5^th grade students are given the option to continue in general music or choose to participate in Band or Strings for their music education.  Students choosing band or strings will need to rent and instrument from an approved vendor or the school district – priority will be given to students in need for district instruments.  Students will need to purchase a method book and will be responsible for reeds, valve oil and other supplies to support their performance in band and strings. Please refer to the district curriculum pages for more detailed pacing guide.

Students in Middle School band have many different options for performing.  The ensembles are chosen based on level of ability.  Concert Band if for those students that are still working on learning their basic skills from elementary band and/or might be starting a new instrument or first learning and instrument.  Students that feel that their skills warrant a higher ensemble may want to audition for Intermediate Band and/or Advance Band Ensemble – In general – Intermediate contains more 7th graders and Advanced has 8th graders.  If you are a percussionist and want to work on your skills on all percussion instruments – Percussion Ensemble is for you.  All of these courses can be taken more than one year and are prepping students for success in High School, State competitions individually and as ensembles, and may include a field trip in state or out of state for a competition. 

All students Kindergarten through 5^th grade will receive a visual arts education.  The expectations are arranged into four strands – creative process, elements of art and design, reflection, and appreciation.  The visual arts classes will focus on development of creative skills, verbal and non-verbal expression, and awareness of perspectives.  Please refer to the district curriculum pages for more detailed pacing guide.

Middle School visual arts is organized a little differently that the performing arts.  Students register for an art class that matches their grade level – please note that some schools offer a cluster model with multi age groups.  At each different grade level grouping students are having different levels of experience and depth to their visual artist journey.  Students with a more 2D experience in 6th grade and then in 7th grade add 3D to their mediums and in 8th grade student take their 2D and 3D knowledge to a much deeper level to prepare them for high school.  These students will also be learning how to critique are as it would be done in a museum and working on multiple mediums of 2D and 3D artwork.