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| SPECIAL ACTIVITIES |
ART
In addition to the many hands-on activities throughout the curriculum, each class has one weekly meeting with the Art teacher. Students use various materials such as tempera, finger paint, watercolor, pastel, oven hardening clay, air dry clay, paper, cardboard, wood, plaster, glue, pipe cleaner, found objects, foil, fabric, raffia, yarn, leaves, vegetables and dyes.
Visual concepts taught in the Art curriculum include color, basic elements of design and basic elements of illusion.Various seasonal and cultural combinations are incorporated into lesson plans.
All grades have age appropriate units on:
• Painting: includes self-portraits, landscapes, etc.
• Sculpture: includes hand building and carving
• Fiber: includes weaving, batik, dyeing and discharging
• Drawing: includes still life, portrait, perspective and shading
• Printing: includes block printing, stamp making and creative printing
• Mask Making: includes moulage
The Art curriculum allows students to:
• Experience the excitement of creating
• Understand and appreciate the looks and feels of the surrounding world
• Develop creative, inventive, skillful and abstract thinking
• Express oneself through a variety of materials
• Develop an understanding of aesthetic judgment as a creator
 and consumer
• Develop an appreciation of art as an important link to culture,
environment and statement
• Relate to culture and environment
• Be skilled in the manipulation of materials
• Embrace the creative adaptation of materials
• Use the developed skills in other areas of study
• Learn creative problem solving
MUSIC
The music program at the Hovnanian School is based on a music appreciation / performance curriculum divided into four sections: ELC to Kindergarten, Grades 1-3, Grades 4-5 and Grades 6-8.
As students develop their skills in the Hovnanian School‚s music program, they increasingly acquire more advanced knowledge of music theory and performance that encourages critical thinking, creative work and knowledge of elements. Students learn multilingual songs as well as important concepts in music theory and history. Our music program challenges our students to think creatively and express themselves through musical performance and composition.
To learn about the Music program at each grade level in more detail, please visit the Curriculum pages on our website.
TECHNOLOGY
Technologically, we are one of the most advanced schools in the area in both instruction and equipment.Our school has a complete laboratory of networked Apple Macintosh computers with access to color printers, high-speed cable, and many laptops connected to a wireless network.
The Hovnanian School has a progressive technology program in which the skills taught each successive year build upon the skills acquired from the previous year. Beginning in Nursery, students at the Hovnanian School experience age-appropriate interaction with the computers that reinforce classroom lessons. Students are eager to learn more advanced computer functions as they progress from one grade to the next each year.
To learn about the Technology program at each grade level in more detail, please visit the Curriculum pages on our website.
PROJECT TIME
Conceptualized on Friday afternoons, in a 75 minute block time, Project Time brings together groups of 1-8 grade students for designated workshops in a variety of disciplines. Workshops are independently selected by the student each term. The workshops may change from term to term and include Mosaics, Newsletter writing, Puppets Theater, Line Dancing, Sudoku, Scrabble, and Chess. As students select their desired workshops, eachsession is inevitably comprised of a variety of grade levels. This means a 4th grader might play scrabble against a 1st grader, or that a 7th grader, 3rd grader, and 1st grader must work together to write a newsletter column.
In this multi-age experience, students explore new ways to observe, create, learn and express their knowledge. They are exposed to new environments and different teaching styles. As students engage in unique dialogue with children of all ages, their ability to communicate and appreciate other perspectives flourishes. Working with others within a multi-age group dynamic also enhances students‚ social skills and their problem solving abilities.
Students are evaluated throughout the academic year on their participation, cooperation and inter-age interaction.Students are given a separate grade for Project Time each term, which is included in their cumulative GPA. |
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INTERNATIONAL DAY CELEBRATION
"International Month" is one of our major cultural enrichment programs. In the beginning of the year, each class adopts a country to explore through the year, integrates it in its curriculum and becomes familiarized with its geography, history, language and culture. Through this process, students and teachers together make discoveries and learn about diversity in the world.
The multi-age aspect of this type of learning is enhanced by having students in grades 5-8 collaborate per group and not per grade level on research, preparation and presentation.
The culmination of this very productive learning experience is the International Day Celebration, a full day of "travel around the world," where each group moves from one classroom (or country) to another to learn about other cultures while simultaneously hosting other groups to share discoveries about their own country.
During 2009-2010 school year the project was taken a step further. The theme was "The World without Borders" and the center of attention was twelve nations that are not defined by a state: the Inuits, the Gypsies, the Berbers, the Tibetans, the Maoris, the Aborigines, the Aramaeans, the Mayans, the Catalans, the Quechuans, the Kurds, and the native Americans. Despite the challenges of finding mainstream research, gathering information via alternate ways taught us to become more creative researchers.
International Day is a very special occasion at the Hovnanian School and has become a tradition for the students and faculty/staff.
FIELD TRIPS
We encourage all field trips to enhance the learning process and curriculum .Nursery-4 grade day trips are local in distance.
In 2010, the school began a series of overnight trips for the 5-7th grades beginning with Washington, DC. Subsequent trips will be to Boston and then Canada, and visits to all three cities will rotate within the 3-year period. The exploration experience culminates the 8th grade trip to Armenia & Karabagh, which has already become an established tradition.
At Hovnanian School we believe that children can learn not only from their teachers or their older ones they can learn from younger ones or teach older ones as well. Therefore many activities foster multi-age environment to give every member of the school community to take advantage of its multi-dimensional dynamics.
8th Grade Trip to Armenia
It became a tradition for our 8th graders to travel to Armenia before graduating. This voyage of initiation is planned and prepared together with the teachers from the beginning of the school year and takes place in the second half of April. For two weeks the students visit historical, cultural and touristic places including Karabagh. The entire school community joins in supporting this event as evidenced by the over 300 guests that attend the annual Manti Dinner Night to raise funds for the trip.
This very special trip gives the students an opportunity to experience a field trip abroad away from home, discover Armenia, widen their horizons, enhance their knowledge about their history and culture, and reinforce their relationships with their classmates. During their stay, the students send us informative emails which we share with the whole school community. Some excerpts from past 8th graders include:
"We went to Sergei Parajanov's home museum. He was a world famous Armenian film producer, and a great artist... An interesting thing was the fact that never actually lived in the house that was being built for him." (May 2, Melissa Kinoian)
"We traveled to St. Hripsime, which is one of the well-known churches in Armenia. The architecture of this church is phenomenal. It is astonishing how this church has survived since 618 A.D." (May 3, 2010, Chris Markosian)
"Today we went to Lori, and that was a long drive. On our way, we stumbled upon khatchkars with the Armenian letters. We all took pictures of the first letters of our names."Shant Bekarian
"Tonight we are going to the Sundukyan State Academic Theatre of Yerevan to see a play based on Franz Werfel's well-known novel "40 Days of Musa Dagh." (May 5, Nicole Isguzar) |
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