At PS 316, the arts are not an afterthought. Our curriculum incorporates daily visual arts, music, theater, dance, and poetry programs in classrooms and in specialized cluster classes.

All students attend regular music classes, which use the Music & the Brain program that links early music instruction and cognitive ability. Students learn to play keyboards, sing, and read music while exploring a variety of multicultural children’s songs.

All students attend regular drama classes that focus on role playing, empathy, communication, and public speaking through games and imaginative play. Every grade performs at least one musical or play each year.

All students attend regular art classes that explore great works of art via Visual Thinking Strategies. Students also work to incorporate elements of the studio art tradition into original compositions. 

In addition to programs with our talented arts faculty, PS 316 enthusiastically partners with these organizations for in-house residencies:

• Community Word Project 1st graders create Community Poems, discovering that creative writing is a powerful tool for processing complex emotions. Students then refine their writing skills and draw on personal experiences to compose individual poems. They also incorporate words into visual arts like drawing and painting. The program culminates in a performance, and each student receives a professionally printed anthology of their work to share, experiencing the pride of being a published author.
• Alvin Ailey Dance Residency 2nd and 3rd graders enjoy a lecture/demonstration assembly followed by a concentrated study of a dance technique in twice/weekly sessions for 8 weeks. They share their progress in a final performance and receive tickets to see Ailey II perform.
• CUNY Student Shakespeare Festival 4th graders create their own work of original theater while exploring the power, beauty, and universal themes of Shakespeare's texts. The project culminates in a student performance of their work on an off-Broadway stage! Includes professional development for teachers and resource materials supporting NYC and NYS Arts and ELA standards.
• 826NYC Young Writers Publish 5th grade classrooms transform into writing labs as students craft creative, meaningful works on a collaborative theme. The final project is professionally printed, rendering the students published authors with all the bragging rights that entails.
• After-school music classes. Current instrumental offerings are drums, steel pan drums, and violin. Each student has lessons twice a week for the school year, culminating in a showcase performance. There are currently 30 students who would like to enroll in music but are not able to afford the $500 fee for the year ($300 for the remainder of the school year).