Physical
Education
.25 Physical Education elective
Course Description: The physical education program helps
students attain physical and mental well being and competencies. It is the one subject area that provides
learning in all three domains: cognitive,
affective and psychomotor. Through a
well-articulated and sequential program of lifetime sports, each student will
have the opportunity to develop and maintain a high level of physical fitness
necessary for maximum growth, development and wellness. Physical education at High School in the
Community helps every student develop movement and sports skills, a positive
self-image, positive social inter-action and problem solving techniques. It also helps foster communication skills,
promotes productive goal setting and positive attitudes which result in a
health lifestyle and a productive use of leisure time.
Creating a Small Business
.5 elective credit
Description of Course Content and Major Goals: The major goal is to introduce
students to the world of business. The
end product of the course is a business literate student who has experienced
buying and selling in the marketplace and knows how to keep good records. Although not everyone can or should be a
business owner, the experience of creating a small business can make anyone a
more valuable employee. The curriculum
can be a catalyst for economic independence and personal well being. Each student receives a $40 "seed-money"
grant to create and operate a small business.
Textbooks and Major Materials Used: How to Start
and Operate a Small Business: A Guide for the Young Entrepreneur--3
modules; Business Plan Workbook; Business Record Workbook; Entrepreneurs in
Profile; various novels about succeeding and overcoming obstacles.
Description of Major Activities and Student Projects: Field trips to businesses, a bank,
and
Homework Requirements: Homework is assigned every night. Attend flea markets that are at night or on
weekends. Students are graded every day
using a point system that includes warm-ups, class participation, written work,
supplies, and homework. Point System
33.3% Tests 33.3% Operation of Small Business 33.3%
Skills:
Students learn to negotiate; keep a ledger; prepare an income statement;
calculate break-even; calculate return on investment; read The Wall Street Journal; write memos; make sales calls; design a
simple contract; write a business plan; develop their vocabulary.
.25 elective credit
Description of Course Content and Major Goals:
Family Group is a course for
students new to High School in the Community.
The course will introduce students to the H.S.C. community, our
expectations, our history and our philosophy.
Students will receive support in Family Group for their transition into
our school. Although the course meets
for only one quarter, the Family Group teacher will continue to serve as the
faculty advisor for all ninth grade Family Group students throughout the
year. The course will address academic
issues such as scheduling, course requirements, study skills and academic
progress. In addition, the Family Group
class will provide a forum for exploring social issues, such as the diversity
of our school student body, peer relationships, decision making and
participating in the school as a community member.
Description of Major Activities and Student Projects: Students will read and discuss
articles on a range of topics related to their lives as high school
students. Primary reading material will be
selections from newspapers, magazines and Internet sites. Written responses to the reading material
will be expected each week. Two typed,
two page papers will be assigned.
Students are required to participate in 4 After School Activities
Programs as well as maintain a journal throughout the course.
Homework: Each
night students will receive a 30-minute homework assignment. These may include reading and outlining
articles, journal and paper writing, or preparing a role play for presentation
to the class.
Bike Repair
.25 elective credit
Description of Course Content and Major Goals: The major goal of the bike shop
repair project is to create a student-run and operated bike shop as a business
located at H.S.C. Students will learn how to repair bicycles, rent bikes and
market them for sale. In addition, the bike repair project will solicit old
bikes for repair, then donate them to needy
Textbooks and Major Materials Used: The Bicycle Repair
Handbook
Description of Major Activities and Student Projects: Students will learn bike repair
skills, and then given the opportunity to repair bikes for rental or earn a
free bike.
Skills:
Students will learn the mechanical skills necessary to repair bicycles and the
business skills to operate a small business: negotiate; keep a ledger; prepare an income statement; calculate
break-even; calculate return on investment; read The Wall Street Journal; write memos; make sales calls; design a
simple contract; write a business plan; develop their vocabulary.
.25 elective credit
Course description: Students aid in many aspects of
library maintenance. Duties include shelving books, checking in and out
materials, preparing and distributing overdue notices, maintaining a neat
facility, monitoring student sign-in to library media center. Students may also
be assigned to work on school website, cover books, assist
students in using the library catalogue and creating book displays. All
students must take one Accelerated Reader
quiz per term.
Students
will be responsible for all information included in the library service
handbook (posted on the website). Responsible behavior is a major component.
Only students in good academic standing may participate.
Newspaper
.25 elective credit
Course Description Students publish the school
newspaper. Special
emphasis on working independently and on deadline. Journalism
instruction from faculty advisor. Class limited to 10 students. Students
interested in joining must have proven they can work independently and with
minimal supervision.
Description of Activities and Student Projects: Students will be required to write
a variety of stories from spot news to features. They will also shoot digital photos and
download them into the computer using Photoshop, and layout the newspaper after
learning Adobe Pagemaker.
Homework Requirements:
Students work
independently and will be responsible for finishing their work on
deadline.
.25 elective credit
Course objectives: Students will experience the
process of designing and producing a video. They will learn the workings of the
camera and tripod and become comfortable with shooting. They will work in a
cooperative learning situation planning a video using
storyboards, editing video using a digital editor and ultimately produce a
video for air on public television
.25 elective credit.
This course
offers one period during the day in the library for any student who loves
history and would like to work on a project for History Day, a national
competition with an annual theme. Students may work in small groups but must
complete the project (paper, exhibit, documentary, or performance) within the eight
weeks of the term. Project must be accompanied by a lengthy annotated
bibliography. Students may take this first, second or third marking period, or
a combination of two terms, in anticipation of the competition in early April.
For more information on the competition, go to www.nationalhistoryday.org.
.5 elective credit
Course Description: This course is designed to
ease the transition from high school to college for our students. The process for getting into college has many
components: exploring different colleges, sending for information and applications,
filling out applications, signing up for the SATS, preparing for the SATS,
writing one or more essays to accompany the applications, interviews, receiving
recommendations, searching for financial aid options and generally making good
decisions. In this class, we will be
working on all of these components.
The
first part of the semester will involve preparation for the SATS; exploring
roots, prefixes, suffixes of words, and practicing with actual SATS.
Another major component of the class will be
the senior essay, which will prove useful for most applications. We will work in class on formulating general
ideas for the essay, and provide helpful feedback for the students. The writing of these essays will require
writing and rewriting of the essay, through many drafts. Writing the essay will involve
work both
in school and out of the class, with teachers available after hours for help.
This
class was developed to provide the support and structure to work on the college
process in school. Although the SAT work will be done in class, it can be
continued after class. There will be
books available in class to practice for the SAT, but students are encouraged
to also purchase their own for further study at home. We will be using the book 10 Real SATs, published by The College
Board, and available at most local bookstores, including the Yale Book Store.
It is expected that students will fill out some applications at home, on-line,
or in class. There will be a variety of
human resources available to this class, including a team of Yale students who
will be working with the students on the whole application process, as outlined
in this description.
While
there is no extra assigned “homework’, each student will be required to take
the SATS, send for college materials, work on his/her essays, fill out at least
one application, and create a college file, to earn this elective credit. It is
understood that this is a challenging time for all involved, and often
stressful. However, we hope that through collective work, it can be made less
so. Thus, fulfilling the requirements of
the class will not only earn the student his/her credit, but will also ease the
way towards the desired future. This
class is a pass/fail course, which earns .25 credit
each quarter.
Psychology
.5 elective credit
In one
quarter-long block period students will cover the standard theories in
psychology. We will explore behaviorism, personality theories, the brain and
various learning styles, the emotional, intellectual development of the human
being through the various stages of life, as well as abnormal psychology and an
overview of the most commonly used methods of dealing with psychological
issues.
Art History
.5 Art elective credit
Art History I: Egyptian, European & American Art. (No pre-requisite)
This is a survey course in Art history. The syllabus begins with the cave drawings in France , Egyptian art, Greek & Roman art and architecture and follows the development of art throughout Europe . Areas studied there include the Renaissance, Medieval & Baroque art. The modern areas studied include Romanticism, Impressionism and Modern art – of both Europe and the United States . Most of this visual art is painting, though sculpture and architecture play important roles.
• The course requires much note-taking and is demanding; quizzes are every Friday with a final exam; weekly visits to local museums; two required trips to New York City to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art .
• B-1 first marking period
• .5 Art/elective credit
Art History II: World Art and Objects (No pre-requisite, but Art History I is recommended during the first marking period)
This course will focus on the art of Asia , India , Africa (not including Egypt ), Middle & South America. Areas of art include painting, sculpture, textiles, and architecture.
• The course requires much note-taking and is demanding; quizzes are every Friday with a final exam; weekly visits to local museums; two required trips to NYC to visit the Metropolitan and Museum of Modern Art .
• B-1 second marking period