Middle School Electives
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Coding Fundamentals/Principals (One Term)
Learn the basic building blocks of coding using HTML to create a web page and use the in-course Python Guided Activity to try your hand at programming with Python. You’ll learn how to use functions and loops to write small programs and create basic graphics. In addition, you will learn about career opportunities in the coding field. This course will give you the experience you need to begin coding on your own, and it will get you ready to take more advanced coding courses in the future! Comprehensive PE Grade 7/8 (One Term)
Description:
Team sports, extreme sports, and outdoor sports are among the types of activities students learn about and participate in during this course! This interactive, highly animated course helps students learn safety rules for exercise, how to improve skills, and how to establish and accomplish goals. It also provides an overview of many dual, team, extreme, and outdoor sports.
Students have the opportunity to earn a national award by participating in the Presidential Fitness Challenge. Practicing game strategy to improve the chance of winning in competition, improving sport skill and performance, diversity in sports, nutrition, peer pressure, and making good choices balance out the topics students discover in this course. Fitness logs help students monitor physical activities. Students complete projects that lead to the knowledge, skills, and values they need to implement and maintain a physically active lifestyle.
Course Assessment and Participation Requirements:
To achieve success, students are expected to submit work weekly. Students can learn at their own pace; however, “any pace” still means that students must make progress in the course every week. To measure learning, students complete self-checks, practice lessons, multiple choice questions, projects, Discussion-Based Assessments, and discussions. Students are expected to maintain regular contact with teachers. When teachers, students, and parents work together, students are successful.
Critical Thinking Problems Solving & Learning Strategies A/B (Two Terms)
Gain strategies to find important information quickly, transfer it to long-term memory, and perform better on assignments and tests. You will learn to become a more efficient learner, find balance, and prioritize goals. Digital Art and Design A/B (Two Terms)
Part A: Students will be introduced to everything from advertising and animation
to photography and art. Students will learn about the evolution of art, the
basic principles of art and design, and the fundamentals of photography.
In addition, the student will begin to develop creative tendencies to start
viewing art through this lens.Part B: Building on the prior prerequisite course, students will be required to
discern various types of animation, understand the use of sound and music
as art, and the role of art in politics and society. Once completed, the
successful student will develop his or her own digital art to start building
a portfolio.Exploring 2-D Studio Art A/B (Two Terms)
Part A: In this introduction to 2D Studio Art, students will learn how to bring art
visions to life and harness creative possibilities. Students will be required
to understand the principles of design, the use of tools and color, as well as
understand the influence of world art and culture. The successful student
will enhance their understanding of art and its role in the world.Part B: Building on the prior prerequisite course, the student will delve deeper into
the world of art. The student will harness their creativity by exploring art
themes throughout history, learning the techniques of critiquing art, and
understanding how museums contribute to a greater cultural understanding.
In addition, the student will learn of particular artistic career paths and how
to proceed.
Fitness 6 (One Term)Description:
Each community is full of fitness opportunities that enable students to achieve new levels of fitness through sports, dance, aquatics, and more! This course provides a foundation of knowledge, skills, and values students need to develop a physically active lifestyle. A friendly cast of course characters helps guide and enhance each student’s experience. Knowledge about safety rules for exercise, how to improve sports skills, how different activities target different body parts, and how to set a goal are all part of student learning and participation. Activity choices are plentiful, leading to a healthy and physically active lifestyle.
The Presidential Fitness Challenge encourages students to perform their best with a chance to earn the Presidential Fitness award. Students keep a log of physical fitness activities while they explore topics such as diversity in sports, nutrition, peer pressure, and making good choices. A few PE projects deepen students’ understanding of individual health and skill-related fitness, and the world as it relates to games and sports. Students choose various activities to reach goals they may have only dreamed about!
Course Assessment and Participation Requirements:
To achieve success, students are expected to submit work weekly. Students can learn at their own pace; however, “any pace” still means that students must make progress in the course every week. To measure learning, students complete self-checks, practice lessons, multiple choice questions, projects, discussion-based assessments, and discussions. Students are expected to maintain regular contact with teachers. When teachers, students, and parents work together, students are successful.
Journalism 1 A/B (Two Terms)
Part A: Are you someone who likes to get the story straight? Do you always want
to know more? Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Journalism
provides us with the answers to these questions. The skill of a true
journalist is knowing how to find these key facts and being able to write
them up in a way that makes it easy for others to read. In Middle School
Journalism 1a: Introduction, you’ll learn the elements of a good news
story, how to gather credible information, and how to organize that
information into a newsworthy article that others will want to read.Part B: Take your journalistic knowledge to the next level in Middle School
Journalism 1b: Tell Your Story. In this course, you will learn how to
format stories for different forms of news media, including print and on-air
news, and how to edit articles or newscasts for publication. You will also
explore law and ethics in the media as well as first amendment rights for
journalists. This course will also examine the historical development of
journalism, the role of journalism and the media in society, and how the
internet has dramatically changed the industry as we’ve always known it.
you do it!Photography 1 A/B (Two Terms)
Part A: What do you think makes a photograph great? Do you want to take fun,
interesting photographs of people, places, and pets to post for your friends
or hang on your wall? Photo images are everywhere today. Sometimes we
see hundreds in one day. But it’s obvious that not all photographs are the
same. In Middle School Photography 1a: Introduction, you’ll learn how to
take those excellent, jaw-dropping photographs that you see in magazines
and on your favorite social media sites. Learn the basics of using a camera,
the elements of composition, and how to avoid common
photography mistakes.Part B: Photographs play an important role in our world today. We photograph
to preserve memories, document events, and create artistic works. For
those looking to build on the basics of photography, consider Middle
School Photography 1b: Drawing with Light. In this course, you will
learn what it takes to create a good photograph and how to improve your
photography of animals, people, and even your vacations. You will also
begin manipulating your photographs using photo-editing software.
Through a variety of assigned projects, you’ll engage your creativity by
photographing a range of subjects and learning to see the world through
the lens of your cameras. Once you get the hang of this process, you’ll be
taking photos that will amaze your friends and have them wondering how
you do it!
