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COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
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See “Forms” Page for a Sign-Up Sheet for these courses.
DEBATE: Monday mornings at 7:45 a.m., Learning Center. Do you like to argue? Then you might enjoy this course, which will teach you the basics of Crossfire style debate. This type of debate consists of fast-paced argument and questioning sessions. You will work in a team of two to anticipate and counteract your opponent team's thinking. You will learn logic, argumentation, and public speaking skills. A tournament will be held in January. ONLY A FEW SPOTS REMAIN. NO NEW SIGN-UPS AFTER OCTOBER 29.
SIXTH GRADE MATH OLYMPIAD: Tuesday mornings at 7:45 a.m., Learning Center. This team (limited to 35 students) meets in coaching sessions once a week from October through March, to learn math word problem-solving strategies in preparation for once-monthly tests called "meets." TRYOUT IS REQUIRED FOR THIS TEAM. TRYOUT WILL BE HELD OCTOBER 2 and OCTOBER 9. Team meetings will begin on October 16. SIGN-UPS FOR THIS GROUP ARE NOW CLOSED.
HISTORY: Wednesday mornings at 7:45 a.m., Learning Center. In this course, you will choose a topic, research, and create a product for National History Day competition. The product can be a paper, exhibit, website, performance, or documentary. This project is very time-consuming and requires a lot of effort, but will teach you research and presentation skills that will lead you to success! Many of our students have made it to the national level of this competition. See the Links page for more information on National History Day, and see the Announcements page for topic ideas that relate to this year’s topic. Meetings will begin October 3. NO NEW SIGN-UPS AFTER OCTOBER 31.
VERBAL CHALLENGE: Thursday mornings at 7:45 a.m., Learning Center. This course will prepare you to take the Verbal SAT. You will expand your vocabulary by learning new words, and learning Greek and Roman roots that will help you to guess the meaning of words you do not yet know. You will also sharpen your writing skills for taking written essays. Games and activities will help to make this course fun, but it will also require work outside of class. If you approach this course seriously, it will pay huge rewards in the future. Meetings will begin October 11. NO NEW SIGN-UPS FOR THIS CLASS.
FUTURE ENGINEERS AND ARCHITECTS: Thursday mornings at 7:45 a.m., Learning Center. This course is the training ground for the Future City competition team. You will learn basics of architectural modeling and some basic engineering principles. This class is a hands-on experience building parts and components of a city out of recyclable materials, but also consists of designing and creating a SimCity city of the future. Team members for next year’s Future City program will be chosen from this class. There will be a tryout project for this class – once you sign up, you will receive more information in December. Meetings will begin in January for those who are selected.
MATH COUNTS: Monday activity periods, Location TBA. This course consists of coaching sessions that will build skills/concepts to handle the challenging math content in the Math Counts Competition. This course will take you a step above what you thought was possible in math. Homework will be required to prepare you to compete to become a member of our school’s team. A runoff will be held in December to choose the four team members and four alternates who will represent our school at the regional contest. Once team members have been selected, coaching sessions will be expanded to 3:30-5:00 on Mondays during January, February (and part of March if we make it to State level). Meetings begin October 15.
PHILOSOPHY: Tutorials or access. Philosophy is guaranteed to be an eye-opening, thought provoking experience. You will engage in discussions about the nature of the universe and the meaning of concepts, ideas, or words that you have always taken for granted. It will make you think harder than you ever thought possible! Begins in October. 8th graders may still sign up for this course, and sign-ups are still being accepted from 7th grade Seneca or Tawasentha Teams.
SIXTH GRADE MATH: Tutorials or access. This course will take you beyond classroom math to explore topics that are above-grade level. You will learn some basic algebra, challenge your problem-solving skills, and develop a geometric eye through completing projects in origami and polyhedron-building with manipulative kits. Begins after December break.
SEVENTH GRADE MATH: Tutorials or access. This course is a projects-based, hands-on experience that will challenge and extend your present math skills. Begins after December break.
SEVENTH GRADE WRITING: Tutorials or access. This course will focus on creative writing, characters and plot. Students will create superheroes and villains and have them interact in a final scene to “save the world.” Begins in the Spring.
WRITE STUFF: (Eighth Grade). Tutorials or access. This course will focus on nonfiction writing for essay tests. Polishing grammar and writing skills can pay huge dividends on state assessment tests and other critical assessments of writing ability. The ability to write an essay is a skill that is perhaps one of the most important, to guarantee future academic success. There are still some openings in the November 26 course.
PUBLISH IT! (Eighth Grade). This course will focus on preparing and submitting student writing to online and/or print publishers. Students will learn to refine and edit their work to get it ready for a chosen teen market. Begins in the Spring.
CHESS: Thursday activity periods, beginning in November. This course involves everyone from beginner to expert, and is coached by Mr. Flynn and Mr. Szetela.
ON THE LOT: Monday mornings at 7:45 a.m., beginning in February. Students who participate in this course will write a script for a one-two minute video production, become a director as others act it out while you are filming, and finally (time allowing) edit it using desktop video editing software. There will be a class Film Festival to celebrate our work. Begins in February.
