2024/2025 Class 10 Full Experience Details
Live Zooms in Pacific Time
Main Lesson: Tuesday & Thursday 11:30 am
Science Block: Monday at 9 am
Math: Tuesday at 10:30 am
Guardianship: Thursday 7 am
Enrichment: Wednesday 8 am
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Humanities Main Lesson Blocks with Ms. Jaia
Ancient Civilizations: During this Main Lesson block, the students will experience the development of human consciousness through the study of ancient civilizations. Students will consider the role of nature, geography, technology, and resources on the development of societies, culture, and religion. They will also reflect on how ancient peoples developed knowledge and understood the world around them.
As tenth graders, students will be looking at a variety of primary source materials and stories to help them gain a deeper understanding of these ancient cultures. Tenth grade students are ready to seek to understand how and why things are the way they are, and this block will support the students as they develop their ability to understand patterns, comparisons, and cause-and-effect. Students will engage in discussion, compose a variety of written reflections, and create artistic renderings to enhance our learning.
Public Speaking: During this main lesson block, the students will explore the history of oration, and be given tips and tricks to help them develop confidence during presentations, developing their public speaking skills. In addition, the intellectual capabilities of the tenth graders will shine as they demonstrate their ability to apply their knowledge and research in order to engage in comparative thinking discussions and debates.
Students will also read and prepare inspirational speeches and monologues to share. Every week the students will also engage in artistic explorations inspired by the work that we will do. Multimedia work will cover the basic elements of design, color layering, composition, harmony, balance, and contrast.
Poetry: Poetry is perhaps the oldest form of literature, as verse was used to share and preserve many ancient stories. In this block, we will explore the development of poetry and its many forms around the world from ancient times. Students will gain a familiarity with rhythm and the structure of various poetic forms by reading, listening to, and trying their hand at writing a variety of poems. Sharing work, giving feedback, and revising will be another aspect of the class. By the end of the block, each student will have a beautiful collection of their own poetic and artistic work, and a class anthology will be created highlighting each student’s favorite poems.
We will also explore meaning in the poetry that we write and read. The students will be given context for where various forms were developed in history and geography, and seek to find explicit, implicit, and more subtle clues to help us understand what an author might have been trying to convey. Students will be encouraged to use, explore, and listen to, the richness of language that comes with writing, reading, and enjoying poetry.
Class 10 Play: Drama can have a transformative effect on students and a class. Students in the tenth grade are ready to step out into the world with greater confidence and try new things! Acting allows us to experiment with trying on new characters and feelings in a safe and temporary way. Students will explore with various acting exercises and monologues. This block will take us through the the process of producing and acting in a virtual play as a class, and give students the language and background to familiarize them with
Students will also be tasked to work more consciously with speech. Through our drama work, the students will experience the nuances that can be reflected through clear and careful enunciation and intonation, and the experience of imbuing language with feeling and mood, to bring speech to life through sound and gesture. Students will engage in various acting exercises and monologues as we discover the richness of language written in dramatic works.
Guardianship Class with Ms. Daniela and Mr. Siepker
Guardianship Class: Our Guardian teachers will support the full experience students through monthly and seasonal themes of focus and various projects. Students will have support and guidance in developing capacities for managing their time, leading and collaborating as a team, finding opportunities to go out and serve their local communities, asking for help when needed, and so on.
Guardian teachers are inspired by the striving to build a sense of connection and belonging for the group that will help students create ways of both, deepening their High School community and staying accountable to themselves and their teachers in their learning and creative work.
Math with Mr. Starzynski
Math Track: This course will cover the fundamental concepts of geometry and will lead into Algebra II, Trigonometry and Logarithms. We will begin with an overview of basic geometrical forms such as triangles and quadrilaterals. We will then look more at angles and the relationship these have in and out of circles. As the year progresses, we will go from analyzing the areas of triangles and circles to looking at the volumes of more complex, three-dimensional figures such as cones and spheroids. We will also look at the Pythagorean Theorem, ratios and proportions of geometrical objects, proofs and basic trigonometry. This will continue into the spring semester where we will pick up with an extensive review of solving linear and quadratic equations. The class will learn to simplify complex expressions and solve intricate equations. We will also delve into analytic geometry (graphing).
Greek Geometry Block:
The 10th Grade Greek Geometry Block is an exploration into the Greek mathematical mind. Beginning each day with Pythagoras’s Golden Verses, we ask the questions that the Greeks also asked for the first time in humanity’s history: How do we know what we know? The essence of proof is explored, and, through the well-known Pythagorean Theorem, many different kinds of proofs were experienced. Proof is what brought the Pythagoreans to crisis when they proved that the diagonal and the side of any square were incommensurable! The power of pure thought and the true nature of the perfect circle (as something that resides only in our minds) were explored. , that number defined by a circle, is another mysterious incommensurable number, which nevertheless, Archimedes found a reliable way to approach. Between Pythagoras and Archimedes came Euclid, the Father of Geometry. Understanding the new Greek motivation to know the world through observation and thinking (rather than story and tradition) allows us to see why Euclid devoted his life to the systematic construction of theory after theory, based only on a handful of assumptions (postulates), definitions, and logical presuppositions. Finally, after practicing our hand at the Great Greek Geometric Game using only compass and straightedge, we apply our own formidable powers of thought to understanding Euclid’s own proof of the Pythagorean Theorem.
Science Main Lesson Blocks
Physics: Optics with Ms. Jaia- Of all of our senses, our vision connects us with the outside world, giving us knowledge by which we make decisions large and small. During this block, we will explore the somewhat mysterious process of seeing. We will first look at the human eye and brain, before exploring the nature of light. Students will conduct hands-on experiments and be encouraged to explore and make connections in the natural world.
Topics will include:
• The eye and vision, visual centers of the brain
• How light travels, shadows, waves, colors
• Refraction, Snell’s Law, lenses, prisms, Goethe and Newton
Biology- Embryology with Mr. Siepker: This Main Lesson will take us from the very beginnings of human life and the formation of the reproductive cells, to the challenges facing human beings in old age. The emphasis will be on identifying different processes involved in human growth and development and how these continue throughout life. We will use various artistic means to explore the characteristics of these processes, to enable us to come to a deeper understanding and appreciation of them. Some aspects that will be covered will include:
- The Edocrine system
- Structure of the cell
- Male and female reproductive organs
- Conception of the embryo
- Phases of Embryonic development
- Phases of child development
- Phases of adult development
Earth Science- Gardening with Ms. Daniela: Themes of this block: Agriculture and Gardening, Geomorphology, Geology, Climatology
One inner aspect of the high school student experiences is the expansion of the power of individual judgement which stirs within a desire for knowledge and the first steps on the search for one’s future. Through this main lesson block, we will strive to begin forming an understanding of the qualitative richness and order of the kingdoms of nature while also studying the dynamic life of Earth. Human, deeply held, need to live in harmony with nature will be explored through practical experiences in the realm of forests as well as agricultural and gardening practices. Lessons will guide students through practical and imaginative explorations of the main themes of this block. In the process, students will refine their observation skills in a controlled manner and employ their imaginative abilities while being challenged to imagine the processes and the ways in which they affect Earth and life on Earth.
Enrichment is incorporated in your full class experience!
Meet your Four Fold Enrichment teachers!
Handwork With Ms. Maggie
We will begin the tenth grade year by exploring the history of the ancient art of weaving textiles and its connection to Greek mythology. Students will learn different spinning techniques and use the yarn they spin, in their weaving projects. Students will experiment with different weaving techniques and types of fiber to find what resonates best with their personal style and vision as they weave unique tapestries on their handmade looms. Next we will explore modern macramé and how it originated in the Middle East. We will conclude by learning to use decorative knots to make a hand-woven table mat and a hanging basket.
Eurythmy Inspired Movement With Ms. Tiffany
The theme of the tenth grade is “I am to myself an alien land.” We will work with this theme by exploring personal pronouns, thinking-feeling-willing form, and the "evolutionary sequence." For tone, we will work with intervals, harmonies, and tone gestures, as well as, gravity and levity through raying and streaming. We will also work with the deeper structure of the c-scale. For copper rods we will learn to master and properly execute advanced copper rod exercises and put together a copper rod “piece.”
German with Mr. Dornemann
The aim of the course is to experience the German language, to get used to its sounds, acquire basic vocabulary and speaking skills. It is intended for beginners with no or little previous exposure to the German language. In the recorded part of the lessons there will be listening and speaking activities, poems, songs, stories and tongue twisters. Students will practice speaking by repeating what the teacher presents. In our live sessions we will engage in speaking and conversation as well as call and response. The vocabulary covered will include actions, counting, phrases, cultural references and many words describing aspects of everyday life.
Music with Mr. Mark
In Music Class 10 we will explore our creative skills as we compose our own songs, using basic musical building blocks and whatever instruments the students have at hand -- everything from guitars/piano/violin/recorder etc, to "found percussion" (making rhythm with whatever objects are available, pots&pans, etc). Students will come away with a professionally mixed recording of their composition.
