Special ProgramsArts and Music
Visual arts are incorporated into each class's curriculum on a daily basis. The school's staff and parents include a number of professional and amateur visual artists who work with the students in a variety of ways to provide a solid foundation in visual arts to all students. Students in the middle school can delve more deeply into the visual art of their choice through exploratories. [Take our 2006 art tour] Performing ArtsStudents at Linscott are given annual opportunities to engage in performing arts. Each year the community plans and performs a school-wide production. The students all play a part in the production and it is performed for parents and the community at large. Last year's production, Scenes from Shakespeare, was a series of Shakespearian vignettes performed by each class. It was presented at the Henry Mello Performing Arts Center. Other opportunities for performance are the drama exploratory for grades 6-8, the curriculum related classroom plays and poetry exhibitions related to the River Of Words program. 
Physical EducationThe Linscott P.E. program emphasizes skill building and cooperation. K-5 instructor Mark Damiani is a regular participant in an annual workshop that stresses the importance of individual improvement and team work. Students in grades 6-8, working with teacher Jim Toumey, learn skills in such sports as soccer, tennis, volleyball, and track. They also have opportunities in their exploratory classes to take part in swimming, hiking or horsemanship. All P.E. is structured around California's Physical Education Standards and grades 5 and 7 participate in the annual P.E. testing program. ExploratoriesChildren in the middle school, grades six through eight, are ready for the sort of hands-on experience that adults practicing a discipline can provide. Our parent community is incredibly diverse and talented, and they offer exploratories in a variety of disciplines. When the students have an interest and we can't find a knowledgeable parent, we hire professionals in the field. Our exploratories offer the students a way to study something in depth with an adult who practices that discipline in the real world. Examples of recent exploratories include website design, swimming, drama, band, robotics, small business skills, and cooking. 
Field TripsWe love our school, and we love to leave it! Kids at Linscott get to apply what they have learned to the outside world, and they bring back from the outside world experiences and observations that inform their studies. Each Linscott classroom takes field trips related to their studies and their student group. Some of the classes have yearly field trips that provide a focus for the year's studies, such as the eighth grade's yearly trip to the Catalina Island Marine Institute. Please visit individual classroom pages for more information about the field trips they take. Wellness: Health and NutritionLinscott recognizes that there is a link between nutrition education, the food served in school, physical activity, and environmental education, and that wellness is affected by all of these. Linscott also recognizes the important connection between a healthy diet and a student's ability to learn effectively and achieve high standards in school. Each classroom focusses on wellness in these various ways, working health and nutrition into the curriculum through science, gardening, cooking, and other activities. All children at Linscott participate in Physical Education. [Download the SMT Wellness Position - pdf] GardeningLinscott installed a new and gorgeous garden on our West Playground in 2006. All the classrooms grow food and flowers as part of their curriculum. Many classes take part in the Life Lab Science Program. Resource Specialist ProgramThe Resource Specialist Program is part of the Pajaro Unified School District Special Education Local Planning Area (SELPA), serving students with learning disabilities. Students qualify for extra assistance by having a significant discrepancy between academic achievement and their intelligence potential. This process of identifying students with learning disabilities involves parents, psychologists, resource specialists, nurses, speech therapists, and other professionals as needed. Linscott School provides an on-site program with dedicated staff. River of Words
CONGRATULATIONS! We are so proud of all the students who have participated in our River of Words over this past year and are so thrilled to announce that the River of Words Grand Prize winner in 2007 was our very own Jakob Langholz. Jakob traveled to Washington D.C. with Linda Cover to receive his award! Learn more about Jakob and 2007's finalists. Enriching ActivitiesStudents at Linscott take part in a variety of other enriching activities in their classrooms as well as with the entire school. Some of the schoolwide activities we take part in are:
|
The Linscott community places a high value on music as part of our student's educational experience. Ensuring the availability of a music program is a high priority for fundraising and students of all grade levels receive opportunities to participate in a music program. In grades K-5 students take part in a structured music class twice weekly. Instruction includes ear training, music theory, rhythmic and melodic notation, singing and movement. Students explore the larger world and culture of music through exposure to a broad range of musical styles. The lives and works of master classical composers are woven through the curriculum of all grades. Lower grade classes create percussion ensembles on a weekly basis while Grades 4 and 5 study the recorder. The music program for grades 6-8 is part of the Exploratory program where band is offered to interested students. Classes in choral ensemble, drumming and world rhythm dancing have also been included when there has been interest.
Led by a former Linscott parent, the students at Linscott participate in 
