Music, Drama, Art, and Film

Pacific School has a long history of commitment to the performing arts. Our arts program is supported by and only possible because of Pacific School's Parents' Club.

Music
With the support of the Pacific School Foundation, Pacific School has a long history of promoting instrumental and vocal music education. Currently, music is taught to all grade levels by Katie Hicks, and students perform small concerts.

Student Film Festival
Since 2017, Pacific School has hosted an annual student short film festival. Students are encouraged to create their own films and let their creativity shine. Documentary, stop action, fantasy, and other genres are all welcome. Films are shown to the community in a festive evening occasion. More information and films from previous years can be viewed here.

Visual Arts
Thanks to prop 28 funds, teachers can access curriculum and supplies to support classroom instruction in the visual arts. While each classroom implements art differently, most teachers include visual art in their curriculum at least weekly. Many teachers integrate art with other subject areas. For example, in fourth grade, students make salt maps as they learn about the geography of California; during their studies of the Rancho period, students make their own "diseño" land grant map; when learning about light energy, fourth graders create cyanotype "sun prints" by mixing chemicals that react with the sunlight to create negative space prints; and during creative writing about fall, students create a leaf images to compliment their writing.

Each month a different classroom displays student are projects on the front wall of the school office.

Drama
While all teachers are encouraged to incorporate drama into their classrooms, theater is especially emphasized in the third, fourth, and fifth grades.

In third grade, students participate in reader's theater weekly, practicing reading parts from scripts, which supports their reading fluency and following along. Then in the spring WEST Performing Arts supports the class in performing a larger production with memorized lines featuring a topic relevant to their social studies curriculum.

In fourth grade, students are led by their teacher to put on a class rendition of the musical "Gold Dust or Bust". The performance includes all students in various roles. In this play, students build on their "readers' theater" experiences from third grade and learn to memorize lines and choreography. Over the years, the original script has been adapted to recognize various perspectives and include students' own family connections to the gold rush. Additionally, students and family members have been known to add their musical talents by providing the background music to the songs. The process of putting on "Gold Dust or Bust" has become a fond memory for many past students. 

Building on the skills gained in third and fourth grade, the fifth grade class, again with the support of WEST Performing Arts, produces a larger theatrical production each year. Shows are made possible by the work of students and volunteers, and often incorporate technology and fiber arts in set and costume design.

A student working on the monster prop for the 2017-18 production of The Odyssey