The Arts:
Visual and Performing

Visual Arts

Our art studio houses a state-of-the-art kiln, and ample space dedicated to clay, woodworking, printmaking, painting and collage. Students' artwork is displayed throughout the building during the school year, as well as in October at the F.R.O.G.S./Great Swamp environmental exhibit and in May at the school's annual art show.

Performing Arts

Drama and Music have always been an essential component of a Mizzentop Day School education. The kinesthetic as well as the empathetic aspects of Mizzentop's performance curriculums, which are integrated with classroom learning objectives, support and solidify our students' eduation. Our facility offers an auditorium with a stage and a high-tech sound system used for several full school productions including a Thanksgiving Assembly and Winter and Spring Concerts, as well as a number of smaller produtions linked to classroom History and Literature curriculums throughout the year.

Drama Curriculum

Mizzentop Day School is one of very few schools that teaches Dramatic Arts as a separate, sequential, and cumulative year-long curriculum across all the grade levels. The Drama Program is designed to build a variety of theatre skills includng stage presence, expression, improvisation, playwriting, and set design, while coordinating with grade level curricular goals. These skills are taught through a variety of theatre games, projects and "mini-performances" that are themed to relate to current classroom studies. Our goal is to give the students a wide variety of performance opportunities so that their dramatic experience will not be limited to a single large-scale performance with one lead actor.

An Overview

Kindergarten through Grade 2

The focus during these early years is on understanding a wide range of emotions, developing an elementary awareness of body language, and beginning games. Opportunities for individual performances in front of small peer groups increase during the year as the childrens' self-confidence grows. Grades 1 and 2 will have the opportunity to perform a simple play with choral and/or individual parts for school and/or parent groups related to seasonal or curricular themes. The performance may include the creation of simple props and costumes.

Grade 3 and Grade 4

During this transitional period, instruction will continue on emotional expression with added nuances and body awareness. A more advanced level of storytelling will be introduced through the beginning of playwriting. Students will have the opportunity to write and produce their own original puppet plays. Opportunities for individual performances for peer groups will continue. In addition, both grades will have the chance to produce a play for a peer and/or parent group related to one of the classes' units of study. At this level, the play production will include some elements of set design and greater participation in prop and costume managment.

Grades 5 through 8

Instruction through the Middle School years will add a more advanced consideration of the history of the theater and other media. Practice with performance skills will continue through theater games and curricular-related presentations. Projects and performances, both large and small scale, will be related to a period of the theater's history linked to the Social Studies curriculum for each grade. The emphasis for each grade will be as follows:

Grade 5: Greek, Roman, and Medieval Theater.

Grade 6: Renaissance Theater including Shakespeare and a variety of Asian drama forms.

Grade 7: Turn of the century melodrama as well as Early and Modern American Theater and playwrights.

Grade 8: An introduction to Russion and major European playwrights. More in-depth study of different aspects of play production including scriptwriting, casting, and directing.

Music Curriculum

The objectives of all music experiences at Mizzentop are to create an environment rich in positive values where students feel appreciated, valued, and safe in taking risks with self-expression. Students are active music makers at every grade level. Through singing, movement, playing instruments, and guided listening lessons, students gain an array of musical skills. They learn to read musical notation, to improvise and compose original music, and to perform in a variety of ensembles.

As students grow in their musical understanding, they begin to analyze the purpose for music in cultures around the world. Connections between social studies, literature, and music are an integral part of the Mizzentop arts experience, and we strive to help our young people appreciate all musical styles and genres.