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In Our Classroom - Complementary Curriculum

Performing Arts

The arts curriculum ties in closely with the other school curriculum. Students express ideas and emotions through participation in various forms of the visual and performing arts, which may include music, theater, song, dance, two- and three- dimensional arts, puppetry, and applied arts.

Technology

Technology is integrated throughout the curriculum. TechnoKids theme-related projects use computer applications to integrate skills such as multimedia, graphic spreadsheet, word processing, desktop publishing, telecommunications, and database skills into student activities.

Students create and produce a presentation about their city, write a report on endangered species, and analyze and graph survey results. Each project integrates skills in subject areas such as language arts, mathematics, geography, science, social studies, and visual arts.

The TechnoKids Computer Curriculum is based on the National Educational technology Standards (NETS). Students have access to technology with Internet access in every classroom.

Social/Interpersonal & Study Skills

Productive citizens must be able to work cooperatively as part of a team to accomplish a task. Cooperative learning is an integral part of every student's experience beginning in kindergarten and continuing through eighth grade. Students work in mixed groups depending on teachers' goals.

Children naturally communicate with each other, asking questions and helping one another. As students progress through the grades the group experience is extended to activities that require planning, division of work, development of a finished product, and presentation to the classroom.

Through cooperative learning, students come to appreciate various learning styles and the benefits that optimizing individual strengths bring to the group. Students develop and improve their social and communication skills. By sharing their knowledge and talents students learn to respect the ideas and talents of others.

As members of a larger community, students at every grade level participate in service learning projects which are integrated into the curriculum. Through their work as part of the DCS community of learners, students develop skills that will enable them to pursue their own path of learning throughout their adult lives in becoming motivated, competent, and lifelong learners.

Project-based learning teaches students valuable life skills such as developing a timeline for project completion, time management skills, narrowing focus area of student topic, note taking, library research skills, organization of information, writing and editing skills, presentation skills, as well as study strategies.

Project-based learning provides practice in reasoning, decision-making, and problem solving. Students learn to identify and use available resources and to articulate their thought processes to others. Through self-evaluation and goal setting, students learn to reflect on and evaluate their own learning and progress toward achieving a goal.