List of 26 items.

• ACT Math Prep

  An academic class with a twist. Students will prepare for ACT style Math questions. Group work and discussion will be utilized. No homework. No tests.

• Art of Caricature

  Students will learn a simple but effective method of cartooning faces from life quickly and easily! We will explore the aesthetics and principles of caricature. Students will learn to draw the five shapes of the head. We will also learn how to draw cartoon bodies and simple gaffs to make the caricatures personal and interesting!

• Beginning Piano Class

  This is a class for students with no piano background. Topics will include notes on the keyboard, reading from the grand staff, basic technique, and beginning repertoire.

• Beginning Watercolor

  Learn the basics of watercolor. Experiment with different techniques and make several masterpieces to take home.

• Biotech Explorer Genetic Engineering: Let's make bacteria glow

  For students entering 8^th and 9^th grade only. In this course, students will be taught the central dogma and the basics of genetic engineering. Students use the pGLO plasmid to transform bacteria to express green fluorescent protein from the bioluminescent jellyfish Aequorea victoria, which causes the bacteria to glow green under UV light. The activities involved in this course include pipetting, microscopy, microbial culturing, and agarose gel electrophoresis.

• Biotech Explorer: Detecting GMO in Grocery Food

  For students entering 8^th and 9^th grade only. In this course, students will use biotechnology techniques including polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA electrophoresis to test for the presence of two different GMO-associated DNA sequences of cauliflower mosaic virus and Agrobacterium tumefaciens in grocery food. The activities involved in this course include pipetting, extraction of DNA from grocery food samples, amplification, and detection of GMO genes by PCR and agarose gel electrophoresis.

• Biotech Explorer: DNA Fingerprinting for Forensic Analysis

  For students entering 8^th and 9^th grade only. In this course, students will learn pipetting and use real-world forensic techniques to extract DNA from their hair follicles and cheek cells. They will also use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and agarose gel electrophoresis to fingerprint their own DNA at a specific genetic locus. The classroom data will be analyzed and compared to reveal possible genetic differences.

• Exploring French for Beginners

  This course is an introduction to French language and culture. Students start learning how to communicate in French at a basic level both orally and in writing. Topics include the alphabet, greetings, numbers, colors, days of the week, talking about oneself (name, age, hobbies, likes/dislikes). Culture themes include French speaking countries, Paris, holidays, art, and sports. This course is designed for students with little or no knowledge of French language or culture. 

• Fairy Tales said What?!?

  A look at original fairy tale traditions offers us insights into previous cultures and folklore. Looking at original tales alongside contemporary or modern adaptations gives us a chance to really dig in about why and how we're drawn to these stories over and over again.

• Financial Literacy

  Learn about budgeting, credit cards, banking, loans, taxes, investments, etc.

• Intro to Pickleball

  The fastest growing sport in the country has come to LSMSA. Students will learn, practice and play pickleball. With the ultimate goal of having fun and moving, there will be a winner!

• Intro to Spanish

  Learn the basics of Spanish in a fun environment. We will cover basic grammar and lots of vocabulary with interactive practice and lots of games.

• Let's Mandala

  We will learn about the purpose of mandalas (meditative) and color symbolism. We will design and color our own.

• Macrame

  Learn basic macrame knots and create a lovely wall hanging to bring home.

• Modern Jazz Dance

  This will be a technique class exploring the movement concepts of both modern and jazz dance. Class will consist of a warm-up followed by a stretch and strengthening portion, leading into fun and challenging technical exercises working on balance and basic technical skills. Students will also learn fun progressions across the floor, learn fun dance combinations and finish class with a cool down exercise followed by a final relaxation. Students will leave class feeling energized and joyful!

• Origami

  Learn the basics of origami and become a master by the end of the week.

• Planes, Boats, & Automobiles

  A fun approach to engineering with hands on exercises and competitions.

• Puppet Making

  How to create Sesame Street style puppets and animate them effectively to tell your stories! If you took the class last year you can take it again and pick up where you left off. We will be building an actual puppet theatre too!

• Rocket Chemistry

  For students entering 8^th and 9^th grade only. The course will introduce the students to basic chemistry knowledge as it applies to rocketry. Topics such as reaction balancing (recipe), stoichiometry (quantities), thermodynamics (energy), and kinetics (speed of reaction) will be investigated. A laboratory component will be connected to each topic. Students should be comfortable with math, i.e. adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.

• Secrets of Drawing Anything 3D

  Learn how to use words and techniques to quickly and easily draw anything in 3D. This class is great for beginners who think they can't draw and for more advanced students who want to improve their confidence in creating the illusion of 3D space on paper!

• Strategies for High School Success

  Students will learn the fundamental skills required to succeed in rigorous high school settings such as LSMSA (but not exclusively LSMSA). They will work on things like note taking, time management, test taking, self care, communication, collaboration, and more.

• Tabletop RPG: Dungeons & Dragons

  Students will create their own hero to fight hordes of goblins, zombies, and other enemies. Another aspect of D&D is that players aid in the creation of the game by role-playing their characters in order to guide and act out narrative decisions in the gameplay.

• The Great Baking Show - Basics

  A beginner baking class that focuses on measuring, mixing techniques, timing, and food presentation.

• Understanding Music Theory

  Students should have some musical background and be able to read at least one clef. We will learn about the basics of musical notation including staff notation, keys, scales, intervals, chords, and musical form.

• World Building in Fiction

  The class will focus on the worldbuilding aspect of writing, dissecting the worldbuilding of popular franchises like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Avatar the Last Airbender, and more to see not only what works, but why it works. In this process, students will build their own fictional worlds in which they can write stories.

• Writing at a Birds Eye View

  This class focuses on writing on a macro-level. We will be examining literary tropes, character arcs, themes, and more. Similarly to the worldbuilding class we will examine media that does and doesn’t work and why. Students will work towards an outline for a story as we work through each aspect of how a story works. This and “Worldbuilding in Fiction” are meant to work well together, but built to also stand on their own so students may take one or both.