In our recent unit, first graders worked on developing their fine motor skills by using hammers to nail in the happy face images that they painted last week. This hands-on activity not only enhanced their motor skills but also encouraged creativity as they added nails for hair, arms, and legs.
Seventh and eighth graders are in their first round of arts electives this trimester. In the “wearable art” class, students are learning how to use sewing machines to create one-of-a-kind fabric artworks. After experimenting with stitching by hand and on the machines, students learned about creating embellished fabrics with needle
Puppetry is taking on an exciting new role at Belmont Day School as the newest cross-grade strand in our theater arts curriculum. Through a thoughtfully scaffolded approach spanning first through eighth grade, students are introduced to a variety of puppet types and increasingly sophisticated performance techniques. From foundational manipulation to movement, characterization,
Alternative Process Photography in the IMPACT Lab The grades 7 & 8 arts elective, alternative process photography, has officially kicked off, and the results are already impressive. Students jumped straight into hands-on experimentation, manipulating light sources and testing textures to produce beautiful compositions. Working in collaborative groups, the artists layered
Last Friday, sixth graders students traveled to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, or MassMOCA, for a day of observation, documentation, and creative inquiry. Throughout the museum, students explored how contemporary artists use light, sound, scale, movement, and immersive environments to shape experience and tell stories. During the visit, students
Seventh and eighth grade students are growing more comfortable stepping up to the mic and sharing their musical voices with their middle school peers. A few weeks ago, students in the Find Your Voice elective performed a group arrangement of the song, Rewrite the Stars, from the movie The Greatest
Fifth grade students have been exploring storytelling through movement and imagination. Using a feather and a necklace as inspiration, each group worked together to create a series of three to four tableaux that bring a story to life. This activity encourages students to identify the most important moments in a
Third graders are stepping up their game in the woodshop, using a variety of established and new skills in order to see projects from beginning to end. Recently, the students designed and created individual Hole ‘n’ a Box projects. Each student started by imagining and drawing their designs. They then
Seventh and eighth graders have been creating handmade, one-of-a-kind books in the bookmaking elective arts class. They worked on several projects that included illustrating and developing a theme or story in an open pamphlet book. They hand-printed paper to cover bookboards, and then sewed these illustrated books together using bookbinding
After studying the parts and functions of microphones in their audio technology arts elective, seventh and eighth grade students headed to the Barn to put their knowledge into practice. Using graphite, wiring, 9-volt batteries, and paper cups, they engineered working model microphones that could capture and transmit sound. Once their
