During Winter Term, our Middle Schoolers started all of their days with unique and engaging electives. Almost 30 different options were offered first thing in the morning from 8:10 to 9:05 a.m. to our fifth through eighth graders for the two weeks of Winter Term. From Taylor Swift and Dude Perfect-themed classes to games, instruments, mysteries, and puzzles, there was something for everyone to enjoy!
To select their elective, each student listed five of the opportunities that they were most interested in. Then, the Middle School team ensured that there were a few students represented from each grade level. Every student received one of their selections.
Below is the Middle School elective course list:
- Audio Design Studio
- Book It!
- Breakout Room Design
- A Brief, Fun History of the St. Louis Cardinals
- Building with Blocks
- Card Sharks
- Couch to 5K Training
- The Decorating Den
- Dungeons and Dragons
- Eras Tour Ensemble
- Football 101
- Hands Games
- Hoop Challenges
- Instrument Design
- Leadership for Student Leaders
- Learn Ukulele!
- Let’s Break Some Guinness World Records!
- Mahjong
- Mankind: The Story of All of Us
- Monopoly
- Open Art Studio
- Origami Station
- Perfecting Your Dude Perfect Shot
- Poddy Talk: Podcasts-n-School
- Puzzles and Games Unplugged
- Relax, Reset, Re-charge!
- Shorts: Let’s Watch SHORT Movies
- Wake Up with Theater Games!
- Why Knot Fish?
Some students and teachers shared a bit about their elective experiences:
“It was fun to experience new challenges with trick shots and great to hang out with different grade levels.” ~ Bryce Craig ’30, Perfecting Your Dude Perfect Shot
“I’m very proud of running nonstop for the entire time that I ran,” shared Dominic ’30 who took the Couch to 5K elective. “I liked doing the cross-training that they set up like hurdels.”
Sam Gabrielson ’29 took “A Brief, Fun History of the St. Louis Cardinals” and loved learning more about the St. Louis team through exciting, famous moments of the Cardinals players.
In the “Let’s Break Some Guinness World Records” elective taught by Middle School History Teacher Kayla Helton and Middle School English Teacher Beth Garcia, the teachers looked up feasible activies from the Guinness Book if World Records that had easily accessible materials and were something students could safely attempt if they felt like they had a chance to beat the record. “We averaged about three activities with similar themes per day, and our goal was to give them opportunities to at least beat their best score and compete against each other when beating the actual Guinness Book Record is not possible,” explains Ms. Helton. “We had one student, Avery Johnson ’29, come close in her time of stacking toilet paper rolls into a pyramid to the Guinness Book of Records time. We did not know the exact rules or specifications exactly, and when we tried to submit her name on the official website, we were told that it would take at least 12 weeks for them to consider her application to make an attempt!”
Ms. Garcia added, “I would say the highlight was our M&M chopstick challenges. Many of the students had never used chopsticks before, but they were motivated to learn how because they wanted to be able to eat M&Ms! Another highlight was our boys vs. girls competitions. The students were really invested in winning those competitions!” The elective concluded today with a Guinness World Record “Olympics” where the students competed for their team in all of the events they tried during Winter Term.
Middle School Spanish Teacher Marcela Casco-Lee oversaw many Swifties in her “Eras Tour Ensemble” elective. “It has been so fun and rewarding to bond with students (some whom I never get to see anymore!) over something we both enjoy just for the pleasure of it! Music is something that I love but I don’t get to do much of anymore and I have loved sharing that with our students,” shares Ms. Casco-Lee. “The girls come in every morning with more song requests and gather around the piano to warm up every morning (our little guitar ensemble includes a pianist and a bass player too!). It’s been insanely satisfying to show a group of girls who had never held a guitar in their hands before how with just four chords, you can play so many of your favorite songs. The music has been great, the students have been wonderful, and working with Ms. Hendrickson has been awesome; she is a fantastic teaching partner. I would be more than happy to do this all over again next year.”
The Decorating Den was taught by Dr. Grace Lee, Dean of Faculty. “I had a great group of kids and so much fun!” she exclaimed. “One of my biggest highlights was getting to know the kids. The class was a great way to hear about their interests, the activities they are involved in, and the things they look forward to at school. The kids also shared how much they loved coming back to school this way!”
Callie Bambenek, Middle School Science Teacher, taught the “Perfecting Your Dude Perfect Shot” and shared, “A highlight from this elective has been being able to connect with students from various grade levels and think about having fun outside of the sixth-grade classroom. I’ve really enjoyed watching students try different strategies to tackle the shots and how they naturally want to collaborate with each other to be successful. After they tried a few days of assigned shots, they were able to try their hand at creating and carrying out their own trick shots with a variety of equipment: frisbees, nets, basketballs, footballs, storage containers and baskets, and ping pong balls and pringle cans.”