PS 316 Celebrates the Arts!

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).

Your generous support will allow us to continue to fund our arts programming throughout the year. Join us to celebrate the fruits of your generosity...

Come see one of our 5 drama performances!

Hear our musicians at the Spring Recital!

Purchase original artwork at the Spring Arts Fair!

See our 2nd and 3rd graders perform Alvin Ailey-inspired dance, and our 4th graders perform their original play based on Shakespeare!

Be inspired and probably amused by our writers' printed work in the 1st grade Community Word book and the 5th grade 826NYC essay collection!

P.S. 316 Elijah G Stroud Elementary School is the only certified International Baccalaureate public school in Brooklyn's District 17.  We emphasize learning through a comprehensive academic and arts-based curriculum that values the development of the whole child. Our 575 students reflect the diversity and vibrancy of the surrounding community of Crown Heights, as well as the greater school district.

Recent shifts in demographics - some pandemic-related - resulted in a $300,000 reduction in federal funding for our school. In order to maintain our robust arts programs while keeping staffing levels high, we must turn to our community. This fundraising appeal will directly support the music, theater, dance, art and writing programs that serve every grade in our school.

Arts education allows students to grow and shine in ways that supplement traditional academic subjects. By engaging with meaningful opportunities to find, develop and express their voices through the arts, kids learn how to inhabit the entirety of their selves. Kids who struggle academically can discover they're stars in creative realms. And children who are still regaining skills after several years of pandemic-imposed disruption find new ways to collaborate through the arts. Their social-emotional learning blossoms in an environment that nurtures thoughtful observation and brave expression.

Our students come from a wide range of backgrounds and economic circumstances. By offering robust opportunities in the arts, we ensure that every child at our school can experience the metamorphosis of self-discovery and the thrill of collaborative creativity.

And the arts are fun!