Specialty Classes

Christine Stachitus

The students at The Branch School will experience a multitude of exciting and creative art projects and lessons this year. Use of a variety of art materials and methods are planned to allow the children to experience a vast array of art techniques. Drawing, painting, collage, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture and the study of famous artists and their lives and work are included in this year's art program. Lessons include the fundamentals of art. The elements and principals of design are incorporated into each lesson. Imagination and individual creativeness are stressed as each child uses his/her unique abilities in producing a work of art.

A quote: "The talents of artists reflect your splendor, Lord- may their work give the world hope and joy."

Rodrigo Aguilera

The standards for our fifth through middle school students emphasize exploration. Using the elements of art and the principles of design as a framework, students investigate a variety of experiences and concepts. Students explore various two-dimensional and three-dimensional art media using a variety of expressive and technical approaches. Students begin to understand the factors that distinguish artistic styles which clarify the role of art in American culture. Through critical examination, the students will determine how artists convey meaning through the use of forms, media, and symbols. Students will test and develop their own ideas regarding the nature of art and will encounter philosophical and ethical questions.  Upon the successful completion of our visual arts curriculum, students will possess the skills that will allow them to evaluate the effects of various influences on the discipline of the visual arts.

iKids

Middle School students learn technology skills by completing exciting theme-based projects that incorporate real world applications and simulate the use of the computer in various settings. Students explore the fundamentals of technology and gain valuable skills, such as word processing, programming, spreadsheets, telecommunications, desktop publishing, applied technology, databases, multimedia, operating systems, web design, animation, graphics, game maker, and movie creation. 

Christine Stachitus

The Branch School is so proud to announce the installation of our new computer system in the library! Our books have been barcoded and each student, staff member and parent will have a personal bar code to check out books. The system enables us to do searches on specific topics, books, authors, subjects and more.

This year the students will learn how the library is organized, the Dewey Decimal System and research techniques. We will talk about the various kinds of books such as picture books, easy readers, non-fiction, fiction and the many genres of books. The students will understand what a Caldecott Medal Honor book is as well as the Newberry Award Books and Texas Bluebonnet Award Books.

Stories will be read to the children and discussions will take place to evaluate their understanding of the book and share thoughts and ideas.

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all." – Jacqueline Kennedy

Dawn Griffin

It is the intent of the music program at The Branch School to allow children to express themselves in an age-appropriate manner through singing and movement and to experiment with music concepts both vocally and by playing musical instruments. All children will have experience with rhythm and percussion instruments and 3^rd/4th grade will also play recorders. The program enables students to discover and build awareness of diverse cultures through songs, singing games, and dance. Every opportunity will be taken to relate and integrate music with other subjects. Each grade will have field trips to experience professional musical performances appropriate to their age level.  Finally, our program allows children to build confidence in performing on stage, combining the demonstration of technical skills with the joy of musical performance. A Winter Program, written by the 4^thgrade, will be performed by Greenhouse through 4^th grades.

A.D. Players

The A.D. Players' theatre class instructs students in the basics of theater training; including auditioning, proper stage positions and body positioning, voice projection and diction, group and paired scene work, story-telling, acting techniques, oral interpretation, and theatre games and exercises. The overall goal of the class is to get the students accustomed to performing for an audience and build their confidence and self-esteem as they speak and interact with their peers.

Ann Hightower

Our Outdoor Classroom program focuses on teaching the children to empathize with and feel comfortable in nature, and to understand its fundamental processes. We do this through a "working wildscape" partly accessible to children on the playground, through our off-playground habitats including pond, wildscape, prairie and nature trail, and through horticulture activities from growing vegetables to propagating plants. While each year includes a number of favorite "repeat" activities, from tree measurements and pond organism collection and study to the Audubon Society birdathon in spring, some subjects like botany and dramatizing the lives of the creatures we encounter repeat every three years.  And of course all classes will grow vegetables and herbs in their classes' tubs and beds. Second through fifth grade students will all have "adopted" a native grass, flower, shrub or tree from our wildscape to be their personal example of the ecology principles we'll be learning. Kindergarten and first grade will adopt a class plant to learn about. Our SunLighter indoor plant stands, now installed in the Middle School, will continue to be used for both cutting and transplant propagation and seed-starting. 

Most classes will also have a long-term OC activity. Our preschoolers and kindergartners are exploring the wildscape and learning names and basic facts about the plants and creatures we encounter. Kindergarten will also manage the school's worm bin. First grade will manage the playground bird feeder and participate in Cornell University Institute of Ornithology's Project FeederWatch over the winter. Second grade will be trying their hands at composting in the SE corner of the playground. Third graders will manage the bulb garden. Fourth grade will continue to work with daylilies and manage the playground birdbath.  Fifth grade will manage the school prairie. Our middle schoolers will have a hand in native landscaping for their building area and will again run a horticultural business.

Rayford Cooks

Physical Education class is meant to be fun, although there are certain expectations for the students. They are going to learn the principles of fitness and proper nutritional habits through games and fun activities that will stimulate their physical abilities. All lessons and activities will be age appropriate. Every day the students come into Melcher Hall and we have a meeting in which we discuss what we will be doing that day. The coach's rules, the rules of a game and the expectations we have concerning the safety of the activity are explained. 

I am a retired professional athlete, a certified fitness instructor (13 years) and a track and football coach for 11 years.

We will be exploring many different aspects of physical education throughout the school year.  These include:

Gross motor movements       Agility                    Balance               Track and Field

Long-distance running           Football                 Jump-rope                          

Baseball                                 Basketball

Dawn Griffin

Problem-solving and Peacemaking teaches children to work on communicating, cooperating, and learning to resolve conflicts in a peaceful way. K-4^th will all start each class learning to solve spontaneous "quick thinking" problems. Kindergarten and First grade class consists of practicing peacemaking skills such as "I messages," brainstorming solutions, using conflict resolution words, affirmations, and reflective listening from the book Learning the Skills of Peacemaking, by Naomi Drew. The Second through Fourth Grade classes are working with an elementary curriculum on teaching ethics designed by the Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education. The purpose of this curriculum is not to teach religion, but to focus on moral and ethical excellence. K-4th will all be working with a monthly virtue beginning with Tolerance in September, Forgiveness-October, Humility-November, Reverence-December, Justice-January, Loyalty-February, Perseverance-March, Stewardship-April, and Peacefulness-May. It encourages character education and provides the children with experiences and language that will open their eyes to the rich ethical fabric of the world around them.

iKids

iKids brings robotics to life with an exclusive curriculum that provides interactive fun and hands-on learning utilizing Lego® Mindstorms NXT robotics kits.  Developed at MIT, the Mindstorms are one of the best teaching tools for programming and engineering concepts available for children. These exciting robots feature state-of-the-art ultrasonic sensors, servo motors, Bluetooth technology, and more. Children explore the fundamentals of programming and engineering while using technology, mathematics, science, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.

Patricia Arredondo

The Spanish program at The Branch School is designed to give the students the opportunity to learn a foreign language from a Native Spanish Speaker. Classes are thirty minutes long and they meet twice a week for grades  K - 2^nd and three times weekly for 3^rd - 4^th grades.

Classes are taught ONLY in Spanish in the same way that children learn their first language, by listening and relating words to meaning. With the use of visual aids, hands-on activities, songs, reading of books, games, art and dance, children incorporate their five senses to figure it out by themselves the meaning of the words taught in class. The curriculum is divided by age levels that begin with the learning of basic words and vocabulary. In order to develop the use of sounds and become familiar with the Spanish Alphabet, writing is incorporated in all levels as well. By the end of 4^th grade, students will also be able to read. The focus of this approach is to expose children to enriching experiences from the language and the Spanish culture leading students to develop confidence in speaking; therefore conversation becomes natural and eventually fluent. The Branch School also offers a Spanish Club for students GH-7^th grades on Wednesdays after school.

Liz Mitchell

This year the Spanish classes meet three times a week; 5^th grade for one hour and 6^th grade and up for an hour and 10 minutes each session. The teacher is a certified bilingual instructor and is using the Realidades program to guide their learning.  Through the use of communicative activities, games and the interactive website at realidades.com, students are able to enhance their vocabulary and grammar, and begin to learn conversational Spanish. Students are encouraged to share this knowledge at home to help everyone become bilingual! Students are also acquiring a knowledge and understanding of the various cultures which speak Spanish through hands-on activities such as cooking.