Spring
E x h i bi t i on s 2019
At Presbyterian School we teach the art of seeing, not just looking. The art of seeing is to recognize more than that which lies at the surface. It requires time, attention, and a willingness to ask questions and wait in silence for the answers to come. The visual and performing arts can be a vehicle through which students deepen their skills of observation, communication, and understanding of the human condition, and a factor which helps learning penetrate, saturate, and resound. We who teach visual and performing arts have a responsibility to do our part in the neurodevelopment of our students, urging them to see more than look, to make sound sensitively, and to feel compassionately the feelings of another through considering their roles in the story. These skills matter to their future success as leaders in their industry, in their homes, and in their lives. Weaving the arts into classroom learning allows teachers and students to explore innovative ideas, gain courage to share them with others, and develop the ability to listen to and respect the findings of others. We are fortunate to have teachers who are committed to delivering instruction in so many creative ways to optimize meaningful learning. Engaging with the arts is not an after thought; it is part of the School's DNA, interwoven across all disciplines, regardless of subject or class. In our Spring Exhibitions, we invite you to witness the beauty of students knowing a subject, a technique or a time period in depth. These demonstrations of learning showcase students exploring innovations of the past and formulating ideas for the future. We feel resolute that Confidence in every Child is built and exhibited through a variety of experiences at Presbyterian School. Mark your calendars with the events on these pages and witness our inventive thinkers at their best.
Courtney Daniell-Knapp Director of Fine Arts
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Art on Display: Mosaic Pigs
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1st Grade Dinosaur Museum
February 5 • All Day • Palm Court
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Second grade students spend a year studying different communities, states, countries and continents. In February students celebrate the Chinese New Year with a feast. To commemorate the Year of the Pig in the Chinese lunar calendar, students make mixed media mosaic pigs. Students draw their own pigs and use watercolor and mosaic paper squares to add color, texture and dimension. Each pig rests on a background that includes hand-drawn Chinese New Year symbols.
First grade goes back in time for a monthlong study of dinosaurs, paleontology, and prehistory. Each student chooses a dinosaur to research, makes use of iPads and “Dino” apps, and learns how to differentiate between fact and fiction as they discover more about their chosen dinosaur. The study culminates in an exhibit of individual creations of a “dinorama” featuring a dinosaur in its natural habitat. Students also write and record an informative speech to accompany their dino-rama.
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Middle School Pop Concert: Music from the Movies
February 28 • 2:30 p.m. • Grand Hall Even silent films had music. Film composers help the director tell the story by appealing to the moviegoer’s senses, clarifying time period and setting, establishing mood, evoking emotion, and even developing character through music. This year’s Middle School Pop Concert brings us some of our favorite songs from the movies, from Disney and Pixar to remixes of Broadway classics and Rocky’s Theme, performed by fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade Dance, seventh grade Band, Main Men, Main Street Singers, and 5th & 6th on Main.
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Art on Display: Movie Posters
February 28 • All Day • Palm Court To complement and set the stage for the Middle School Pop Concert: Music From The Movies, third grade students produce movie posters. After choosing a favorite movie, students spend time researching examples of printed movie posters to see how movies have been best publicized. Students have freedom to not only choose their favorite movie, but to also use any art medium of their choice including tempura paints, oil pastel, color pencil, watercolors, and markers to convey their message. Students top off their poster with a matte and handmade decorative frame ... just like in the movie theaters!
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Art on Display: Creative Constructions
March 1 • 5:30 p.m. • Opening Reception March 1-31 • All Day • The Glassell Junior School • 5101 Montrose Blvd. Visit the Museum of Fine Arts' Glassell Junior School to see this year’s Middle School art exhibit, Creative Constructions. The exhibit is curated from fifth and sixth grade art classes, seventh grade Old School Drawing, Expressive Sculpture, and Mixed Media classes, and eighth grade Paper Art, Scientific Illustration, Painting:
Pop Culture and Abstract Expressionism, and 3-D Personal Narrative classes. As students watched construction of the new Early Childhood and Lower School building over the course of this year, they had the opportunity to reflect and realize that the same fundamental process of building a school is incorporated into each and every art project that they make in art class. From the tiniest of ideas, students begin their art projects by formulating a plan. They research, sketch, and thoughtfully conceive of something original. Faculty strive to guide student plans by teaching new methods and techniques that are instrumental in bringing a student's vision to life.
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8th Grade RIDEE Symposium
March 4 • All Day • Fellowship Hall Eighth grade students choose a topic they are passionate about, create a deliverable that investigates, expands or improves upon that topic, and present it to the community in a RIDEE (Research, Ideate, Develop, Evaluate and Empowerment) Symposium. The purpose of the project is to give students choice and ownership over their learning, while stretching them, too. In the fall, students presented three minute pitches on topics to a “shark tank” panel of teachers in order to convince at least one shark, a faculty sponsor, to “invest” in their idea. Following their pitch, students are eager to create wildly diverse projects on their topic, including TED talks, fashion shows, storefronts, and more. All students participate in a final evaluation through a defense to the Headmaster.
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Beta Lights, Camera, Action
March 26 • 8:15 a.m. • North Playground The Beta (PK3) Celebration of Children's Literature and Storytelling will showcase some of their favorite stories from the school year. Students act out adult-authored stories in addition to dictating and dramatizing their own. Students’ stories highlight things that are on their minds, things they enjoy, things that worry or frighten them. Please join us as our youngest students take the stage for the first time by themselves. It will be a wonderful way to start your morning!
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3rd Grade Great Moments in History
April 4 • 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:45 p.m. • Fellowship Hall April 5 • 8:45 a.m. • Fellowship Hall Third grade students choose a person from a great moment in history to research and bring to life in a Wax Museum. Whether it’s a famous athlete, civil rights activist, author, or chef, students work to personify these individuals in appearance, speech, and form. Stop by the Wax Museum to meet our famous characters and learn about their lives and accomplishments. This is one great moment you can't miss!
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Art on Display: 3-D Faces of History
April 4-5 • All Day • Fellowship Hall Inspired by their research on individuals from Great Moments in History, third grade students create a bust of a famous individual. Students use a paper clay mixture over an armature of foil to shape their bust. Students study proportions and learn how to model the details of a face including eyes, ears and nose. The evolution of the bust from a bone armature to the inclusion of details on the face's surface brings a striking three dimensional piece of history back to life.
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Grandparents & Special Friends Day
April 12 8:30 a.m. • Breakfast • Fellowship Hall 9:15 a.m. • Early Childhood • Grand Hall 10:00 a.m. • Lower School • Grand Hall 11:00 a.m. • Middle School • The Glassell Junior School Grandparents and special friends of Early Childhood, Lower School and Middle School students are invited on campus for a day to “Paws for Reading.” A breakfast kicks off the morning's events. Early Childhood students Bring a Book to Life in a short music program. Lower School students share recitations and songs in a Poetry Program. The Poetry Program follows the natural progression of a student’s knowledge of poetry from nursery rhymes and nonsense poems to the works of our most beloved classical poets. Middle School students share a sampling from performing arts classes including a sneak peek of the 8th grade musical, Elf the Musical, JR. All grandparents and special friends have the option to visit classrooms as well. Students are dismissed at noon so they may join their grandparents or special friends off campus for lunch and an afternoon at the School's Book Fair hosted at Barnes & Noble at 2030 W. Gray Street.
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2nd Grade F a r m t o Ta b l e M u s e u m
April 24 • 10:00 a.m. • Fellowship Hall Mosey on down to the Farm to Table Museum where second grade students present their knowledge of the ways natural resources are harvested, stored, processed, packaged, sold, and consumed. Students learn about the local and global communities in which they live and their roles as citizens in those communities. By studying the process of how food goes from farm to table, students learn about managing natural resources and how individuals and businesses contribute to a community. Y’all come visit soon, ya hear?
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Spring Choir Concert
April 25 • 1:30 p.m. • Fellowship Hall Celebrate the end of the choir year at the annual Spring Concert featuring the Lower School Choir, 5th & 6th on Main, and guest choirs, AcaBellas and AcaFellas, from the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA). Choir members work on repertoire spanning many centuries and sampling several genres. The audience can expect to hear selections from Melchior Franck of the 16th century, to contemporary Art Song, to popular music of the 70’s. Word is getting out about the Presbyterian School Choirs. Thanks to the professionalism and excellent work of our students and choir directors, outside organizations are seeking out Presbyterian School choirs to bring beautiful music to their events. We are grateful to our community partners for giving us exciting opportunities in the Houston community to expand each student's music education. This Spring, our School Choirs have the opportunity to perform at the following venues: •
Holocaust Museum Houston Legacy Society
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Rice University Tudor Fieldhouse
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River Oaks Clay Court Championship
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The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Zilkha Hall
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Elf the Musical, JR.
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Art on Display: Christmas in New York City
May 1 • 1:30 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. • Grand Hall May 2 • 7:00 p.m. • Grand Hall
May 1-2 • All Day • Grand Hall
The Class of 2019 presents Elf the Musical, JR., an uplifting musical about Buddy, a young orphan who mistakenly crawls into Santa's bag of gifts and is transported to the North Pole. With Santa's permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father and discover his true identity. Faced with the harsh reality that his father is on the naughty list, and his stepbrother doesn't even believe in Santa, Buddy is determined to win over his new family and help New York remember the true meaning of the holidays.
Fourth grade collaborates on a mural of New York City at Christmastime to accompany the 8th grade performance of Elf the Musical, JR. Each fourth grade class creates a different feature of the mural with one class building the cityscape, another addressing the different modes of transportation (including Santa’s sleigh), and a third producing the 3-dimensional characters from the musical to inhabit the view of the city. In setting up their cityscape, students dive into aspects of layout including foreground, middle ground, and background.
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4 t h G r a d e Te x a s M u s e u m
May 6-10 • All Day • Palm Court May 10 • 10:15 a.m. • Fellowship Hall Fourth grade students focus on a year-long study of Texas history, beginning their studies in the Paleoamerican time period and continuing to current day events in their home state. Students pick individual research topics about a person, place, or event that helped shape Texas. They learn the steps of researching, taking notes, outlining, and writing a research paper. Students also create an accompanying visual representation of their choice. A special Texas program for parents highlights the industry of the fourth grade.
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5th Grade Scenes of the Old West
May 9 • 1:45 p.m. • LC181 Join fifth grade for a living museum of the Old West. Ride the rails on the Iron Horse across the plains. Step off at the junction and stretch your legs. Stock up on vittles and a bolt of calico at the dry goods store. Practice your Three R’s at the schoolhouse. Say hello to the brave sheriffs and deputies of law enforcement as they track down outlaws. Swing by the tavern for a frosty glass of sarsaparilla. Has your mule thrown a shoe? Get a fresh one forged by the blacksmith. Stop for a spell and flap your jaw with fifth grade experts about the old times. Shine up your spurs and come on down!
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Mahler 3rd Symphony with Te x a s M e d i c a l C e n t e r Orchestra
May 11 • 7:00 p.m. • The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Zilkha Hall 5th & 6th on Main has been invited to perform Gustav Mahler’s 3rd Symphony with the Treble Choir of Houston and the Texas Medical Center Orchestra. Texas Medical Center Orchestra, a group of dedicated musicians in the medical field, is in its 19th season. The orchestra has won The American Prize for best community orchestra in 2017 and Second Prize in 2018. 5th & 6th on Main sings in the movement that includes a choral portion for children’s choir. It is an incredible honor for our choir to be included in this performance at The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.
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7th Grade Fine Arts Exhibition
May 14 • 10:00 a.m. • Fellowship Hall Seventh grade is the first year students experience fine art electives. With over 17 classes to choose from, the electives are varied and open up new artistic avenues to explore. Students discover if they enjoy 3-D art more than drawing, playing guitar more than singing, as they have the opportunity to decide where to invest their artistic energy. At the Fine Arts Exhibition, students display this array of offerings to their families and give sixth grade a view of what is to come. Students present their experiences of these electives through spoken presentations, performance demonstrations, and their products on display.
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Kindergarten Theater
May 17 • 1:00 p.m. • Grand Hall Our Kindergarten Theater is a hands-on, cooperative demonstration of learning integrating storytelling with art, music, building, and design which celebrates a range of student talent and knowledge. Kindergarten students perform a collaboratively written original play based on the Presbyterian School core values. Throughout the year, teachers immerse students in a rich core values curriculum supported by children’s literature. In creating their original play, students draw on Language Arts skills utilizing knowledge of story elements including setting, characters, plot/problem, key events, and resolution to bring the story to life. Students also collaborate on set and prop design. The performance, not only for the kids but by the kids as well, is a developmentally appropriate, child-centered example of Think.Make.Talk in action.
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6th Grade Genius Hour
May 21 • 8:30 a.m. • CE 240 The sixth grade class hosts a Genius Hour showcasing their favorite works from the year. In one room, you may hear a snippet from an original myth, in another you may experience a one-of-a-kind puppet show, or push play to view a student-engineered animated story. Please join our students to witness the insights and discoveries that have taken place throughout their sixth grade journey at Presbyterian School.
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Pre-K Airlines Parade
May 22 • 2:00 p.m. • School Hallways Pre-K Airlines takes in all the sights, smells, and wonders of different cultures around the world. Starting in Houston with a quick layover in New York City, students visit Australia, France, and Ancient Egypt, where they build pyramids and learn the process of mummification. Italy, India, and Greece are the last three stops on their world journey. The year-long curriculum ends with a “Passport Parade” where students dress as someone from their favorite country. Expect to see Degas ballerinas, King Tut, and Zeus. Let your learning and creativity take flight with us!
with gratitude
Presbyterian School’s mission of Family, School and Church united in the education and support of each Child is rooted in the premise of partnerships. Our students walk outside and into 20 different museums without ever boarding a bus. The School forms part of an archipelago of the arts and academia in the heart of Houston’s vibrant Museum District. We are grateful to partner with the best of Houston, over 45 institutions, to offer enriched experiences and an unparalleled independent school education to each child.
Alley Theatre Amazing Place Houston Asia Society Texas Center Children's Museum of Houston Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Downtown Aquarium- Houston Emergency Aid Coalition First Presbyterian Church of Houston Harris County Courts Hermann Park Conservancy Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA)
Holocaust Museum Houston Houston Boychoir Houston Center for Contemporary Craft Houston Center for Photography Houston City Hall Houston Grand Opera Houston Methodist Hospital Houston Museum of Natural Science Houston Symphony InterActive Theater Company Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts Lawndale Art Center MacGregor Elementary School Main Street Theater Miller Outdoor Theatre Music Doing Good Musiqa NRG Center & Stadium
Rice University Rothko Chapel Texas Medical Center Orchestra The Glassell Junior School The Health Museum The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts The Houston Zoo The Jung Center The Menil Collection The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Nehemiah Center The Phillip Hall Singers The Rice School Treble Choir of Houston University of St. Thomas Wortham Theater Center Writers in the Schools
Presbyterian School · 5 3 0 0 M a i n S t r e e t · H o u s t o n , Te x a s 7 7 0 0 4 www.pshouston.org · Confidence in every Child