Visual & Performing Arts California State Standards

Calahan Community Charter is a strong supporter of the arts. Students benefit from an array of music and art lessons throughout the school year. Calahan recognizes the essential role that the visual and performing arts (dance, theater, and music) play in a visionary and well-rounded curriculum. Instruction and exploration provides students with these exceptionally powerful avenues for creative self-expression, self-discovery, and for discovery about the world of which they are a part. The visual and performing arts curriculum invites students to channel emotions into creative forms. In a world of increasing technological advances, it is of great importance that children develop a sense of beauty, truth, and tolerance provided by the humanizing world of art.

The goal is for students to mature into culturally literate people whose value and pursuit of the arts is life-long. Through the visual and performing arts curriculum, students at Calahan will add to their body of knowledge in the core content areas, apply thinking skills, and acquire artistic skill and style. The visual and performing arts instruction will engage students with varied learning styles and allow exceptional learners to fully participate in a curriculum that is often not dependent on verbal or written responses. As stated in the Visual and Performing Arts Framework and Standards, “The arts foster students’ abilities to create, experience, analyze, and reorganize, thereby encouraging intuitive and emotional as well as verbal responses.”