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The general studio art curriculum focuses on creativity but with an emphasis on more ambitious projects. Utilizing techniques that are studied in seventh grade such as painting, drawing, and sculpture, students are expected to further refine their skills. Assignments will continue to encourage experimentation and invention. Projects are designed to develop a relationship between arts, culture, history, and other academic subjects.

Guitar I is an introductory level course exploring both popular and classical music. Chords and melodies are taught using a combination of tablature and standard notation.

Guitar II is a continuation of the Guitar I course that explores both popular and classical music. Chords and melodies are taught using a combination of tablature and standard notation.

Advanced Ensemble is offered to students with experience playing a musical instrument. It provides an opportunity for your musicians to perform in a small orchestral setting. Goals are to develop a cohesive musical group working to establish fundamental technique, good intonation, and a keen musical sense of performing together as a team.

Mountain Voices is a singing class where the songs are chosen from the age of great doo-wop, film songs of many decades, and contemporary hits and performs in public throughout the year. The students practice all the fundamentals of good singing: breathing deeply, staying on open vowels, maintaining good posture, memorizing lyrics and melodies, and perfecting techniques of successful performance. The goal is to have fun, achieve beautiful sounds, and learn to communicate as “one voice.”

This honors level course is for students who are mathematically and intellectually ready for a faster-paced class. Honors: Foundations of Mathematics II focuses on the development of sound critical thinking and flexible problem solving skills. In this course students will begin shifting from the concrete realm of arithmetic into the abstract area of algebra. The focus of this course is to develop genuine understanding through a blend of problem based learning and explicit instruction, where an emphasis is placed on making connections between old and new concepts. Because of the faster pace students will study properties of exponents, linear equations, congruence and similarity of geometric figures, the Pythagorean theorem and surface area and volume of geometric solids, in addition to all of the topics found in the regular section of this course. The successful completion of this course will provide students with the mathematical foundation needed to take Algebra I in the fall.

In the seventh grade history course, Early United States History, students begin their study of the principles and guidelines on which this nation was founded and built. A main goal is for the students to view American history as not just a series of events, but also to understand their causes and consequences in the development of the United States. Through outlines, quizzes, tests and a term paper, this course also emphasizes the development of reading, note-taking, writing, research and other organizational skills.

The text for this course is America: Pathways to the Present. The class begins with an introductory review of several important skills: map use, note-taking, outlining and how to read a text. This is followed by a brief look at the native peoples of North America and the Age of Exploration. The term concludes with a study of European colonization, with a particular focus on the English colonies.

In the winter the students examine life in the thirteen English colonies, the breakdown of British/colonial relations, and the American Revolution. Winter term concludes with the development of the independent American government, and in-depth study of the Constitution.

The spring term begins with a study of the growing young nation, the strengthening of the federal government, and the expansion of democracy during the Jacksonian period. Much of the middle part of this term is devoted to research and writing of a term paper as the class studies the westward expansion, the Mexican War, and the problems of maintaining the balance between the North and South. The year concludes with a study of the Civil War.

Advanced Chinese is mainly designed to advance heritage learners’ reading and writing skills. It also helps students to polish their pronunciation in the standard dialect of Chinese. The course aims to develop heritage learners’ reading and writing proficiency to be as fluent as their listening and speaking level. The course also coaches students to gradually be independent learners in their Chinese studies through the method of “read, reflect, and write”. The selection of the content is based on students’ background, interests, and needs. Moreover, one of the goals is to guide heritage learners as they seek out their cultural roots and deepen their personal, cultural experience in China.

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