Graded Program (Grades 1-12)
ACADEMICS
We offer Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum taught by Ontario certified teachers who comprehend the correlation between positive reinforcement and success. Children of all ages will feel safe, nurtured and inspired. All academic courses promote and foster the use of emotional literacy as a means of self-articulation and autonomy.
Our academics program will be delivered with an approach toward learning that is both exciting and organic. Each one of our students works with a Personalized Program Plan (P3). Each plan outlines the most productive learning method and tools for the unique student and his/her level of programming. Components of core subjects are guided by expectations and set forth within Ministry documents although some methods from Montessori and Waldorf are used to assist the student in their quest to acheive their own personal goal.
Our teachers provide holistic lesson planning as it relates learning goals to school units and, as much as possible, to the interests, learning styles, needs and experiences of all students. All of our lesson plans are cross curiculiar intragrating dance, music, drama and visual arts into all academic programming.
Harmony advocates highlighting community experts in their field and as such shall incorporate guest teachers throughout all program levels. The program will implement many hands on lessons and school trips so students can learn by doing.
Harmony believes in the importance of fostering strong communications between the home and school environment. Such a positive relationship is beneficial to the child and builds his/her academic success and self esteem. It is our mandate to nurture these strong communications and relationships.
DANCE
From the primary to the senior learner our dance programming promotes the notion that movement is a medium of expression and the human body is an instrument. Harmony believes the art of dance should be shared. It is through informal and formal performances that students use dance to communicate their aesthetic and personal values. In accordance with Ministry documents, students experience, analyze, and comment on the performances of others while enhancing their understanding of the values of other dance artists and cultures.
DRAMA
Our studies in drama at all levels provides Harmony students with an opportunity to take on roles and to create and enter into imagined worlds. Students engage in social interaction and collaboration as they create, perform, and analyze drama within each grade objective. Our teachers assist students proficiency in listening, speaking, questioning and problem solving. Through the process of taking on roles, students develop the ability to interpret and comment on a wide range of drama works and activities appropriate to program level.
MUSIC
Harmony learners develop their awareness of the elements of music (pitch-melody, harmony, and tonality; duration-beat, metre, rhythm, and tempo; dynamics and other expressive controls; timbre; texture; and form) and apply them to create and perform works that are related to their personal interest and program level.
VISUAL ARTS
Within Harmony's visual arts courses, visual literacy expands into a broader perception-turning seeing into vision, translating reality into symbols and connections, and enhancing all other learning experiences. Our students explore expressive character of art, their personal perceptions of art works, and the elements and principles of design. Harmony visual arts teachers shall integrate core courses by showing how art works construct and record the history, values, and beliefs of various societies and cultures. It is through the wide range of art works presented at Harmony that students come to understand and appreciate the range and significance of artistic expression.
