Seated Classes - Berrien Springs Partnership Program

School (Seated) classes (Column A)

Exploring Arts & Technology grades 1 – 12
This class offers 8 day-long experiences. Participants meet at the school at 8am to hear a talk or to see a demonstration related to the scheduled trip. They then take a school bus to the site for that day. As sites for 2009/10 experiences are confirmed they will be listed here:

Please be aware that times and dates can sometimes change due to circumstances beyond our control, but that we'll make every effort to adhere to the original plans. Several trips have been scheduled twice, on a M,W,F and a T or TH to accommodate those students in college classes, Andrews classes, Co-op classes and other class obligations. Other trips just may not be large enough to schedule twice.

Remember, 8 are required for the YEAR, we recommend a minimum of 3 this semester but you may sign up for as many as you like.

Field Trips and Class Assignments

Our field trip class is officially called Experiencing Arts and Technology, because each trip is designed to explore some aspect of those areas of study in a fun and educational manner. It is the most popular seated class offered in the Partnership because of the variety and quality of the trips. Admission for students enrolled in the Partnership is free, while siblings and parents often enjoy discounted admission. Some trips are entirely free. Transportation is provided by either bus or car, whichever you prefer. Children under 5 are not allowed to ride the bus for safety reasons, so some families may choose to drive or carpool if younger siblings attend. Students are required to have a chaperone present; this is usually one of the parents, but the parent may ask another to be the student's chaperone for any trip. Both parents or other relative may attend as well; every adult chaperone must fill out a BS school volunteer form before departure.

We have a wonderful teacher who oversees the Experiencing Arts and Technology Field Trip Class, Emma Haygood. Emma is a Berrien Springs 6th grade Integrated Studies Teacher who is on the forefront of bringing science and technology in fun and creative ways into the classroom.

A week or so before every field trip you select, you will receive an email from Emma. She will send an age appropriate assignment designed to get your student thinking about the subject and location they will experience. You can email the assignment back to her or bring it with you the day of the trip. After each trip you will receive another email with a brief assignment, sometimes something like "what was your favorite part of...." or "what did you learn about....", which you also return by email.

Assignments are not graded, just recorded as complete or incomplete so that we can show that the trips were educational and students learned the subject material according to their grade level. It is very important that these assignments are returned to her in a timely fashion (she will include a due date) so that her records reflect the excellence of our students and their education.   Emma will also accompany us on many of our trips.

We did our best to offer a lot of choices on varied weekdays while avoiding school bus blackout days. I think you'll like what you see. Remember, 8 are required for the YEAR and new spring-enrolled families need to choose at least 4 for this semester, although any family may choose to go on as many as they desire. We recommend signing up for more than you need since illness and other conflicts are inevitable. You may attend more than the 8 required.

Field trips are selected using an online form. Here's the link.

For the spring field trip list see the Field Trip page.

It sure looks like a fun year!

Generation E Entrepreneurship class grades 5 – 12
Beginning Entrepreneurial Education: signup available for fall semester only

This class is an introduction to entrepreneurship education. It is a hands-on, activity based class. All the activities engage students in active learning. In the fall, students explore entrepreneurial characteristics; the student’s own interests, talents and abilities, and learn how to build those into a business venture. Included in the class are learning appropriate business and social skills, interviewing entrepreneurs, guest entrepreneur speakers, business finance and planning, working with adult mentors and building their business idea to become an operational business or service. Students will gain valuable knowledge to increase their research, writing and communication skills.

In spring semester, students continue to revise their business plans until they become viable business models. Students will have the option to compete in showcases to earn prize money for their business plans and presentations. For more info go to the Gen E website at: http://www.genei.org

Speech/Debate - Grades 1-12
Instructor: Ms. Taryn Eva       teva@homeoftheshamrocks.org

Speech: M or W 10:00 -11:30 grades 1-5

Forensics/Debate: TU or TH, early afternoon, time TBA grades 6-12

Speech: Lower level elementary students will explore public speaking using a show and tell format, making craft projects to express their individuality, and discovering the variety of ways we can communicate with others. Upper level elementary students will explore various forms of communication and presentation from both prepared written outlines and impromptu subject matter. Emphasis will be on becoming more comfortable in public speaking, use of body language, and proper grammar and diction. Although the class meets weekly, speeches will be delivered approximately twice a month.

Forensics/Debate: Emphasis will be in instruction in individual creation and delivery of a variety of forms of speeches in preparation for Forensics (competitive speech) practice events and tournaments mainly in the Kalamazoo/Grand Rapids areas (by bus). Since the competitive debate season is in the fall, spring is a great time to sharpen skills necessary for preparation for an actual competitive debate team next fall.

Public MS and HS students, selected by Mr. Donely, the Speech teacher, may have their own after school class with Ms. Eva, but would be team members for trips/competitions with the homeschool students. Homeschool students will not be competing against the public high school students, nor will middle school students compete against high school students. At least one practice event would be held at BS schools, and another at Lake Michigan Catholic.

Home School-Drama - Grades 7-12
The main purpose of the drama class is to perform shows. This year we are piloting the program with upper grades only (7-12). We are also partnering with the Berrien Springs High School students this spring to produce a play. The class will run from January 5th and run through April 27th with performances the last full weekend in April. When you sign up, you will need to pick a specialty. You may act, be on stage crew or off-stage personnel. The rehearsal schedule starts slow in January with one practice a week and gains momentum as the year progresses. (February – two rehearsals a week, March – three rehearsals a week, and the two weeks between spring break and the show we will rehearse four days a week.)

The drama class meets at MARS Community Center and alternates between morning rehearsals starting at 10am and after school rehearsals starting at 3pm.

Click to see the drama class calendar.

Career and Technical Education (CTE) course high school
In order to determine whether a CTE (Career and Technical Education) class is what your student should take, go to the following website:

www.berrienresa.org/cte/ctesite/resources.html

At the top of the home page, shaded in blue, are six different fields of study. Your student may choose between:

Arts & Communication
Business, Management, and Marketing
Technology
Health Science
Engineering, Manufacturing, and Industrial Technology
Human Services
Agriscience

When you click on any of these six fields (on the website listed above), you will go to a page where you can see all the different classes available within that field. Click on the button titled "choose a class". Once you have determined which class your student would like to take, please call:

            Alan Alsbro, Principal of Berrien Springs High School:
                                     269.471.1748

and discuss with his office what times the class will be held and how often it meets each week. Once you have made a final decision on taking the class:

1) Register the student through his office for the class.

2) You must register the student for that class through the Partnership via our online registration form at www.homeoftheshamrocks.com. Complete the student's entire registration form online with us and your student will be set for the fall.

Please Note: Students enrolled in CTE do NOT need to take any other classes. Seated and virtual classes are not required and they cannot sign up for a Community Resource Class. One virtual class may be taken if desired.

Class descriptions:

School (seated) Classes

Online (virtual) Classes

Community Resource Classes