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Crazy Creatures of the Depths (1 quarter)
$130.00Instructor: Katie SotoUC a-g credit: NoIn this eight week class on Crazy, Creepy Creatures of the Seas, you will learn to identify the central ideas of a text and how those are developed. By the end of this course you will be able to analyze and support these ideas with evidence from the texts you will be reading on the odd, mysterious creatures found in the world’s oceans. Additionally we will discuss how these real life creatures influence myths and legends of monsters, mermaids, and other not-so-real life forms.. This class uses a variety of online sources to help you acquire these skills. You will need access to a computer, an email address, and the desire to learn more about what lurks at the bottom of the oceans. Project based assessments are used to determine your understanding of the course requirements. Recommended for : Grades 7, 8Add to My Courses -
Do You Like Green Eggs and Ham? Learning Figurative Language With Dr. Seuss (1 quarter)
$130.00Instructor: Jenny Slider, Kellie KontisUC a-g credit: NoAdd to My CoursesThis course uses Dr. Seuss stories to help students learn about figurative language, or words that create meaning and depth in literature. It might be easy to assume that Green Eggs and Ham and The Lorax are simple kid stories, but there's more to them! In fact, Dr. Seuss was a poet, and his wacky tales are the perfect way to help kids of any age develop thinking and writing skills. Each week we will use a different Seuss story to learn about things like symbolism, metaphor, allegory, rhyme, rhythm and much, much more. In the end, students will be able to write an essay that explores meaning in these stories and do a creative project that displays their learning. Recommended for : Grades 6, 7
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Frankly Cautionary: Fables, Fairy Tales and Fear (1 quarter)
$130.00Instructor: Jenny Slider, Kellie KontisUC a-g credit: NoIn this eight week class entitled Frankly Cautionary: Fables, Fairy Tales and Fears you will learn how to draw inferences from a text, summarize the theme or central idea, use a plot diagram to enhance your understanding, and determine examples of figurative language while reading a series of cautionary tales written by Aesop, Hans Christian Andersen, The Brothers Grimm and others. Written and Project based assessments are used to determine your understanding of the course requirements. After successfully completing this course you will earn the Frankly Cautionary Tales badge. Recommended for : Grades 6, 7Add to My Courses -
How Gods and Monsters Made the World (1 quarter)
$130.00Instructor: Jenny Slider, Kellie KontisUC a-g credit: NoAdd to My CoursesYou may know about Percy Jackson, but did you know that pretty much every culture in the world has its own version of how things came to be? That includes having their own myths, legends, gods and monsters. In this course, we will read creation stories that come from Native American culture, the Vikings, Africa, India, China, Japan, Australia and Greece. As we do that, we learn about the history and the cultures of the people who told these stories. Learning about stories and where they come from is a great way to develop reading and writing skills, and so we will be practicing how to create an argument, prove a point and identify important parts of a story. The class coursework also offers students the opportunity to learn how to research online, identify elements of plot and express themselves in a strong, articulate manner. Recommended for : Grades 7, 8
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How to go Down in History: The Greatest Speeches of all Time (1 quarter)
$130.00Instructor: Jenny Slider, Kellie KontisUC a-g credit: NoThis course covers the best speeches you may have heard in bits and pieces as famous quotes, but don’t always get to read or think about in depth. We will explore what makes words powerful, and look at the history behind some of the greatest speeches, including, but not limited to ‘I Have a Dream,’ ‘The Gettysburg Address,’ ‘Women’s Rights to Suffrage,’ ‘The Hypocrisy of American Slavery,’ John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address and Socrates’ Apology (Plato). We will also learn about the art of rhetoric (persuasive speaking or writing) and how to apply rhetorical techniques to your own speaking and writing. Recommended for : Grades 7, 8Add to My Courses -
Magical Words (1 quarter)
$130.00Instructor: Cindy MarcusUC a-g credit: NoIn this course, you will begin your adventure into the magical world of Harry Potter! This online course serves as a novel study that will explore the first book in the series: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. This online course can also serve as a novel study to support another online course: The Allusionist. Throughout our 8 weeks together we will read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as well as cover the following:Add to My Courses- understand and explain the development of a story
- analyze the word choice of an author
- character analysis
- analyze how elements within a story fit into the overall plot
- argumentative writing
- informative/ explanatory writing
- narrative writing
- compare and contrast
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Storyteller’s Roadmap (1 quarter)
$130.00Instructor: Cindy MarcusUC a-g credit: NoWelcome to the world of creative writing. Try your hand at writing a scene for a movie, a chapter in a book, a monologue in a play. Take a taste of the many many ways to express your writing-amazingness. And what you'll discover is that although these writing styles appear terribly different, they are at their core, very similar. There is one unifying thread that unites all good writing. It's called structure, and we're going to talk a lot about that. Through movies, television shows and books, we'll learn what structure is and how to use it to help us create great stories. But that's not all we'll cover. Oh no. We'll spend some time on plot, character, dialogue, setting, POV. Consider this class a creative writing sample platter. You'll get a bit of everything. By the end, you'll know so much more about yourself as a writer, and that new knowledge will inspire you to complete that wonderful story ruminating around in your head.Add to My Courses -
Strange Happenings in Short Stories (1 quarter)
$130.00Instructor: Jenny Slider, Kellie KontisUC a-g credit: NoIn this eight week class on Strange Happenings in Short Stories, you will learn to read, analyze, and respond to a theme in literature academically. As you read these stories of strange happenings in the future, you will demonstrate your understanding of the plots and themes of various science fiction short stories by Ray Bradbury through written and project based assessments. Written assessments will emphasize a literary response using the formal aspects of essay writing. Emphasis is on the use of MLA style, literary analysis, and the formal structure of an essay. Project based assessments will give you the opportunity to show not only your understanding of the course requirements, but also your creativity and individuality. This class uses a variety of online sources to help you acquire these skills. You will need access to a computer, an email address, and the desire to learn more about how strange happenings in the realm of technology can shape your world. Recommended for : Grades 7, 8Add to My Courses -
The Making of a Hero: Myth and Adventure in The Odyssey (1 quarter)
$130.00Instructor: Jenny Slider, Kellie KontisUC a-g credit: NoAdd to My CoursesMuch of what we know about Greek myth comes from Homer's famous epic poem, The Odyssey. Anyone who is interested in gods, goddesses and heroes will love to read the original story! As we read Homer's epic, students will develop thinking and writing skills by looking at what the poem reveals about cultural values and the makings of a hero. Recommended for : Grades 7, 8
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The Master of Horror: Edgar Allan Poe (1 quarter)
$130.00Instructor: Jenny SliderUC a-g credit: NoAdd to My CoursesDo you love a good ghost story? Maybe you're addicted to suspense and mystery. If so, then this course is for you! We will use the short stories and poetry of Edgar Allan Poe to learn about where all those dark and mysterious plot elements you love come from. Students will also develop critical thinking, writing and analytical skills. We will explore elements of plot and practice creating an argument supported with evidence. We will also be doing some research on Poe and the time he lived, and as part of that research, students will learn how to evaluate sources and extract important information. Recommended for : Grades 6, 7
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Wordsmith Workshop! (1 quarter)
$130.00Instructor: Cindy MarcusUC a-g credit: NoWelcome to Wordsmith Workshop! For this project, we will be focusing on the following driving question: How do I develop better literacy? In this course, you will begin your adventure as a writer! This online course serves as a course that focuses on the writing process and gives a small taste of what writer's must think of in order to get a story published! You will compose a short story using storybird.com that demonstrates the five elements of a story (plot, character, conflict, theme, setting) and incorporates at least two of the following literary elements: foreshadowing, flashback, symbolism, or irony. You will go through the writing process to perfect your story in order to make it into our end of the project goal: A Story Book. Throughout our 8 weeks together we will cover the following:Add to My Courses- understand and explain the development of a story
- analyze the word choice of an author
- character analysis
- analyze how elements within a story fit into the overall plot
- narrative writing
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Writing Rules! (1 quarter)
$130.00Instructor: Kerry SmithUC a-g credit: NoThis introductory writing course teaches all the essential basics of effective written expression. We learn all about brainstorming techniques, strong sentence and paragraph construction and proofreading and outlining skills. The class emphasizes the importance of logic and flow in writing and encourages learners to have fun with words! This writing class is ideal for anyone who struggles with writing and composition. This course covers the basics for grammar, sentence structure, simple paragraphs, essays and MLA formatAdd to My Courses