Unique to the Los Altos School District (LASD), the Art Docent program teaches your child to explore art through appreciation and participation.
Art develops visual literacy - the ability to interpret, use, appreciate, and create using both conventional and 21st-century media in ways that advance thinking, decision making, communication, and learning. 
   

Los Altos Art Docents are 88 dedicated, trained volunteers who teach TK through 6th-grade students in the Los Altos School District, led by an Art Docent Coordinator, Art Docent Clerk, and a 12-member Board of Directors.

• Over 85 art lessons taught in every elementary school classroom 4-9 times a year
• Each lesson integrates with classroom learning and STEM activities
• Students show their work at the Spring Art Show

Art Docent lessons cover a variety of art media and build on each other from year to year. Discussion and application of the art elements are woven throughout the curriculum, such that by the end of sixth grade, students have:

• Gained an appreciation for fine art
• Learned basic art vocabulary
• Participated in the process of creating their own individual works of art

Examples of Art Mediums and Techniques Explored by Students

• Clay – Clay lessons are offered for every grade as few art mediums kindle growth and skills in children in the way that clay does. Hand-building techniques for pinch pots, slab and sculpting are used to make figures, tiles and containers.
• Cut Paper – Cutting, folding, tearing, layering are all utilized in the art of cut paper to create of one, two or three-dimensional objects.
• Printmaking – Fine art printmaking involves the creation of a master plate from which multiple images are made.  Students work with many different printing materials and ink to create their prints.
• Drawing – Drawing not only provides the basis for other creative activities but it provides a direct link with reading, writing and math.  Line, texture, shape, contour, observation, fantasy, proportion and perspective are all scaffolded throughout the Art Docent lessons.
• Painting – Students explore color theory, various painting styles and brush techniques in watercolor and acrylic paints using artists quality paints and paper.

Continuing to Evolve       
The Art Docent Curriculum Committee is constantly soliciting feedback from teachers and docents and adapting their current lessons to best meet the needs of students at every grade level. Here are the seven new lessons developed for the 2019-20 school year:

1. Drawing Animals - Kindergarteners will experiment with line and shape to create their own scribble dogs, fat pigs and colorful lions
2. Family - 1st Graders will focus on drawing family or community members using crayon resist and watercolor
3. California Confections - 4th Graders will explore how California artist Wayne Thiebaud uses color, light and shadow in his work before painting a cake in his style.
4. Dreamscape - 4th Graders will create a mixed-media fantasy dreamscape collage.
5. Human Form - 4th Graders will learn how to use proportion and basic anatomy to draw a standing figure and then reposition to create gesture and movement.
6. Art That Speaks - Working with simple materials in a free format, 5th graders will create a paper collage as a form of self-expression.
7. Radial Printmaking - 5th graders learn collagraph printmaking techniques by bluing foam shapes to cardboard using Native American Motifs which will be printed in a radial pattern   

Learn more about the Los Altos Art Docent Program and help LAEF fund art education for the 2019-20 school year.