Imagination does not become great until human beings, given the courage and the strength, use it to create.
-Maria Montessori
Montessori Art Program Builds Creativity and Imagination
Our Montessori program includes a strong visual arts program, which offers students numerous benefits. These include improvements in areas such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, self-direction, and of course, imagination.
Art Program Begins in Pre-Primary
Our students, from the youngest in Pre-Primary to the oldest in our middle school, all spend time in our visual arts program and the results show a tremendous amount of imagination and personal growth.
At the Pre-Primary level students become familiar with the art studio, exploring some basic media and techniques. Some of what they experience are: painting on an easel, drawing with colored pencils, creating objects with clay, and pasting precut shapes of colored paper on cardstock.
Here’s an example of one of our three-year-old student’s work with clay:
As students grow older, they are able to concentrate more, and the art lesson becomes more detailed with the student making a plan, choosing materials and techniques, and working from start to finish. Here is an acrylic on canvas from one of our 10-year-old students:
Students Increase Artistic Skills
The art studio experience for students in the Elementary Level involves lesson work, independent projects, and art history. They learn about the art of various cultures and the work of artists throughout history. They take field trips to museums, art exhibits, and artist studios.
Skills that students develop include hand-eye coordination and control over materials. Students are able to work independently, exploring their creative ideas and allowing them to incorporate the skills they’ve learned.
As students build their understanding of visual design they make significant progress. Our teachers are non-judgmental and create a space where children feel free to express their creativity and develop new skills.
Annual Student Art Show
Our students’ work is showcased at an annual student art show held in June in a gallery setting. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for art show details and other school information.
Elementary students on our Piedmont campus worked together to write a classroom agreement. They based it on the core value of the school: respect, respect of others, of oneself, and of the environment. The dictionary proved very helpful in writing the agreement and there was a lot of great discussion. Here are the values and virtues they chose;
Tolerance, teamwork, thankfulness, try, truth, trust
Respect, responsibility, reaction, rules
Intelligence, individual, improving, independence
Self-motivation, safety, self-control, self-independence
The classroom agreement was also a group effort. Here is what the students wrote:
We are proud to announce that The Renaissance International school has won several Best of Parents' Press 2015 Awards for schools in Alameda County California.
Our “Best” awards:
The Renaissance International School is growing! We have added a second campus location at 5201 Park Boulevard in Piedmont to house first grade through middle school.
The site, which was previously occupied by Zion Lutheran School, is being leased by TRIS. It provides the school with approximately 10,000 square feet of classroom and administration space.
“The Piedmont site is a great asset to our school, and meets the needs of our growing student body,” says Leslie Hites, TRIS’s founder and head of school. “It provides the space to expand all our class levels from preschool through middle school.”
Since its founding in 1992, TRIS has been located at 3650 Dimond Avenue in Oakland. It will maintain that campus for pre-primary and primary levels, administration offices, and possibly an infant program in the future.
TRIS’s course of study encompasses the full substance of the traditional curriculum, and goes beyond to teach students how to think clearly, do their own research, express themselves well in writing and speech, and put their knowledge to practical application. The school has excellent music, fine arts, and English/French/Spanish language immersion programs.
Central to TRIS’s philosophy is to provide students with an international center of learning and culture that is open and supportive where students develop and achieve their highest potential.
ABOUT THE RENAISSANCE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
The Renaissance International School is a Montessori school in Oakland, California for children ages two years old through middle school. In 2015, the school won Parents’ Press “Best of” awards in the following categories: Best Bilingual Preschool; Best Montessori Preschool; Best Independent Preschool; Best Montessori Elementary School; and Best Bilingual Middle School.
Students from Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro, Alameda, and other San Francisco Bay Area cities attend The Renaissance International School, with campuses in Oakland’s Dimond District and Piedmont.
Graduates of The Renaissance International School attend top San Francisco Bay Area public and private schools including Head Royce, The College Preparatory School, Bishop O'Dowd, Bentley School, Lick-Wilmerding, and Oakland Tech.
For information, call 510-531-8566.
When the sad events related to the earthquake in Nepal were presented to our Montessori middle school and elementary level students, they asked how they could help. The students wanted to contribute in a direct way by involving themselves in the fundraising process. They all agreed that help needs to occur as soon as possible and here are some of the ideas they came up with:
Read-a-thon- Donations would be based on the number of pages/chapters read. The students decided to look for supporters amongst their families, and neighbors.
Bake Sale: Students volunteered to bake pies, cakes, and cookies. The first bake sale was held on May 12 and was very successful. The entire event was coordinated by the middle school students. They coordinated with the retail location, Oaklandish, to hold the sale outside the store, they recruited volunteers to bake (providing them with recipes), and work at the booth (under adult supervision).
In addition, students researched which organizations they would donate to with the goal of finding groups in which the funds would go directly to victims.
On Tuesday, May 19, students will hold a second bake sale fundraiser for earthquake victims. It will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oaklandish location on Fruitvale in Oakland. We hope you will stop by to lend your support.