• Adapt to and respect other ways of thinking, working, and expressing themselves
• Learn developmental skills that are as important to a child's education as language skills
• Develop "right-brain" ways of creative problem solving rather than following a redetermined outline
• Recognize beauty in the world around them
• Learn the powers of observation
• Stimulate the growth of their brains

Preschool
Juniors KVMS classes & 3-5 year-old weekend workshops
3 - 5 (Minimum 4 students - Maximum 10)

See class schedule for time
Class length 45 minutes

Unfortunately, drawing and visual art as a form of human expression is often considered child's play. The importance of art in any curriculum is greatly ignored. Neural patterns are forming in the brain between the ages of 0 to 8. The development of these neural pathways in brain only occurs if the child is exposed to the arts. If not - this brain development is lost forever. Key thinking skills in visual perception, visual-spatial organization and attention to detail is taught by drawing exercises in the Art Start Studio. These drawing exercises are based on the monart system. As a result, the child's perceptual, and analytical skills are developed, as well as critical thinking and problem solving skills. School that incorporate drawing and visual arts into their regular curriculum are reporting a 20% increase in reading, writing, math and language skills!! In the past, many believed drawing curricula were for students age 12 and older. By introducing the visual art at a later age, many long term developmental benefits are lost to the child. At age 3 the young artist is truely ready to be introduced to these drawing and shape observation exercises. (Geraldine Schwartz, Ph.D. Founder and President, Vancouver Learning Center)

Miss Jan or Miss Jennifer, the instructor, with one assistant. We greet the children and invite them to put on their art shirts and join us on the art rug. We then ask for a sharing of any beautiful or unusual piece of nature, if anyone has found anything and brought it to class. We discuss and place the item on the nature table. This sharing encourages the young artists to observe the world around them. We then participate in a relaxation exercise, getting our hands, brains and eyes ready to draw. We then use our sketchbooks to participate in a shape combination and observation exercise. We put these away and discuss our main art project for the week. These main projects focus on a different med along wtih a master artist or multicultural art form every week. Once the main prject is completed, the child is asked to help put away the materials and wash their hands. If there is time, they may work on another activity in the studio or look at any of th eart books for kids in the studio until class is over. At the end of class we encourage the children to put away their shirt and clean their hands. We sit on the "urg" hand out a sticker, any artwork going home along with a few m&m's from our candy painting which is a reward for good listeners. This positive reinforcement is only offered if the little ones can simply follow the teachers instructions when it is time to stop and wash hands, put away shirts and come to the rug to say goodbyes. They are escorted back to the classroom. If parents are coming to pick them up then we wait for the parents to come to the door and walk them out. We also provide them with a weekly handout sheet of each class' content.