Specialist Classes at Crestview Prep



A strong enrichment program taught by a team of specialists adds breadth and richness to the Crestview education, helping them fulfill its commitment to an education for the intellectual, physical and emotional development of the child.

Art

The art room is a place for students to grow, flourish, and develop an understanding of the world around them through the eyes of an artist. Crestview’s Fine Arts program offers a well-balanced approach in various art disciplines. Beginning in the Lower Elementary grades, basic skills are introduced and explored. At each grade level, students will be given the opportunity to practice various mediums including: drawing, color pencil, chalk pastel, oil pastel, charcoal, pen and ink, painting, ceramics, watercolor, and mixed media.

Band and String Ensemble

The instrumental groups perform at a concert in March and are featured participants in the All School music programs. Through this enrichment program, young musicians develop the skills of self-expression and self-discipline. In fourth grade, students are invited to join the Beginning Band program. Once they have completed a year in Beginning Band, the students continue on to the Advanced Band program for fifth and sixth grades. The String Ensemble is open to all students who have completed at least one year of private or group lessons on a string instrument.

Computer Science

In order to prepare its students for success in an ever-evolving digital landscape, this program is designed to:

Enhance production, communication, and creative work.
Prepare students to access, evaluate, and synthesize content.
Promote innovative thinking and problem solving.
Develop student skills as digitally responsible citizens.
Build a strong computer science foundation.

Students learn programming, robotics, graphic design, video creation and editing.

Gardening

The Gardening program at Crestview encompasses activities and projects in which the garden is the foundation for integrated learning. Aspects of the program not only strengthen and support academic skills but also include personal/social well being, increased nutrition awareness, and environmental stewardship. Through the simple act of planting seeds in a garden, children learn the importance of rich soil, keeping compost, maintaining garden chores, native plants and helpful insects. The gardening program also gives students extra time outside which increases wonder while also fostering patience and care for nature.

Library

Library at Crestview is both a place and a class. With over 9,000 volumes of literature and resource materials, it is a place rich with imagination, adventure, and information. Students come to the library for weekly classes that introduce literature, instruct in the usage of the many resources of the library, and teach how to conduct research.

Maker

A dedicated maker time is an opportunity for students to exercise their engineering and design skills, as well as communication and collaboration. Some projects will follow the design thinking process, while others focus on exploration and individual passion projects.

Mindfulness

Part of Crestview’s social-emotional learning curriculum, the Mindfulness program is based on the belief that empathy, resiliency, self-regulation, mental focus, and self-awareness are skills that can be taught. Students with a wide array of social and emotional tools in their toolboxes are better equipped to understand their own emotional responses and those of others and are able to respond kindly and skillfully to life’s challenges. Mindfulness classes are taught by Mindful School trained instructors to all students and classroom teachers.

Music

The concepts of rhythm, melody, harmony, and form are developed sequentially in our program. In every music lesson, the students sing both individually and as an ensemble. Continuous refinement of skills through singing and playing of instruments occurs throughout the elementary music program.

Physical Education

A child’s health and general physical well-being is as much an asset as the ability to think or create. The general goal of the physical education program is to help the children develop and maintain a healthy, vibrant, and active life-style into, and throughout, adulthood. Crestview offers a daily, structured, and age-appropriate physical education program to all students. Students develop physical skills and abilities while also developing social skills such as teamwork and sportsmanship. Two full-time specialists work with students for two-week units focused on fitness and sports fundamentals in football, basketball, soccer, and golf, in addition to other sports.

Random Acts of Kindness

A companion piece to the Mindfulness program, Random Acts of Kindness is a cross grade social emotional learning curriculum that centers on lessons in six key areas: respect, caring, inclusiveness, integrity, responsibility, and courage. It is an evidence- based program developed by the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation and supported by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning. A strength of the RAK curriculum is a self-reflective component that is offered after each activity for not only the students but also faculty and administrators. It’s aim is to foster emotional-intelligence and make responding with kindness the default to any situation.

Science

At Crestview, students’ natural curiosity about scientific phenomena is fostered through a hands-on, experiment-focused approach. Instruction is delivered through the use of FOSS, a research-based science curriculum for elementary and middle school students developed at the University of California, Berkeley. Our program is designed to build on prior knowledge as students investigate core ideas in science in an increasingly complex manner. The goal is to help our students know and use scientific explanations of the natural world and the designed world; to understand the nature and development of scientific knowledge and technological capabilities; and to participate productively in scientific and engineering practices. All upper elementary students participate in overnight trips aligned with our science curriculum.

Service Learning

Outreach and community service activities are an important part of a Crestview education. Our community service projects are designed by the students themselves, with appropriate support by the teachers. Our students learn that community means not just their school community, but the extended community in which they live. Our service-learning programs:

• Help children learn empathy.
• Demonstrate to children that their actions can have a positive impact.
• Help children connect to local, national, and international communities.

Different grade levels adopt favorite projects appropriate to their age and understanding.

Theater Arts

Theater arts is offered to students TK-6th as a part of their Specialist’s rotation. In this program, they learn communication skills and have an outlet for self-expression. It gives students a forum to develop confidence in public speaking skills and to collaborate with their peers. In the winter, our lower students put on a stage performance for the school. Our upper elementary students perform for a school audience in the spring using an ensemble format.

World Language

World Language is a program that is tiered and individualized. In kindergarten through second grade, students learn songs, hear stories and gain an appreciation of cultures and languages around the world. They also have the opportunity to learn from native speakers in several languages including Spanish, Mandarin, French and Farsi. Starting in our third grade, our students select a language concentration and move at their own pace as they gain speaking, reading and writing skills. Additionally, they can attend a world language lab, in the before school enrichment block, where they practice and apply their language learning with other students. Each month, to solidify the students’ conversational skills, we host a language lunch where students can connect with other learners in the same concentration. Language enrichment classes are also offered during our before and after school blocks.

 

Crestview Preparatory School, 140 Foothill Blvd., La Cañada, (818) 952-0925 or visit www.crestviewprep.org.

 

 

 

 

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