Pottery Mini-Course

The pottery mini-course is led by Neesa and takes place in the art room. When we visited them, we witnessed a group of middle schoolers working hard on their clay creations. We interviewed a seventh grader, who taught us all about pottery. She told us that a potter’s wheel is much easier to use than your hands and adds more detail to your work. We also interviewed a sixth grader, who was busy molding a pot. She says that you should try pottery! The participants seemed to enjoy getting their hands dirty with clay.

Firekeepers Mini-Course

The Firekeepers mini-course is taught by Wendy and Noelle, and sometimes they go out to the yard for their activities. Half of the group was being assessed on making fire, but they seemed to be having lots of fun while doing it. The assessment was to prove if you were ready for being a couselor at TPS's City Country Camp this summer. For the first three days of this camp, campers learn basic survival skills at the school. For the next two days they get to go camping in the Poconos!

While half of the group was busily making fire, the other half was purifying water. They had filled two bowls with orange contaminated water, and then were using what they had learned to make it drinking fresh. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see this whole process, but they all seemed to know what they were doing!

Fairy Tale Mash-Ups

In “Fairy Tale Mash-Ups,” a mini-course led by Virginia, the class read two fairy tales, then met in groups to mash them up. The students then sat in a circle, each group sharing their stories, one line at a time while alternating groups to form a mad-lib style fairy tale. Students then had homework to edit the story the class created to make it flow better and personalize it. When finished, the students shared stories and got peer reviews. When asked why she signed up for the course, one student says it was because of her enjoyment of fairy tales and the course’s interesting description.

Greek Drama: Text to Film

In “Greek Drama: Text to Film,” a mini-course led by Emily, students are reading and studying the play “Oedipus Rex” by Sophocles. In this play, a Greek hero named Oedipus kills his father and marries his mother. In addition, students are watching film adaptations of this play. Students also discussed other tragic heroes, one student providing the example of Hercules. When asked why he signed up for the course, the student said that he had learned Greek mythology in the past and was interested in learning more, and also wanted a wide variety of types of courses.

Garage Band Workshop--Learn to Make a Drum Kit

In “ Garage Band,” led by Aaron, the class was making different pitches of Rock Music. The students were smiling and having fun with the different beats. They would be at tables and they would have their own keyboard. I asked a student why he signed up for this mini-course and that person said that they had a lot of fun with Garage Band before and they wanted to know more about it. Also, that person said that the best part is using the keyboard to make the beats. If you like rock music and making modern day beats then next year you can sign up for this fast paced mini-course.

Sight Singing Bootcamp

In “Sight Singing,” led by Shannon, the class has a big paper staff to record their pitches and they use their Music Therory books for practice. One student said that she gets a chance of interacting with other grades such as sixth grade because “you really don’t get a chance to when you're in eighth grade.” The student also said that the most fun is singing Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, and so on. This mini-course is for you if you like to sing and/or want to improve your singing.