Arts Elective Courses Grade 8

Thomas W. Pyle

Middle School

8th Grade Arts Courses

Semester Courses

• Culinary Explorations

• Creative FACS

• Gateway To Technology: B

• Specialty Art

• Studio Art

• Experiencing Theater

• TV Production

• Web Design

Full Year Courses

• Band

• Orchestra

• Chorus

• Drama Performance

• Introduction to Engineering Design

• Yearbook

Culinary Explorations

Students will expand their culinary skills focusing on preparation, technique and presentation.

Units of study include : meal planning, lab planning, food prep techniques, appetizers, creative foods, baking, food careers, recipe searches and cultural influences on food choices.

Fashion, Clothing and Interior Design Explorations

8th grade students may select to take Gateway To Technology : B (semester) or Introduction to Engineering Design (full year) as part of the Pre-Engineering Pathway.

Gateway To

Technology-A/B:

Grade 7

full year

Introduction to

Engineering Design

A/B: Grade 8

full year

Principles of

Engineering: Grade 9

full year

Other HS or AP

Credit Courses

Introduction to Design

& 3-D Modeling:

Grade 6

9 weeks

Gateway To

Technology-A:

Grade 7

semester

Gateway To

Technology-B:

Grade 8

semester

Introduction to

Engineering Design

A/B: Grade 9

full year

Introduction to Design

& 3-D Modeling:

Grade 6

9 weeks

• Accelerated Pre-Engineering Pathway

• Pre-Engineering Pathway

Gateway To Technology: B is broken into 2 Units Flight & Space and Automation & Robotics

In Flight & Space we

• Learn principles of flight

• Make and fly Gliders

• Design and create motorized airplanes

In Automation & Robotics we

• Create mechanisms using Fisher Technik kits

• Program machines/robots created to solve problems

• Complete an Assembly Line using the robotic parts and computer program.

Intro. to Engineering Design: A

Introduction to Design

• Design Process

• Technical Sketching

• Measurement and Statistics

Design Solutions

• Geometric Shapes & Solids

• Dimensions & Tolerances

• Advanced Model Skills

• Advanced Designs

Intro. to Engineering Design: B

Reverse Engineering

• Visual Analysis

• Functional Analysis

• Structural Analysis

• Product Improvement

Design Problems

• Engineering Design Ethics – Human Impacts

– Product Lifestyle

– Recycling

• Design Teams

Specialty Art

• Develop a knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of sculpture.

• Artists, culture, and artistic style in history.

Studio Art

• Work with various motifs.

• 2D and 3D artwork

• Focus on art skills, processes, and techniques.

Studio Art

• Serves as a prerequisite to Whitman’s visual arts program.

8th Grade Drama Exploration

1 Semester

Explore Performance and Technical Aspects of Theatre

7th & 8th Grade Drama Performance

Full Year Class

Full Year of Technical Theatre Work and…

Performance Work

8th Grade

TV Studio

Help create Panther TV;

Pyle’s weekly TV show

8th Grade TV Studio

Use the Green Screen

in Film Parody projects

Enter video contests

8th Grade Elective Course:

Introduction to Web Design

Students will learn to use a variety of new skills, technology and software to create their own beginner Web sites.

Students will be exposed to skills involving:

Beginning basic HTML; Graphic design to enhance Web pages; Writing for web pages; Manipulating images for use on Web sites. Using software designed to create Web pages:

Making our own Websites?

Examples of student-made Websites

Examples of Student-Made Websites

Students select their own topics

7th and 8th Grade Elective Choice:

Yearbook Class

Student in this class become a staff , work as a team and publish the yearbook and the school literary magazine. Students will learn basic principals of desktop publishing, layout design and journalism and photojournalism. What makes it so special? It is a lot of fun,

students have a very important job to do; their work become a part of Pyle history; it sometimes involves a lot of work.

Students in this class must be hard workers, very responsible and very motivated!

Choosing a theme, cover, style and color scheme;

Taking photos throughout the year;

Learning principals of layout design;

Designing pages;

Selecting photos, captions, headlines and text;

Research includes finding out who is who, what is their real name,

and matching names with faces;

Publicizing the yearbook throughout the year; and

Sorting and delivering the books when they arrive in the spring.

Yearbook Class

Creating the yearbook involves:

Instrumental Music at Pyle

8th Grade Band

• Award winning Band in county, state and regional competitions.

• Perform a wide variety of challenging music to prepare for high school instrumental study.

• Sectionals and clinics with professional musicians.

• Travel to County and State Adjudication for constructive feedback.

• Travel to New York City for an exciting Music Festival and Competition.

• Ultimate Middle School 3 year team relationship with classmates.

Advanced Orchestra • Award winning Orchestra in

county, state and regional competitions.

• Challenging musical repertoire to improve string ensemble technique.

• Sectionals and clinics with professional musicians.

• Travel to County and State Adjudication for constructive feedback.

• Travel to New York City for an exciting Music Festival and Competition.

• Ultimate Middle School 3 year team relationship with classmates.

Jazz Band • Audition only full Jazz Ensemble.

• Perform a variety of jazz styles and standards including swing, funk, latin and rock.

• Learn improvisation skills and techniques.

• Instruments include all saxes, trumpet, trombone, guitar, bass, piano and drums.

• Extracurricular outreach performance opportunities.

• Professional clinics with renowned Jazz musicians such as Chris Vadala.

8th Grade Chorus Award winning choral group in county, state, and regional competitions. All are welcome. No prior experience necessary. Exciting course designed to strengthen the voice, sharpen skill in music, and perform with friends and classmates. Perform a wide variety of choral music including classical, pop, musical theatre, folk, rock, and more. Explore the fundamentals of musicianship and choral singing including reading and interpreting the score, vocal health and sound production, singing successfully through the changing voice, and singing within an ensemble. Perform in two major concerts and participate in performance field trips including traveling to a music competition and festival in NYC. Excellent opportunity to make new and lasting friends.

8th Grade Arts Courses

Semester Courses

• Culinary Explorations

• Creative FACS

• Gateway To Technology: B

• Specialty Art

• Studio Art

• Experiencing Theater

• TV Production

• Web Design

Full Year Courses

• Band

• Orchestra

• Chorus

• Drama Performance

• Introduction to Engineering Design

• Yearbook