7th Grade Elective Course Descriptions
Art 7 - provides students an opportunity to further develop their art skills. Higher-level thinking skills are challenged with design and composition projects that use a variety of drawing media, techniques and themes. Preparation of a portfolio is required. There may be a small art fee for this course.
AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) – Students will focus on building academic, social, and personal skills for success and college readiness, including organization, note-taking, critical thinking skills, team-building strategies, and study skills. Student must be enrolled in at least one PAP course to take this course.
Band - is designed to provide opportunities for students to learn to play instrumental music in a group setting and lead students to acquire the skills needed for satisfactory performance. Students must rent or own instruments and are required to attend scheduled rehearsals and events.
Bulldog Bytes - is not your typical elective. It is a project-based class based on individual student interest. During the school year, various types of technology and apps are used to promote events and programs happening at Briarhill. A few examples of past projects are our how - to tutorials, the creation of our website, and participating in the White House Student Film Festival. Check out these and other cool projects on our Bulldog Bytes website.
Boys Choir/ Concert Choir (Girls) - This course is designed to provide opportunities for students to learn to sing in a group setting and lead students to acquire the skills needed for satisfactory performance. Students are required to attend scheduled rehearsals and events.
Orchestra 7 - This course is designed to provide opportunities for students to learn to play instrumental music in a group setting and lead students to acquire the skills needed for satisfactory performance. Students must rent or own instruments and are required to attend scheduled rehearsals and events.
Outdoor Trails 7 - Students are offered education in the areas of hunting, fishing, hiking, nature recognition, archery and cooking. The students will feel safe and positive about their learning environment and demonstrate appropriate life skills that have exemplified proper mentoring in these fields of study. Students may only take this course once during middle school.
Robotics/Gaming 1 – A combined course that is year-long, but changes at semester. Robotics is a semester long course that covers the basic concepts of robotics as well as the science behind them. Foundations, History, Basic Robots Creation, and Challenge are the 4 units of study covered. Students collaborate with one another using Mindstorms NXT software as they create programs to control their robots. LEGOS are used to create their lab robots for an end of course battle bot competition. Gaming is a semester long course covering 4 major units of study. Foundations, Game Creation Basics 1 and 2, and Animation are explored. Application software and web-based programs are used with object orientated programming to teach game making/design and animation. Students create playable games and animation projects. This course is for beginner to advanced students.
Robotics Competition- This year-long course is a hands-on class for beginners to advanced students where science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are blended together. Working in teams, you will develop technology programs and design and program EV3 LEGO robots. The goal is for students to compete in the North Texas Regional Robotics Tournament and achieve an invitation for statewide robotics competition. You will also use Spheros and LEGO Mindstorms to enhance programing, math, and technology skills while working collaboratively with peers. Be part of the robotics future!
Theatre Arts 7 - The student will explore the art of acting using exercises, scene work, and theatre games designed to develop performance skills and techniques. This class will develop the ability to explore the imagination and utilize freedom of expression in front of the group and an audience. The focus will be on basic improvisation, theatre techniques, and creative expression through games and scene work. A student should come out of this class more relaxed and comfortable performing a monologue and scenes in front of an audience.
Skills for Living - Study the skills for living that are useful now and in adult life as well as how these skills apply to various careers. Topics include clothing, communication, environmental awareness, family and child development, food preparation and nutrition, and personal development.
Study Hall - will afford each student time in the school day to work on assignments and to study. Study Hall will be a quiet room where work can be accomplished. There will be available computers for the students connected to the internet with a printer attached. Study Hall could also be used for making up a missed or failed test for each student. The teacher will be available to give academic guidance to each student. If a student does not use this class for its expressed purpose, he/she will be moved to another class. To evaluate for a grade for the class of study hall each student starts will 100 points. Points will be deducted for offenses.
Yearbook - Students team up to create the Yearbook by taking photos, interviewing classmates, writing captions, and designing layouts. Students take a field trip during the year to see where and how the book is published and then go out to lunch together. This is an interactive course where students learn they are talented and creative in many areas. When the yearbook is completed the students are very proud of their work and look forward to showing all their friends what they’ve done. Course requires an easy application and approval process. Contact Ms. Carolyn Wiersema for questions ().
High School Credit Classes
Spanish 1 (High School Credit) -Spanish I is the introductory course in the Spanish language. During this course, the students will be taught basic vocabulary requiring the use of Spanish in the classroom. The students will learn conversational responses and work with the grammar items essential for understanding. The students will use conversation and vocabulary in the interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational modes as the basis for meeting the TEKS goals of
communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities at the novice level. In most·
middle schools, this is a one year course. This course counts for high school credit.