Electives & Exploratories

GRADE 6 EXPLORATORY WHEEL Program Concept

All students who enter the AISJ Middle School at Grade 6 are introduced to four exploratory experiences in their first year - Health, Choir, Design Technology, and Art Exploration.  Each exploratory is eight weeks in length.  These are non-graded classes and students are only assessed on their Approaches to Learning (ATLs).  The Exploratory experience ensures that individuals who make a commitment to the study of a World Language and a full-year performing arts elective in Grade 6 will still share in similar experiences that may focus their elective interests in Grades 7 or 8.

Year-Long Courses: 
Performing Arts
Grade 6: Band 
Grade 7: Band 
Grade 8: Band
Theatre 6: Theatre Exploration
 
World Language

Spanish 1
Spanish 2
Spanish 3
French 1
French 2
French 3                                              

TRIMESTER COURSES:

Performing Arts
Grade 7: Choir
Grade 8: Choir
Grade 7: Theatre for Young Audiences
Grade 7:  Prop, Costume, & Set Design
Grade 8:  Tech Theatre:  The MS Play
Grade 8:  Devised Theater
 
Visual Arts

Grade 7: Drawing

Grade 7:  Design Through Color
Grade 7: Painting
Grade 7: Ceramics
Grade 7: Fiber Arts
Grade 7: Mixed Media

Grade 7:  Open Studio

 
Grade 8 : Painting
Grade 8: Drawing
Grade 8: Sculpture
Grade 8: Mixed Media
Grade 8 :  Photography
Grade 8:  Open Studio
Grade 8:  Environmental Art
 
Information Technology


Grade 7: Design, Code Create, & Play

Design Technology

Grade 7: Design Technology
Grade 7:  Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto - Robotics
Grade 7:  The Sixth Sense - Electronics
Grade 8: Design Technology
Grade 8: Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto- Robotics
Grade 8:  The Sixth Sense -Electronics

Grade 8:   Design Tech Open Studio

Other Electives:
Home Economics - Grade  8

Home Economics is a course designed to equip students with a useful range of skills that can be transferred to their daily lives at school, home, and in their community. We will focus on various aspects of homemaking including sewing, darning, menu planning, nutrition, cooking, baking, household DIY, and sustainability. Home Economics aims to help students learn skills that will enable them to develop and maintain healthy habits, be more productive members of their families and communities, and lead more sustainable lives in response to our current environmental needs.

Length of Course: One Trimester

 
Grade 6 SCIENCE IN ACTION - TENTATIVE 

Have you ever wondered how many licks it would take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?  Have you ever wanted to build a time machine?  Have you ever thought about creating a trap for your little brother or sister and seeing how long you could keep them quiet?  Or, have you ever wondered about the effect of amount of coffee on your dad’s mood in the morning?  If you answered yes to any of these questions then the Science in Action (SIA) Elective if for you.  The SIA will offer you an opportunity to complete and showcase a scientific investigation that YOU have chosen.  The SIA allows you to pursue an area of interest and to see how science actually works.  You will be allowed to choose one of two options for this elective. You can choose an Experiment (what effect does one variable have on another variable) or a “Build-It” project (such as make a motor, build a hovercraft, etc.). Other important skills to be included in this project are:

  • How to plan and organize a large project
  • How to define, seek, gather, and effectively use information
  • How to communicate learning in the written, oral and digital forms

Our hope is that you will see that science is a process that is constantly changing improving and that anyone can be a scientist!



Length of Course:  One Trimester

**Prerequisites course required