“We use a mirror to see our face and the Arts to see our soul.” ~George Bernard Shaw
As taken from words of educational experts, a plethora of educational action research, and our National Standards for Arts Education, St. Angela Merici School has leapt at the opportunity to grow our students in their depth of learning opportunities and knowledge in the Arts: Visual Arts, Music, Technology, World Languages (Spanish), Library/Media, Drama Club (Upper School), and Band (Grades 4-8).
A balanced education includes a comprehensive and sequential study of all branches of learning--the humanities, the sciences, our Catholic faith, and the Arts. St. Angela Merici School’s education in the Fine Arts aims to provide all students with the knowledge in the arts through creation, performance, and study. The Arts embody the human imagination, defining and distinguishing us as human beings. The Arts play a huge role in cognition, providing new and different ways for our SAM School students to access meaning, perceive, problem solve, and to understand. Here at SAM School the Arts takes place in the context of real work, allowing students to make art while studying art in a variety of platforms within our model. Learning by doing is essential within Saint Angela Merici School’s Fine Arts Model, grounded in our National Standards for Art Education listed below.
National Standards for Arts Education:
1. Students should be able to communicate at basic level of the four arts disciplines-dance, music, theatre and the visual arts.
2. Students should be able to communicate proficiently in at least one art form.
3. Students should be able to develop and present basic analyses of works of art.
4. Students should have an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of art from a variety of cultures and historical periods.
5. Students should be able to relate various types of arts knowledge and skills within and across the arts disciplines.
St. Angela Merici School’s Framework for our Fine Arts Model:
Visual Arts
Students in our Lower School actively engage in an extensive introduction to the visual arts by our fully licensed visual arts instructor once a week.
Students in our Upper School are provided with an in-depth study of the visual arts through instruction twice a week, allowing for more depth to each student’s personal visual arts learning and mastery.
Both our Upper and Lower School students have the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of art showcasing events in the area, art contests, and even our school’s own Fine Arts Night which takes place each spring.
Our licensed visual art teacher abides by the Diocesan Visual Arts Curriculum, fully aligned to our Ohio State Curriculum as well as the National Standards for Arts Education listed above.
Music
Students in our Lower School are provided with an in-depth introduction to music by our fully licensed music teacher—Ms. Ceste Stanly—once a week, which includes instruction in singing, rhythm, solfege, playing on Orff instruments, learning folk dances, & learning the rudiments of reading music & music history. K-4th grade students have the opportunity to sing in our annual Christmas concert.
Students in our Lower School also have the opportunity to be a part of our Parish Children’s Choir, led by our Parish Music Director, Danny O’Brien. Students who choose to participate also have the wonderful opportunity to sing at Parish Masses and special events.
Students in our Upper School also receive instruction in music once a week by our fully licensed music teacher. These classes build on the rudimentary music concepts learned in lower school to much more complex part-work & more complex rhythms. Sixth-Eighth grade students intensely analyze six pieces of classical orchestral music and have the awesome privilege of hearing them played live at a concert by the Cleveland Orchestra. Fourth-Sixth grade students have the opportunity to audition for Honor Choir which performs at Oberlin every year. Students in Fifth grade sing for an Advent mass. Upper school students also have the opportunity to perform in our annual Fine Arts Event.
Our music education expert follows the Diocesan Music Curriculum, fully aligned to our Ohio State Standards as well as the National Standards for Arts Education listed above.
Technology
Students in our Lower School are introduced to how technologies of all types can enhance their learning by attending technology instruction once a week. Students are instructed in keyboarding, digital citizenship, Google Platform, and a multitude of software programs to help further develop our students’ 21st century learning skills for the changing world around them.
Students in Upper School receive “Digital Ethics” once per week, discussing social media through the Catholic lens. Students also develop advanced skills, including introduction to graphic design (Canva), and mastering the Google Suite.
Both of our Technology instructors follow our Diocesan Technology Curriculum, aligned fully to our Ohio State Standards in the area of Technology.
World Languages
Students in all grade levels at St. Angela Merici School are immersed in Spanish education with a dynamic, fully-licensed Spanish teacher.
Students in grades K-5 are instructed in Spanish once a week.
Students in grade 6 are provided a more in-depth study of the nuances of the Spanish language by attending class twice a week.
Students in grades 7 and 8 even further hone in on development and mastery of writing, listening, and speaking skills within the Spanish curriculum.
Library/Media
Our SAM School students in grades K-5 have the opportunity to grow from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn’ as part of their foundation in reading and language arts. Students are able to select books at their ‘comfort’ levels with the help of our reading/media specialist during their weekly school library visit and are reinforced with continuing a love for reading.
Students in grades 6-8 also have the opportunity to further develop vocabulary skills and remediation organically in our school’s library. Each student will be able to work with our reading specialist also, in order to make highly engaging and comfortable book selections each week.
We are lucky to have an annual Literacy Night to share the importance and love that our school community has for reading and literacy. We come together and share in fun literacy activities with our families including recipe making/reading, literacy board games, read a-loud's, meet the author, puppet shows and more!
SAM's Makerspace is a collaborative work space inside of our library for making, learning, exploring and sharing that uses a wide variety of hands on tools. This space is open to all of our students and has a variety of maker equipment including magnatiles, legos, art supplies and more. Our Makerspace also helps students enhance critical skills in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Drama Club
At St. Angela Merici School we were so lucky to have the opportunity to bring Drama back into our lives by way of an Upper School Drama Club and performance during the 2017-2018 school year.
Our Drama Club, led by a team of Fine Arts, Dance and Choreography experts, allows our students to show off a wide variety of skills in the area of the fine arts, leading to a dramatic performance for our school and local community.
Band
All students in grades 4-8 have the opportunity to participate in learning to play a band instrument with our Band elective.
Our music teacher will pair each individual student with the instrument that best matches his/her interest and ability and instruct students in small and large groups at a variety of levels.
Students will be either placed in Beginning Band, Intermediate Band, or Advanced Band based on grade and musical ability.
“A person should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which has been implanted in the human soul.” ~Goethe