Pre-School Art Classes 

Early childhood is an important time for children to be exposed to art media, techniques and processes. Art courses help develop children's cognitive, affective and sensorimotor domains. At Big Picture, pre-school art courses are have four main goals: introduce the children to art media, establish simple routines for best practice, build a foundation of basic art vocabulary and knowledge, and work cooperatively and collaboratively with the teacher and classmates. New curriculum is covered and new projects are created each month.

Introduction to Art Media: Each of the four sessions that are part of a course will focus on a different process, allowing the students to experiement with a variety of media: Painting, Sculpting, Drawing and Printmaking or Collage. Students will work with media such as Acrylic Paint, Watercolors, Clay, Paper Mâché, Wax Crayons, Oil Crayons, Markers, Ink, Paper and Glue. This intruction to art media will help students begin to understand how each media works and responds to their manipulations. 

Establish Simple Routines for Best Practice: Students will be taught and given the opportunity to practice set-up and clean up routines and how to use and care for materials and artwork. 

Build A Foundation of Basic Art Vocabulary and Knowledge: The Pre-School Courses will introduce students to the Elements of Art (Shape, Line, Color, Form, Value, Texture and Space) and Principles of Design (Pattern, Balance, Unity, Rhythm, Movement, Contrast and Emphasis). Students will learn the names of media and processes as well as some key artists.

Work Cooperatively and Collaboratively with Teacher and Classmates: Pre-School arts classes provide students with a great opportunity to practice working with others in a social environment. Students will be sharing materials, talking about art together and setting up and cleaning up their art spaces together.

Tuition

Pre-School courses are open to students ages three - five years and are capped at just six students. This ensures that the teacher is able to be very attentive to each student. Each session is an hour long and each course includes four sessions. Parents may drop off students and come back at the end of the course, or they are welcome to stay and work with their child.  

Tuition:

Sign up for a full school year with auto-debit and receive a $49 discount. To take advantage of this option, monthly tuition payments will be automatically drawn on the 15th of each month.

The total for tuition will be split into 9 equal payments. The first payment will be made online at the time of registration. The remaining 8 payments will be auto-debited on the 15th of each month, October - May. The total tuition for 9 months is $544, $495 with discount. Monthly payments will be $55.

To Enroll in this option, select FULL YEAR from the drop down menu. The first payment will be made at this time. Subsequent payments will be made through auto debit. Please complete this AUTO DEBIT FORM and return to the studio (forms are also available at the studio).

Choosing this option is a school -year commitment, with a break during Winter and Spring Breaks. Cancellations will only be made in the case of illness (with a doctor’s note), moving or family emergency.

SEMESTER - FALL (3.5 Months)/ SPRING (5 Months)
Sign up for 5 monthly sessions at a time and receive a $25 discount, sign up for 3 monthly sessions at a time and receive a $18 discount! Choose the Fall Semester or Spring Semester option in the scroll down menu when registering.

MONTHLY
Monthly tuition is $64, this includes four 60-minute classes, all supplies included
*Fall Session 3 (Nov - Early December is a 6-week session)

Class Offerings

*To register select session and time and click the yellow registration button. After completing the registration form or forms (for multiple classes) please click the cart icon in the upper right corner. You will receive an email confirming your registration.

Studio Policies

COURSE MAKE-UP POLICY:
Students will be allowed to make-up missed classes under the following circumstances:

1) The student was ill, and the studio was informed via email, text or voicemail prior to their scheduled class

2) The absence and make-up time were pre-arranged with the studio before the date of the missed class

EARLY/ LATE ARRIVAL POLICY
In order to provide the best programming possible for all of our students, we ask that students arrive on time.

If you are more than 10 minutes late we ask that you not attend that class, as instruction and demonstration will be underway and accommodating late students will be disruptive to the environment.

If you know in advance you are going to be more than 10 minutes late (for example a dentist/ doctor appointment) please discuss this with an instructor prior to the class date and we will arrange a make-up time.

Our schedule is structured with a 15 minute break between classes, this break allows our instructors to do the work necessary to transition from class to class. We ask that students do not arrive for class more than 5 minutes before their scheduled class time. Should they need to arrive early due to transportation needs, we ask that they sit quietly in the orange chairs at the front, or at the front drawing table. They are welcome to draw with the paper and markers provided while they are waiting for their class to begin.

SEVERE WEATHER CANCELATION POLICY:
If the Iowa City Community School District cancels classes or has an early dismissal, for the safety of our studio families the studio will be closed. We will do our best to ensure that make-up times are offered. We will do our best to accommodate make-up sessions if we cancel due to weather, but can not guarantee this.