The Legacy Approach to Arts, Technology and Enrichment

Legacy offers enrichment classes in art, music, physical education, Spanish, computer technology, library usage and Bible study. We consider these “extras” as necessary to providing a well-rounded education that is not offered in most schools today. Legacy features a state-of-the-art computer lab and a science lab for student inquiry and active investigation. Our P.E. program emphasizes physical fitness and the skills needed to play team and individual sports.

Art

The emphasis in Legacy's art studio is creativity, technique, and style. Students learn and use the elements of art and the principles of design through a wide variety of books, slides, and prints. This helps students to develop a critical and historical appreciation of art. Students also study the techniques and styles of master artists (e.g., Van Gogh, O'Keeffe) and replicate them in personal creations. Students use varied art media, including watercolors, tempera, oil pastels, charcoal, pencil, and acrylics. Students also fire clay pieces in the classroom kiln and paint their final products.

In middle school, art courses address the five major components of the California State Content Standards: artistic perception, creative expression, historical and cultural content, aesthetic valuing, and connection and applications.

Music

Legacy provides a well-rounded music program encompassing instruction in theory, vocal music, beginning instrumental music, and music appreciation. Students learn to read, write, and perform simple melodic and rhythmic notations. They identify and describe music forms. Names and works of famous composers (e.g., Mozart, Vivaldi, Bernstein, Gershwin) are introduced according to musical style and era.

All students perform in at least one vocal music production per year. Students play the recorder in third grade, the xylophone in fourth grade, and the piano/keyboard in fifth and sixth grade. In 4th-6th grades, students write and perform their own musical compositions. Middle schoolers may participate in band and choir.

Spanish

Beginning in kindergarten, students learn Spanish with songs, games, props, costumes, and toys. By third grade, Spanish is taught by the immersion method where students hear mostly Spanish spoken by their teacher during class time. Students learn vocabulary through themes such as the calendar, likes and dislikes, food, school, and sports. They become familiar with regular and select irregular verbs, idiomatic expressions, and grammar rules that enable students to write in the present, past, and future tenses. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are emphasized.

In the upper grades, Legacy students perform speeches in Spanish, write to and translate letters from pen pals in a Spanish-speaking country, and study geography and cultures of the Spanish-speaking world. In middle school, students will meet two to three times per week to write and speak more fluently in Spanish. Verb conjugations and accurate sentence structure are emphasized.

Computer

Legacy's up-to-date computer lab and comprehensive computer curriculum provide students with the skills to use computers for a variety of purposes. Classroom projects incorporate the use of desktop publishing, word processing, graphics, digital imagery, spreadsheets, power point presentation, and computer networking. Students learn to use the Internet safely for research, topical interests, and communication. Keyboarding skills are directly taught and practiced so students gain accuracy and speed each year.

In each grade, students learn about the function of a computer's hardware and software. In sixth grade, students actually build a computer from its components. Middle school computer classes include computer animation, computer-assisted drafting, and introduction to digital film making.

Physical Education

The Legacy PE program focuses on physical fitness, movement, balance, cooperation, and skills needed for individual and team sports. In the primary grades, students learn locomotor (e.g., running, skipping, hopping, galloping) and non-locomotor (e.g., bending, twisting, stretching) skills that enable them to move with control in their environment.

Students at this level also gain ability in catching, throwing, and striking balls. In the upper grades, students refine skills needed in sports such as football, volleyball, basketball, and soccer. They also experience tennis, swimming, and ice skating units. All 1st-8th graders participate yearly in the Presidential Physical Fitness Program which assesses strength, flexibility, speed, and endurance.

Library

Legacy's library offers storytelling, reading, and literature-related activities to our youngest students in a warm and nurturing environment. Special programs such as Grandparent's Day and book fairs augment the library's resources. Students visit the library on a regular basis to learn and practice library and research skills.

Legacy's popular Accelerated Reader program motivates students to continually read books that are targeted at their reading level. Students select their own books and read at their own pace. When a book is completed, the student takes a quiz on the library's computer. If a score of 80% or better is achieved, the student moves up a reading level and chooses a new book to begin the process again. Incentives and rewards are given along the way as students steadily show improvement in their reading levels.

Bible

Besides the integration of the Bible into all subject areas, Legacy has several venues in which the Bible is formally taught:

-Daily morning devotions & prayer by the classroom teacher

-Enrichment Bible Teacher: A trained seminary instructor teaches a comprehensive view of Scripture through formal Bible lessons and Gospel presentations.

-Memorization of Bible verses

-Chapel lessons

-Missionary Focus - Students are updated weekly on the needs & prayer requests of Legacy-sponsored foreign missionaries.

Educational Field Trips

Legacy believes that active involvement enhances a student's academic, physical and social growth. Therefore, students participate in field trips and overnight educational programs. These experiences enrich Legacy's curriculum and build student interest in life-long learning. Additional fees will be collected for some field trips. Here a few examples by grade level.

-Kindergarten:

Community offices (e.g. Post Office), IMAX Theater, Fruit & Vegetable Farm

-First Grade:

Children's Science Center, Santa Barbara Zoo, Performing Arts Center

-Second Grade:

Aquarium of the Pacific, Whale Watching, Children's Science Center

-Third Grade:

William S. Hart Museum, Olvera Street (via Metrolink train), Performing Arts Center

-Fourth Grade:

Santa Barbara Mission, Sacramento/California History Trip (4 days), Gene Autry Museum

-Fifth Grade:

Revolutionary War Re-enactment, Washington DC (6 days), Reagan Library

-Sixth Grade:

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Astro Camp (5 days), Skirball Cultural Center

-Seventh Grade:

Medieval Times, Marine Biology Camp (5 days), Japanese Pavilion of LACMA

-Eighth Grade:

Historic East Coast Trip (6 days), Museum of Tolerance, Griffith Park Observatory