Special Activities

CID school children have the benefit of all of the non-academic subjects taught in regular schools plus field trips and special learning programs that vary from year to year.

ART
Creativity and self-expression are an important part of a CID education. Children learn the principles of design, discover the elements of mosaic making, explore clay processes and develop visual ideas reflective of cultural themes. Instruction is provided twice a week by an art teacher, with CID alum guest artists sometimes visiting for a project. The youngest children have art in the preschool-kindergarten discovery room. Children 6 and older have art in a specially designed art room.

MUSIC
The CID preschool-kindergarten children experience music every day, listening, responding and dancing to music, experimenting with instruments and singing a variety of songs. Attention to beat, rhythm and rhyming with music helps the preschoolers as they develop speech and language skills. Children in the CID primary department receive formal music education once a week. The focus is on listening and on developing an appreciation for all types of music.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Three- to 5-year-old children in our preschool-kindergarten take part in special classes emphasizing body coordination and creative movement. Children 6 to 12 have physical education class daily using a curriculum designed for K-5. Activities in our regulation-size gym include developmentally appropriate motor activities, physical games, learning a variety of sports and attention to sportsmanship.

COMPUTER
In our classrooms and in our computer technology center, computer instruction is provided for children 6 and older. Students learn to write and draw on the computer, seek information on the internet, send e-mail, write reports and more. Older students use the computers for class assignments or educational projects with the teachers of their other subjects. Children 3 to 5 years old also have regular access to computers, computer games and educational software. In summer 2006, a generous bequest from CID alumnus Edwin Slye (class of 1942) and help from employees of Maritz Inc. enabled CID to completely update its computer network, including computer work stations, laptops and state-of-the-art SmartBoards for use by the students and teachers.

SPECIAL ACTIVITIES
Recent CID preschool-kindergarten field trip destinations have included the Butterfly House, Grant's Farm, a pumpkin farm, the Museum of Transportation and a performance of "Sesame Street Live." Special activities have included a yearly "Simple Sensational Science Fair" and a schoolwide literacy fair and circus show. The group also hosted a St. Louis Symphony members' performance of "Tuffy the Silly Tuba," written and arranged expressly so that hearing-impaired preschoolers with hearing aids and cochlear implants could enjoy the music and narrated story.

Primary department activities have included monthly speech shows, a science fair, student musical performances of "The Gingerbread Man," "Goldilocks" and a holiday skit based on "It's a Wonderful Life," and mock trips to foreign countries the children have studied. The students participated in the Spirit of St. Louis Marathon's Read, Right and Run fitness program, visited the World Bird Sanctuary and the St. Louis Zoo, attended a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game, and received semester-long tennis instruction courtesy of volunteers from the Missouri Valley Section of the U.S. Tennis Association as well as weekly sessions learning about photography from guest professional photographer Tom Rollins. An interactive field day with employees of Nike IHM St. Charles, a visit from a St. Louis Fire Department Engine Company, ice skating and swim parties and a St. Louis Symphony children's performance featuring a back stage tour were all part of the students' experience.