KIDDO! FUNDED PROGRAMS
Kiddo! helps Mill Valley's school children reach their full potential through an impressive variety and depth of programs in Music, Dance, Art, Drama and Poetry.
KIDDO! PROGRAMS
ART
Studio-based Art in grades TK-5
Studio-based Art elective in grades 6-8
DANCE
Dance in grades TK, K, 4, and 5
POETRY
Poetry in grades 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6
DRAMA
Curriculum-integrated Performing Arts Program in grades 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8
MUSIC
General Music in grades TK-5
Additional musical ensemble electives in 5th Grade
Orchestra, Band, and Chorus electives in grades 6-8
ROBOTICS
Robotics Club for grades 6-8
TEACHER GRANTS
For innovative teaching, all school sites
MUSIC
In the music program, students listen to and perform, read and describe, create and appreciate, a multicultural variety of songs, melodies, and rhythms.
GENERAL MUSIC
All transitional kindergarten through fifth grade students attend weekly music class where they learn about the five elements of music – pitch, rhythm, expression, form and texture – building new layers of musical understanding as they progress from one grade to the next.
MUSIC ELECTIVES
Through instrumental instruction in grades 4 through 8, chorus in grades 4 and 5, and the middle school choral program, students apply what they learned in the early grades, giving performances in which they aim to master tone quality, pitch, tuning and intonation, and rhythmic and melodic perception. Students who participate in Chorus, Orchestra, Bluegrass Band, Concert Band, Guitar Ensemble or Jazz Band will have opportunities to share their skills with the community through public concerts and/or competitions.
DANCE
In the dance program, students shake, rattle, and roll as they explore the freedom of movement and develop their kinesthetic sense.Mill Valley School District provides a grade level standards-based dance unit for TK, Kindergarten, 4th and 5th grade students.
Intro to Dance starts in Transitional Kindergarten and progresses into Kindergarten where students experience an inspiring 30-session program that celebrates both "American Traditions" and "Dances Near & Far."
In 4th and 5th grades, students kick up their heels with a lively unit entitled "Dance Through the Decades". In addition to learning all sorts of new dance movements, students learn the historical context surrounding the music and dances explored.
ART
In the Visual Arts program, students learn to express themselves through drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, crafts, and photography. In addition, students consider art in terms of aesthetics, art history, and art criticism.
Kiddo! provides funding for weekly specialized art instruction for all students in every grade from TK through 8th.
In addition to providing the funds for all of our art teachers’ salaries and benefits, Kiddo! provides funding for all art supplies, materials and equipment.
For students who choose art as an elective in Middle School, instruction increases to four days a week.
Check out this virtual art gallery of student work during the 2020-21 school year.
DRAMA
In the drama program, students learn a variety of skills they can take with them off the stage, including public speaking, role playing, and self-expression.
Every school’s 2nd, 4th and 5th grade teaching team receives Kiddo! funding for a performing arts experience.
Kiddo! funds curriculum-based drama programs for all middle school core classes, including Greek Mythology in 6th grade, a Shakespeare performance in 7th grade and Word For Word in 8th grade. Kiddo! also provides financial support for the Middle School’s spring Cabaret. Kiddo! also funds the Shakespearience residency, workshop and performance for all 4th grade classrooms.
POETRY
Kiddo! provides the funding for a poetry program for all 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students. You would be surprised at the imaginative, thoughtful, and articulate ways young minds can express themselves.
Through California Poets in the Schools, a community-based poetry education program operating since 1964, tomorrow’s “laureates” will learn to create poems using various prompts. As poet and poetry teacher Karen Benke explains, “Poetry helps us peel back the layers of our lives and look at the ordinary in a way we haven’t before.” After reading poetry their children have written, parents often are surprised at their depth of emotion and complexity of ideas.
Read on, and you’ll see what we’re talking about…
MY HANDS
My hands
Can draw animals.
My hands
Can write poems.
My hands
Can do push-ups.
My hands
Can tickle
My dad.
My hands
Can climb
Mountains.
Michael, 1st grade, Strawberry Point School
Jan Bolgla, Classroom Teacher
Sasha Eakle, Poetry Teacher
LOUD AND QUIET
When a jackhammer sings its
Bone rattle song, it’s loud.
When a snake coils with icy confidence,
Poised ready to spring, it’s quiet.
When a battle drum is pounded,
Yelling a pang of fear, it’s loud.
When an entire football stadium holds its breath,
Waiting to see if the kick is good, it’s quiet.
When a fire crackles and snaps in
Burning rage, it’s loud.
When a lonely, forgotten balloon drifts
On a high blue breeze, it’s quiet.
Silence is the absence of sound,
And thus it never is.
Jesse, 6th grade, Mill Valley Middle School
Rod Septka, Classroom Teacher
Michele Rivers, Poetry Teacher
TEACHER GRANTS
Kiddo!'s Innovative Teacher Grants are awarded in support of programs that foster creative and innovative classroom teaching. Each fall, an Awards Committee comprised of one teacher from each school, a representative from the administrative council and Kiddo!, and a parent from PTA Council reviews teacher proposals and selects award recipients.
Note: The Mill Valley School District manages the academic and administrative business for each school and subject — for both District- and Kiddo!-funded teachers and programs — including curriculum development, staffing, teacher professional development, class registration, grading, etc.
For more information about the Mill Valley School District, visit them online.