John Hancock Charter School is a Core Knowledge School, meaning we provide our students with a wide variety of content in addition to the State Standards. One of the areas of focus in core knowledge is the arts.
The arts are not a peripheral part of the curriculum, but an essential part of the knowledge children should learn in the early grades.
Early instruction in the arts would be non-competitive and provide many opportunities to sing, dance, listen to music, play-act, read and write poetry, draw, paint, and make objects. Equally important, when children are young and receptive, they should be exposed to fine paintings, great music, and other inspiring examples of art. As children progress in their knowledge and competencies, they can begin to learn more about the methods and terminology of the different arts, and become familiar with an ever wider range of great artists and acknowledged masterworks.
Through attaining a basic knowledge of the arts, children are not only better prepared to understand and appreciate works of art, but also to communicate their ideas, feelings, and judgments to others. A good understanding of the arts grows out of at least three modes of knowledge - creative (i.e. directly making artworks), historical, and analytical. Early study of the arts should embrace modes with special emphasis on creativity and active participation.
The arts guidelines in Core Knowledge Sequence are organized into two main sections: the Visual Arts and Music. While the Sequence does not present other arts such as dance or drams as separate disciplines, we acknowledge their importance and have incorporated them in other disciplines in the Sequence (for example, dance is in Music; drama in Language Arts).
The JHCS arts program was founded on these principles and we are excited to return to providing our students a well-rounded arts education in addition to strings instruction. We recognize this may be a different approach to what many of you have been used to at JHCS, however, we feel this more comprehensive approach will benefit our students. Students will still have exposure to strings instruction, but they will also have access to the entire Core Knowledge Sequence Arts Curriculum.
