The K-3 Music Program

The K-3 music program includes hands-on activities, group singing, instruments, and music appreciation.  The school imports musically based performances and the children have the opportunity to perform before an audience in special school programs.  The elements of music—rhythm, melody, harmony, form, and appreciation / culture form the basis of study in music class.  Each year students in music are can be involved in Percussion Ensembles, Movement and Dance, Recorders, Hand bells, Orff Ensembles, and Choral Music. 

Instrumental Music (Grades 4-12)

Instrumental Music at The Fulton School is a performance-based curriculum incorporating strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion from 5th grade through the senior year of high school.  Instruction is focused on student’s exploration of musical skills in terms of tone, pitch, rhythm, musicality, and note recognition.  Each class incorporates a broad understanding and appreciation of music including foundations in music theory and music history.  Ensembles perform from a wide catalog including Art, Popular, and Folk genres. The aim is to provide the tools and resources for students to achieve the highest level of skill on his or her instrument while also making cross curricular connections through music.

Physical Education

The TFS guidelines for the preschool through sixth grade physical education program consists ultimately of seven instructional areas:

1. body and spatial awareness
2. developmental games
3. fundamental movement
4. personal fitness/health
5. rhythm and dance
6. balancing, tumbling and stunts, and
7. sports and lifetime activities.

Physical Fitness Testing is administered in grades 1 through 6 using the Presidential Physical Fitness Test as our standard. Physical activities, games, and dances can also be directly connected to the academic classroom curriculum as part of special integrated units.

Spanish

The foreign language program emphasizes communication and culture, which are taught primarily through the aural/oral method. The younger children are taught using the TPR (Total Physical Response) method. Students begin the process of learning a foreign language by listening, imitation, and repetition. This parallels first-language acquisition, in which listening and speaking precede reading and writing. More traditional academic skills are introduced and developed gradually, as students progress through the grades. The program also teaches grammar, verb conjugation, and a plethora of vocabulary themes and words. At every level, students explore cultural and historic topics.