Other Subjects

Enrichment classes and electives round out our students’ education: Spanish and Mandarin, Fine Art, Music, Drama, and Movement Education are just some of what we offer to expand our students’ grasp of content and their growing selves.

Spanish or Mandarin

GVS students participate in either Spanish or Mandarin class, where they learn greetings, basic conversational phrases, common vocabulary, numbers, and songs. They produce many responses and engage in early literacy activities in these highly interactive sessions. As students get older, they receive more advanced instruction in conversational phrases, vocabulary-building, verb conjugations, grammatical gender, and reading and writing.

Art

Students learn about shapes (2D, 3D), color (mixing, juxtaposition, impact), and dimension (perspective, foreground, background, shading), and how to incorporate these elements in different media—drawing, painting, collage, mosaics, sculpture, fiber arts, calligraphy, and printmaking. Studies of influential artists—then and now—and how they express their ideas provide inspiration, as students take creative license to express their own.

Drama

Games and improvisation activate alertness, spatial awareness, and tracking so that everyone does their part at the right time. Our end-of-year performance showcases students’ growth of communication and expressive skills, as each one has their moment to shine.

Movement Education

Movement Education helps develop student fitness and coordination skills, awareness of personal space, and control of the body. Students participate in activities designed to cultivate habits of stretching, running, strength- and endurance-building, cardio enhancement, team-building, and mindfulness.

Music Theory/Appreciation

Music is a lifelong source of pleasure for active listeners who seek to understand a composer’s chosen techniques, patterns, and language. GVS music classes introduce and advance knowledge about music-at-large through listening to pieces to discern instrumentation, rhythm, and genre. Students practice singing, some in parts (harmony), while using solfege in a multi-sensory experience that results in impressive performances for our community!