Electives and Enrichment

Art
The goal for our students is to expose them to as many quality art experiences as possible. In these classes they explore and create visual forms and cultivate the beginnings of an aesthetic sense. The students work in many mediums, including clay, papier-mache, plaster of Paris, pen and ink, crayons, water colors, and paint. Art history and art terminology are interwoven within the program.

While there is no pressure, students are encouraged to do their very best. Art projects are on display throughout the campus during the school year. Every young artist has the opportunity to see his or her efforts on exhibit. The school sponsors a fine arts night in the spring to show student work in a formal setting.

Music
The Music program is based on things children like to do: sing, chant rhymes, clap, dance, and keep a beat on anything near at hand. These instincts are directed into learning music by hearing and making music first, then reading and writing it later, which is the same way we all learned our language. The Music classroom provides a non-competitive atmosphere where the major reward is the pleasure of making good music with others. The program uses multicultural poems, rhymes, games, songs, and dances as examples and basic materials. These may be traditional or original, spoken or sung, and may be accompanied by a variety of rhythm instruments. Our goal is to give our students musical knowledge through being active and creative.

Hollywood Schoolhouse also offers an after school choir program. Jr. Choir is offered once a week for 2nd and 3rd Grade and Choir is offered twice a week for students from 4th – 8th Grade.

Band is offered as an elective class to Middle School students. Hollywood Schoolhouse hosts an excellent Beginning/Intermediate Rock Band, as well as an Advanced Rock Band. The band performs in December, as well as participating in Fine Arts Night in May.

Performance
The primary educational goal of the Performance program is the development of each student's imagination, problem-solving, and communicative potential. Engagement in the process of originating, performing, producing, and responding develops an individual's capacities which underlie all creative dramatic activity: concentrating, listening, observing, replacing, remembering, imagining, feeling, recognizing, differentiating, experimenting, and evaluating. The focus of this program is on process rather than product, utilizing many creative drama concepts.

Creative drama is an encompassing learning medium, emerging from the spontaneous play of young children and utilizing the art of theatre to build and enhance the participants' artistic sensitivity, awareness of self, others, and the world and develop each child's dramatic imagination. Creative drama is a specific type of dramatic learning activity that is guided by a leader and allows the participants to imagine, enact, and reflect upon human experiences, real or imagined. The creative drama process integrates mental and physical activity, engaging the whole child in improvisational and process-oriented experiences. These dramatic learning activities nurture and develop both individual and group skills and enhance the participants' abilities to communicate their ideas, images, and feelings in concert with others through dramatic action. In Performance class students develop their skills through storytelling, movement, voice, improvisation, Readers' Theater, storyboarding, and playbuilding.

All elementary students perform on stage before the student body in Recess Theater several times a year, as well as performing for their parents twice a year. Middle School students explore acting theory and practice, scene study, movement and voice dynamics, improvisation, and ensemble work. Students are encouraged to explore the physical, spiritual and artistic aspects of the body in motion. Once a year their skills are put to test with a major theatrical production. A Scrambled Tale, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Fiddler on the Roof, and Once Upon a Mattress are some of the past productions performed by the Hollywood Schoolhouse students. All 5th thru 8th grade students participate in performances once a year. Elective performance students, in addition, participate in the Middle School Fine Arts Night and Pageant of the Masters

Photography
Our photo class elective meets twice a week. It is open to 6th through 8th grade students. We start by learning the basics of cameras and film, such as format, composition, color as well as black and white photography. Students learn to develop their own photos and then choose the best one for the end of the year show. The winners of our school-wide competition will go to the LA County Fair in September to compete city wide. We have done very well at past competitions, and some have gone on to compete at the state level. See the winners!

Spanish
Every student takes Spanish. Two times a week in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten and three times a week in grades 1-5. Spanish is spoken almost exclusively during the class so that students will become actively involved in using the language from the start. The goal of the course is not to teach students fluency in Spanish, but to familiarize them with the language, culture and customs of Spanish-speaking people. Students will learn to use Spanish just as they learned to use English when they were very young. Ideally, students will develop an interest in foreign language for future language study and will develop a positive attitude toward learning another language.

Physical Education

Physical development and an appreciation for lifetime fitness are goals for the physical education program. The facilities provide a safe and supportive environment through which the children learn the rudiments of exercise and team sports.

Early school and primary students participate in activities designed to help develop gross and fine motor skills. Basic coordination skills such as running, throwing, catching, and kicking are stressed in second- and third-grade classes. Fourth through eighth grades are introduced to sports and games that can help them maintain health and fitness throughout their lives. Participation, good sportsmanship, and fun are emphasized at all grade levels.