Art Dept Image

Art Department (Pre K - Grade 5)

  • Starting in Pre Kindergarten, art becomes an integral part of the total elementary school curriculum, recognized by National Standards to be part of the core of quality education. All children in grades Pre K - through Grade 5, receive regularly scheduled art instruction taught by certified visual arts specialists once a week for 45 minutes.  In addition to that time, Art Enrichment classes are offered 3 days a week during after school hours beginning in September and during the month of July, in Elizabeth’s Summer Arts Institute.  

    Art is an important means of self-expression. The New Jersey Performance Standards for Visual Arts builds opportunities for children to develop innate sensibilities through making and studying art. As students are guided through visual, tactile, and manipulative art experiences, they build important mental constructs. The standards guide development of the students' technical abilities and higher-order thinking skills. This sequenced, developmentally appropriate set of standards for elementary art has been designed to develop aesthetic understanding, creative thinking, perceptual awareness, artistic skills and knowledge, historical and cultural context, critical analysis, and connections to other disciplines.

    The Visual Arts Skills Matrix provided with these standards lists skills, techniques, and materials that are integrated into content as appropriate (rather than taught separately).

    Our well-constructed elementary art program ensures that the students will understand the following skills in Art:  Imagination is important.  There may be more than one answer to a question and more than one solution to a problem.   Answers to a question need not be identical.  Intrinsic satisfaction matters.  Flexibility of thought is critical throughout the course of one’s work.?Personal success stems from the care invested in one's own work and the ability to work cooperatively with others in a dynamic studio setting.

Contact Information

  • Tracy Monteiro
    Supervisor of Arts
    40 Morrell Street
    Elizabeth, NJ 07202
    Phone:908.436.5323
    Email:Monteirotr@epsnj.org