The Arts

Each of the arts provides a language for the communication of ideas and emotions. At Ventura Charter School music, art, and drama specialists are employed to expand students' access to a wide variety of fine, performing, and practical arts. Music, drama, drumming, textile arts, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, graphic arts, sculpture, and painting are interwoven throughout the curriculum as artistic responses to literature, multicultural studies, and thematic instruction. Woodworking, photography, computer graphic design, and video presentations also provide creative outlets as electives for older students.

By studying the arts, students develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Brain research and Multiple Intelligence theory provide evidence to support the arts in a balanced, integrated curriculum. Work by Eric Jensen, Arts With The Brain In Mind, 2001, for example, shows that by learning and practicing art, critical neural pathways are developed in children's brains. Students who play musical instruments develop strong pattern extraction abilities that are essential to higher brain functions in logic, math, and problem solving.