Electives
Each Wednesday afternoon, middle school students are privileged to meet in an elective class of their choosing. Electives enrich the core and related arts curricula and focus on creative projects, problem-solving, and higher-order thinking. Below are descriptions of some of the Electives offered recently.
Enter Stage Right
Students will learn about the history, theory, and practice of acting. From monologues to improvising when your partner misses a cue, students will learn about blocking, positioning, projecting their voice, and eventually put on plays for each other or the Video elective.
Newspaper
Students will work in the Chrome Lab to use Google Docs to create templates for newsletters and newspapers. Students will collaborate to brainstorm, investigate, write, edit, proofread, and publish articles for a school newspaper. Students will determine the name of the paper, as well as layout and distribution.
Sports Dynamic
Students will engage in intramural sports with teammates from 6th, 7th, and 8th grades and learn essential skills like strategy, sportsmanship, and cooperation.
Nature Art
Students will learn to draw plants, animals, and other nature subjects accurately and realistically using a variety of techniques in pencil, colored pencil, pen and ink, and pastel. Demonstrations, drawing exercises, individual projects, and critiques will help you depict subjects more accurately and improve your observation skills. Extra materials required: sketch book or sketch journal and kneaded eraser.
Behind The Curtain
Students will learn the skills needed to make a drama production go off without a hitch without ever going on stage. Crew skills including set design, prop logistics, scene changing, lighting, sounds, and costume designing and making will be taught in theory and with hands on experience.
Off Broadway
Students will learn and sing songs from musicals. (Think The Sound of Music).
Book Club
Students will help select a book to read and take 3-4 weeks to complete the book. During our class meetings, we will discuss the books and participate in other book related activities.