#ARTS AND LETTERS DAILY LIST FULL#
Opened as a middle school in 2006, Arts & Letters was set up to serve grades 6-12, but in 2011 it changed course and began admitting kindergarten and 1st-graders as the first step to becoming a full k-8 school by September 2015 with about 500 students.
Sixth-graders took a walking tour of neighborhood brownstones and made clay sculptures of what they saw. "They encourage them to go deeper with their ideas, even at kindergarten," a parent said, citing trips to Fort Greene Park for lessons encompassing science, social studies and art. To build connections to the city, students take frequent field trips. There is an emphasis on small group work and discussion in classes, rather than test prep or worksheets. Arts & Letters was chosen by the Department of Education to share with other schools its strategies for fostering student voice, independence and "thinking and wondering," Principal John O'Reilly said. Parents, community members and educators are invited to attend twice-annual presentations of student work-called Roundtables-and ask probing questions and give feedback. The Academy of Arts & Letters, an unzoned k-8 school in Fort Greene with two classes per grade, infuses the arts into its curriculum and fosters personal responsibility and caring for others.Įach school day begins with a meeting: the entire middle school in the gym, and the lower school students in their classrooms.
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