Art

Art at Sisters Elementary School gives students opportunities to explore ideas, develop creativity, build artistic skills, and discover their own ways of seeing and expressing the world. As part of SES's commitment to integrated arts, students experience hands-on visual arts instruction that complements classroom learning while encouraging imagination, experimentation, problem-solving, and individual expression.

Throughout the elementary years, students build experience with artistic concepts, tools, techniques, and a variety of media. As their skills grow, students become increasingly intentional and independent in the choices they make, moving from early exploration toward creating artwork that communicates their own ideas and perspectives.

Have questions? Please contact Sisters Elementary School for more information or assistance.

Building the Foundation

In Kindergarten, art begins with exploration and discovery. Students experiment with color, line, shape, texture, and form while learning how artists use different tools and materials. Drawing, painting, cutting, building, and other hands-on experiences help strengthen fine-motor skills while giving children the freedom to imagine, create, and make choices.

In First Grade, students continue building foundational skills while becoming more confident using materials and techniques. They begin combining the elements of art in more intentional ways and discover that their own ideas can be interpreted and expressed visually.

One of the highlights of the year is a special collaboration between first-grade artists and Sisters High School art students. First graders use their imaginations to design and draw their own original "monsters." Their drawings are then shared with high school art students, who bring the young artists' creations to life as three-dimensional clay sculptures. When the finished pieces are revealed, first graders get to see their own drawings transformed into artwork created especially for them by an older Outlaw.

More than an art project, this has become a meaningful connection between generations of Sisters students. First graders experience the excitement of having an older student value and interpret their ideas, while high school artists have the opportunity to use their skills to create something memorable for a younger student. The project celebrates creativity, mentorship, collaboration, and the special sense of community that comes from students growing up together as Outlaws.

Growing Skills & Artistic Thinking

By Second Grade, students are ready to build greater control and confidence with familiar tools and materials while being introduced to new artistic processes. They become increasingly attentive to details, patterns, composition, and how artistic choices can change the way something looks or feels. Students also begin reflecting more thoughtfully on their own work and the artwork of others.

In Third Grade, students' growing skills allow them to approach art with greater independence. They can plan an idea, select materials and techniques, work through creative challenges, and make adjustments as their artwork develops. Art increasingly becomes a way to communicate ideas, experiences, observations, and imagination, not simply an activity with a predetermined result.

Creating, Connecting & Expressing

In Fourth Grade, students continue developing their artistic skills while becoming more intentional about how they use color, line, shape, texture, form, composition, and different media to communicate an idea. With stronger foundational skills, students can take on more complex creative challenges, make thoughtful decisions about their work, and develop projects over multiple steps. They are encouraged to experiment, revise, problem-solve, and recognize that the creative process can be just as important as the finished piece.

By Fifth Grade, students draw upon years of artistic exploration and skill development to make increasingly independent creative decisions. They are better able to plan an idea, select appropriate materials and techniques, refine their work, persevere through creative challenges, and communicate meaning through what they create. As the oldest artists at SES, fifth graders are prepared to carry both their foundational art skills and their creative confidence into the broader opportunities available in middle school and beyond.

Throughout the elementary years, students also have opportunities to explore ceramics and other three-dimensional media, supported by SES's ceramics resources and school kiln, along with special arts experiences made possible through community partnerships and visiting artists. These experiences expose students to different ways of creating and help demonstrate that art can take many forms.

The K-5 Journey

Across the elementary years, the progression is intentional: exploration develops into technique; technique creates new possibilities for expression; and growing skills give students greater confidence to make thoughtful, independent creative choices.

By the end of fifth grade, our goal is for students to see themselves as artists and creators, comfortable experimenting with ideas, willing to take creative risks, able to appreciate different forms of artistic expression, and confident in their ability to turn imagination into something uniquely their own.