The Arts
The arts make life better.
The arts are highly valued at Tampa Bay International School. The arts are taught at our school both in separate classes, and woven into core academic classes.
TBIS students attend music classes twice each week. Movement, dance and song are key components of music class for our youngest learners. Their classes have granted them the opportunity to play a number of instruments, among them the violin, ukulele and steel drums. After school classes, offered at various times throughout the school year, provide added instrument practice.
Our older students hone their musical skills in their Rock Band, Bad Poncho, which meets twice weekly during the school day for practice and song writing sessions. Bad Poncho has performed in concerts both in and outside of school.
Why do we value the arts? Because research shows that:
The arts improve school readiness for young children.
The arts increase creativity, critical thinking skills, tolerance, and empathy.
The arts aid in brain development and rewiring in positive ways and produce other biological benefits.
Our visual arts program continues to grow. At our international school, students often take part in studies of a diverse group of visual artists from all over the world, from Jean Michel Basquiat, of Puerto Rican and Haitian descent, to Israeli artist, Menashe Kadishman, to Prince Twins Seven Seven of Nigeria. After learning about the lives of each artist and viewing their work, TBIS students try their hand at emulating the style of the artist they have studied.
In 2023, Tampa Bay International School was proud to display an exhibition of our students’ artwork at the Mirella Cimato Gallery at the St. Pete Opera House.
TBIS students have honed their acting skills in a number of ways. In 2022, a group of TBIS students spent a full school year writing, producing and creating a short film Superheroes Versus Supervillains!. In 2023, students participated in a performance class that incorporated improv, various acting training exercises, and led to the successful performance of a comedic play enjoyed by our community at the school year’s conclusion.
In our core academic classes, we weave the arts into our teaching whenever we can. Children dramatize stories they are reading in Reader’s Theatre. They design their dream bedrooms in a geometry unit on area and perimeter. They create detailed drawings in science journals and write songs to memorize multiplication tables.
We value the arts because they permit children to display their creativity, explore their passions, and speak out for what they believe in. The arts can be a comforting, therapeutic outlet for children. The arts add beauty to the world and enhance our lives.