In Harlandale ISD, an outstanding faculty of music teachers is available at every level to ensure every child develops their talents. Students are given the opportunity to develop an appreciation for music and foster their creative expression through many performance opportunities. The HISD music program offers our students an opportunity to educate their minds, stimulate their creativity, and provide them with excitement and self-discipline that will last a lifetime.

The main objective of the HISD elementary music curriculum is to instill a real love of music as well as to encourage an appreciation for the arts while providing a safe and positive learning environment. Students will experience music through imitation, exploration, labeling, creation, and improvisation by singing, speaking, moving, and instrument playing. The combination of group performances and learning through both experience and technology serves an ultimate goal of creating within each child the joy that results from understanding and creating music.

Students in music classes at the elementary level are exposed to the basic elements of music including rhythm, melody, harmony, and form. A spiral approach is used in which students continue their study of each of the basic elements in more depth as each year progresses and from grade level to grade level.

The Visual Arts offers students an outlet for creative expression, a foundation in historical and cultural awareness, and an exploration of a variety of medium. HISD roots this program in our elementary art course from which students can continue in media specific directions throughout their educational experience.

 Students in Elementary Art classes learn essential art skills such as painting, drawing, sculpting, print making, basic weaving, cutting, and pasting, in a variety of media. Additionally, the students are taught essential art knowledge such as principles of design, basic art history, cultures from various countries, and critical thinking and problem-solving skills. They will become familiar with a wide range of materials and their use in artistic pursuits and will relate their work to topical and historical events. Students also learn how to critique art projects and share their individual interpretation, thoughts and appreciation about various art works. Elementary art programs in HISD provide sequential art content and unique learning experiences at each grade level that helps students become more aware of their physical environment, extend and develop the use of the senses, and utilize inventive thinking.