List of 4 items.

• Fifth Grade

  Fifth graders take drama once every other rotation in half-section groupings during the fall and winter. Through a variety of skill-building exercises involving the body, the voice, and the imagination, the classes provide opportunities to develop self-esteem, self-confidence, and increased focus and awareness. Beginning in the early spring, drama classes will be devoted to a collaborative production of the Greek plays, a long-standing feature of the fifth-grade Humanities curriculum. 
  
  Assessment in Drama is based on in-class participation, with emphasis placed on focus, attention, cooperation, willingness to take risks, and the development of listening skills both as a performer and as an audience member.

• Sixth Grade

  This year, drama and music begin the year collaborating on project : an exploration of the typical characters and scenarios of melodrama and composing music on Garage Band to underscore the scene work.

  
  All classes begin with warm-up exercises to bring awareness to the body and voice and to increase focus and concentration. Students then move on to various improvisations and scene work. Sixth graders continue to take drama in half-sections, once every other rotation for the first half of the school year and the last month. Beginning in February, they will meet more frequently to create scenes to accompany Broadway songs for the Spring Cabaret. 
  
  Assessment in drama is based on class participation, with emphasis placed on focus, attention, cooperation, willingness to take risks, and the development of listening skills both as a performer and as an audience member.

• Seventh Grade

  All seventh graders take a drama class and choose between three options: Theatre Exercises and Improvisation class, in which improvisations and scene work are oriented toward introducing and developing acting skills with emphasis on vocal and physical work and use of the imagination to create character and scenario. Play Production class gives students the opportunity to read two or three contemporary plays. Production research and creative design projects accompany active reading and culminate in student presentations of behind-the-scenes design work associated with each play. Students also have the opportunity to perform scenes from the plays and write additional scenes for them. Scene Study class allows students the opportunity to explore a variety of characters and scene work from contemporary and classical plays. This is a performance class and will culminate in a performance during the school day presented to other arts classes. Spontaneity, focus and concentration, and group and individual trust are developed in all classes. 
  
  Assessment in drama is based on in-class participation, with emphasis placed on focus, attention, cooperation, willingness to take risks, and the development of listening skills both as a performer and as an audience member.

• Eighth Grade

  Drama electives provide students the opportunity to explore the rehearsal and performance process from the point of view of the director. Each student chooses a musical and spends the quarter directing and choreographing a scene/song from it. The scenes are performed on the final day.
  
  

  Eighth Grade Musical: The eighth-grade electives time in the spring trimester is devoted to the spring Musical, a collaborative effort of the visual and performing arts teachers. Past musicals have included Once Upon a Mattress, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, Oliver, Peter Pan, Bye-Bye Birdie, Oklahoma, Les Misérables, Annie, Into the Woods, Aida, Annie Get Your Gun, the little mermaid, the lion king, and mulan. All eighth graders participate in some way in the musical, performing on stage, providing instrumental accompaniment, and/or working behind the scenes on stage management, costumes, set, lights, or sound. Auditions take place in early winter and rehearsals are held three times each rotation in the spring quarter, culminating with two performances in June.