Kindergarten

Art And
Music

Carmel Unified School District Adopted the
Davis Art Program
for its Elementary Students

Carmel Unified School District adopted the Davis Art Program for its elementary students. Kindergarten children have regular classroom opportunities to experience the joy of artistic expression through use of paints, use watercolors, oil pastels, felt pens, colored pencils, chalk, crayons and other art media. Students make crafts as a culmination or an introduction to class units. These projects are integrated with social studies and science, and specialize in Big Sur flora and fauna. Additionally, children usually take simple art materials along on field trips.

Music

All Captain Cooper students have a regular weekly music program. They have a minimum of two chances to perform before a community audience. Additionally, kindergartners learn other songs associated with themes in their literature program or other class studies. All kindergartners learn to play the recorder. They have a repertoire of twenty to twenty-five recognizable songs by year's end. Some songs they sing and play, such as This Land is Your Land, Dale, Dale, Dale (the Spanish birthday/piñata song), Go Tell Aunt Rhody, and Boil Them Cabbage Down. Mostly, however, the selections are instrumental; beginning with Hot Cross Buns, Pierrot, and Jingle Bells-- then later, Ode to Joy, Theme from the New World Symphony, Saints Go Marching In, and more complex melodies. Students are introduced to five musical notes: b, a, g, c, and d, the five they use for most of the songs they play. The children spend twenty to thirty minutes per week learning the recorder. Older students report that recorder-playing helped them when they began playing more difficult instruments. Retired music specialist, Sharon Jones, accompanies the children once each week. Below are some of our recorder players, past and present.

Photo by Meg Alvarez

Photo by Steve Harper

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