703-481-2922Art Classes at RMS
Based on "Mommy It's Renoir"by Aline Wolf
“Why did adults constantly offer the cute and the mundane to the children who had the potential to savor the genuine, the finely detailed, and the truly beautiful.”
Art at RMS -Thus far
Children could savor such quality if it was a part of their everyday experience. She has developed a unique series of graduated art postcard exercises to introduce the children to artists, famous paintings, and periods of art.
Over the years the art program at RMS has grown and changed to encompass not only the artists, the famous paintings, and the art periods, but after the children experience all that, they then recreate their own versions of cave paintings, the famous Monet bridge and water lilies, Matisse’s cutouts and Picasso’s blue period, to give a few examples.
Reward the Artist in your child
The culmination of the year’s study of art is the Artist and Author Night held in June.
All of the art done by the Kindergarteners is kept in a portfolio throughout the year, and the gym is transformed into a museum in which hangs all the artwork the children have completed during the year. Parents are invited to come and tour the gallery, partake of refreshments and Hors D’oeuvres and view the works their children have created.
The Art at Elementary
The art program consists of weaving art projects into teaching elements of art such as line, shape, form, color, value, texture, and space in order to enhance children’s visual-spatial intelligence. The curriculum is to introduce different mediums such as acrylic paint, soft pastel, oil pastel, pencil drawings, ink, clay, plaster, paper, and cardboard three-dimensional forms.
The young artists will draw and paint a landscape, still life, and portraits. It is always time to express their personal ideas, their favorite character or their own favorite subject and have the unique opportunities to engage in imaginative and innovative thought and action and to develop the ability to communicate and represent their thoughts, feelings, and ideas in numerous ways.
The Art program also brings familiarity to art history. Through books and videos, the timeline of art history brings cultural awareness and focus to the different schools of painting such as Impressionism, Abstract, Pop Art, American Modern art, and more, artists who break barriers, pioneer ideas, or bring a positive message with their art. The students will learn they are part of a living and changing culture.
Testimonials
What Parents are Saying
Parent /Gaurdian on Greatschools.org
We’ve been part of the RMS community for the past 8 years, and both my children have absolutely thrived at the school (one is in kindergarten there now, and the other was there through third grade). The teachers are dedicated and caring, the schoolwork is interesting and challenging, and the specials offered are excellent (French, art, music, etc). The school truly feels like one big family, and it’s a really nurturing environment for kids of all ages and backgrounds. I especially like the cultural diversity of the school, and the fact that the teachers and staff do such a good job honoring and teaching about a wide variety of holidays and cultural practices. In reading some of the other reviews, I have to clarify that the school *has* had quite an effective COVID mitigation strategy in place. What the previous poster neglected to say is that the teacher/student COVID cases mentioned in that post were literally the only two COVID cases in the school all year. The school *did* indeed communicate those cases to the entire school via email. RMS went to great lengths, in fact, to minimize class size and create new teaching pods in favor of smaller groups when COVID first started. They also have hand sanitizer everywhere, kids wash their hands often, and all staff and students wear masks indoors. Overall, we truly love the school and feel that it’s been a great, supportive environment that’s helped both our kids become the best version of themselves from an academic, social and emotional perspective.
A review by parent on greatschool.org
My children have been at Reston Montessori (RMS) since they were only a few months old. After touring many schools in the area, from the moment we walked into RMS it was nurturing, kind, welcoming, adaptable, and have gone above and beyond for our children. The RMS teachers and staff are not only excellent and nurturing teachers but the curriculum and structure is far and above others. We have also experiencing some issues with the owner, but my children are not learning from the owner, they are learning and with teachers and their peers everyday. I would also add in the five years we have been at RMS my children have not experienced any turnover in teachers or aides in the classroom.
A Parent's review on greatschools.org
I love Reston Montessori School. The teachers have fostered a love of learning in both of my children. We have found it to be academically challenging and nurturing at the same time.