Uh you'll notice next to each of the the uh typical courses, I have a question uh which kind of guides in essence what the student will be learning about freshman year, they're focused on learning about their world and what has shaped the world that they live in. Um then we shift in sophomore year to United States history in which case they're focused more on what uh historical forces have shaped the the nation in which we live. Uh you'll also notice that in sophomore year they have an option to move to the advanced uh sequence and we offer AP United States history as an option. The uh junior year we focus more on uh civics and government and what their their eventual role as a citizen will be. Um civics is a mandated course of the state requires it. It's a state graduation requirement. Uh if your son or daughter takes AP United States government in the advanced sequence that suffices as the um mandated course.
We also, you'll see, have a lot of choice available to students by the time they get to their junior year. Um, multiple AP and ECE offerings are available. Um, and we also have, uh, history through pop culture, um, black and Latino American studies, the Vietnam War. Those are either CCP or CP electives. And, um, there's a slew of AP and EC offerings. We just added two new courses this past year. the AP comparative gov and the ECE human rights in the law which are each a semester course. So some students pair those that option with civics if they elect to take civics. And then senior year really the guiding question more so is what really grabbed your attention? What are you passionate about? What would you like to study further? And um the electives include AP psychology or any of the other AP offerings or ECE offerings that they haven't yet taken.
And then we add three additional senior electives to the pool of electives and they can take global uh global citizenship, psychology or sociology. So that uh that provides the overview of the core sequence. Thank you so much. And as I I hear uh both our English and our social studies department leaders talk about what the students are studying, I can't help but ask the question um how does the library support our students uh academically and socially? How how can you how can you support them this year? You know, certainly things look a lot different than they have in the past, but um one great thing that we've had here in the library is our learning labs. And we typically have hosted for many many years the writing lab for students as a support for writing not remediation but just any student that has issues with writing a paper, a college essay, a lab has come in.
Now we have a array of of offerings for every subject so that students can come in to get um help from a science teacher with science labs. They can get help with um working on a social studies FAQ. they can do anything that they um that they're having any sort of concerns with, we we have that support here for them. Um, additionally, you know, we have um great databases that we pay for here. And we, you know, I personally come out to social studies and English classes and um help our students use those. And those have been really helpful because they do not require that you actually be here in person. They're accessible through our passcodes and also um through um certain directives that we can give students so they can access really good quality information when they're doing um research of any kind. And again, technology starts here.
This is where we are Chromebook central. So, um we are the hospital for the Chromebooks. We support both remote and in-person students right now. Hopefully, we'll be able to see all of our students in person next year. But any issues that students are having with, you know, technology, we can help um, you know, mitigate those here. Thank you so much. And Mrs. Baro, how do special education teachers support students in humanities courses? Um, we do that in a variety of ways and our role in the humanities area is really driven by the PPT process um, and specific IEPs. So, we have some of our teachers who are co-teers in in um the English courses. We have instructional assistants who support some of our um social studies courses. Um we run small classes. Um so, it it really is student driven. But um on the other flip side of things, we cons we consult and confer with teachers often about uh how to help students who um are struggling.
Thank you so much. So, what art classes can incoming freshman take? Um the arts department offers a pretty wide wide range of courses for incoming freshmen. Um specifically, um the the top four courses that we see most of our freshmen, uh lean toward are drawing one, clay one, studio art, and 3D art. Um basically the main reason that that is the case is those four courses do not have any prerequisite requirements in order to sign up for those. Um in addition, um we have many students that come over from Dodd with a strong interest in wanting to paint. They have they do they do have a strong painting um course over at Dodd. So when they when they follow over to here at Cheshire High School, students are really interested in painting and drawing specifically. Um most of the time we do as such we do um we do tell students if you're interested in drawing, if you're interested in painting, we try to lean them toward drawing one because that is really one of our our foundational courses and it does open the door for for freshman students to progress further through a lot of the courses that we offer at Cheshire High School.
As such, it is important because currently uh there is a graduation requirement with art. One full credit of art is required by students by the time they become seniors at Chester High. So, um that would require them to take at least two art courses um with us at some point. So, the nice part is for the for freshmen coming in, there's a pretty good range of courses, specifically the four that I mentioned, the drawing one, the clay one, um studio art, and 3D art. Clay and 3D art are the more hands-on based courses where students really get to get involved um building, sculpting um and working with different materials and something that they they're used to in the past. Um these are courses that are going to teach them very very strong skills skill sets. So clay one's going to teach them handbuilding skills um such as pinch pots, coil pots, um slab constructed pottery.
Uh 3D art is going to give the students a really strong chance to work with materials that they're probably not used to working with as far as sculptural materials. Uh we try to work with carving um assemblage and collage. Uh students would also work with something called earthworks where it's they actually would um gather natural materials and create sculptures from those. So we try to offer a wide range of opportunities uh to the incoming freshmen. Um last but not least is studio art, which that is definitely a popular course for um for many reasons. Uh sometimes students are coming in and they're really not sure. We get a lot of students saying or parents saying, you know, we're not sure what our son or daughter would be interested in. And studio art is a great course um that encompasses all of the areas that I just mentioned.
It encompasses drawing, encompasses painting, sculpture, and a unique uh area also called printmaking. So students get to really delve in four different um areas of art making in that one course, which is always a nice um it's it gives them a wide perspective on art. So that's a good that's a good all-encompassing course for students that just are really coming in and they're just not sure what art course they'd be interested in. So um those are the four that that that make the top list as far as incoming freshmen. Um, but like I said, if you have a son or daughter that's really interested in drawing and painting, that drawing one course is a strong one for them to take because it really is a door opener uh for other courses that we offer. Thank you so much. And I I it's important for me to point out that the next three department leaders you're going to hear from are districtwide department leaders.
Mr. Gustardo leads the K through 12 art department and Mr. Kuner leads the K through2 music department and Mr. Bronco leads the 6 through 12 what? 7 through 12 language department. So, Mr. Kuner, uh, how do students get involved in music when they get to the high school? And another question that came up that I'll add on is, can you take electives while you enroll in music? Yeah. Uh, the best way to get involved is sign up for the CHS choirs, uh, CHS bands, or the string orchestra. So, if students have participated in the past, um, at Dodd Middle School or at St. Bridget in those programs or if they have very little experience, we'd love to have um all students who are interested in music um sign up for those ensembles. Um we start uh start off in our um grade nine uh classes with uh most of those students staying together in the larger ensembles.
So for instance, uh the chorus would be the first coral ensemble for for most students. uh they can branch out from there and um pursue uh some specific choirs such as vocal jazz, different styles, vocal jazz, the VIPs, a more classical um organization, VIP select singers, uh a female voice, uh I should say treble voice, um corral, uh which actually has been expanded out. We've had the um three parts in that group now. And then we also have a bass voice chorus uh that meets on Friday afternoon. So there's some a little bit of something for everyone in in the in the coral area. Uh the string orchestra would be um where our string students should start and then other opportunities beyond that after school for chamber orchestra and symphony orchestra where we combine all the winds and percussion along with the strings. Of course, CHS bands starting off with symphonic band, our largest uh instrumental ensemble with about 110 students.
Um, and then wind ensemble, which is about 50 with a little more difficult repertoire. And jazz ensemble, of course, the marching ram band. All of that starts up in August for preseason. We automatically enroll our first year students in band in the marching band. Um, and uh, that's a soft requirement. If students aren't able to participate because they're involved in sports or another activity, uh, then we wave that requirement. And the reason we put that there is so that students will jump right in and, uh, give it a try in their first year. It's that's the that's the best thing. I I loved hearing about the art offerings and that uh, students can explore um, all the different areas in art. Uh, we we want uh, our first year students to have those opportunities and then maybe make some more decisions as they progress. We also have some general music offerings, a history of American popular music, history of jazz, music technology, which are uh great uh um for students who may not be members of ensembles who have an interest in music, who would like to learn more about music.
So, biggest thing is uh sign up for it. And yes, there is still room for other electives and study halls. Um so if a student is participating in the coral or band or or strings uh there is another slot available for students at least um and I would say take other electives because you're still going to have once out of the rotation you'll have uh something you'll have a study hall and I think u um it would be important to explore some of these courses rather than um have a whole lot of study hall time at this point. probably my the other teachers here would agree. And for arts uh for the arts requirement, music does uh also um you know count for that first uh for that one-year arts requirement. Music and art be applicable for those. Look forward to uh seeing all of you in the breakout if you have any more questions.
Thank you so much. Mr. Bronco, can you talk to us a little bit about the world language offerings for ninth graders? uh what what does it look like when they transition from DOD to the high school? Sounds good. Uh good evening. Uh Dr. Gad, if you could uh present that uh the core sequence uh that would be great. I'll use that to explain our program here at CHS. Uh just so just so you all know all of our programs in the Cheshure School District are in war language are proficiency based uh where we put a greater emphasis on speaking, listening, writing and reading and obviously culture as well. So from sixth grade all the way to 12th grade uh uh all of our entire language program centers around that. Uh so if you look at the chart and I'm going to go from left to right starting with seventh grade that's when you know your son or daughter started at the middle school taking their first experience of world language.
they took the first half of of our year one equivalency high school program and then in uh eighth grade they finished that one year equivalency program which for that work that they've done in seventh and eighth grade they've been awarded one credit. So and when they come up to the high school they will have already one credit uh on that transcript after 8th grade if you look at the next at the progression uh most of the students in that that come from that do continue with the language that they've been study at middle school. So most of them uh move on to in ninth grade to the placement of the year two of the language that they've been studying at Dodd. However, if somehow uh the student didn't have a good experience or somehow that they've had a change of heart and they want to go on and and and try something new or add another language, which is uh common sometimes with some students, they can always in ninth grade make that change or add another language.
And we still offer those same languages, Spanish, German, French, Latin, and with the addition of Italian as well. So, in ninth grade, they'll continue on with the study of the language. And as you can see from the chart in 10 in 10th grade, 11th grade and 12th grade, they if they choose to do so, they can continue the study of their language and reach all the way to their senior year where they can take the year five uh study of the language um which in some of the cases include AP classes and ECA classes as well. Um we do have some flexibility within the beginning of the years for some uh switching of language or addition of languages. Um however, you know, I I highly encourage you to to encourage your son or daughter to continue the study of a language that they've done that they've started at DOT.
Um, a a couple things that I also wanted to add is is that uh um in Spanish, like the other languages, if you look at the chart in ninth grade, we have Spanish 2CP and Spanish 2CP. So, in Spanish is the only language that we offer these two levels. We we offer the the college prep class or the competitive college prep class. All of the other languages only offer the CCP level. Um, usually the CP level uh uh is recommended to that student that really uh struggles a little bit with the acquisition of language structure uh and that that that have a hard time dealing with with linguistic concepts. Um just so you know the content of the two CP and CCP is the same. Uh the only difference between the two of them is the pacing of the classes. Um, I hope this has kind of cleared a little bit some of the questions you might have and uh and and kind of put a light into the chart that you have uh in front of you.
That's all. Thank you so much, Mr. Bronco. I think from listening to our humanities group, it it can be a little dizzying to realize all of the opportunities that our students have when they arrive at the high school. We strive to provide uh every opportunity for them to gain the the skills and the depth of knowledge they need to to go on to whatever they seek to do when they when they exit our doors after four years. So, our humanities group is is going to sign off.
Uh you have their email um I'm sorry, their link to the Google meet so that you can drop in and ask them any questions you want uh during that that drop in time. And our STEM faculty is going to join us in a moment and we're going to ask Mrs. Petaro to stay on because uh her work al extends into every area of our school. She supports every area of our school. So uh I thank you and I thank our humanities faculty so much for for sharing your expertise and your passion for for teaching and learning. Thank you. We'll take a pause. Welcome back. And we are here with our STEM faculty, our department leaders for our STEM department. So I will introduce them and they can say a few words. Uh Mrs. Julie, Miss Julie Barker. She is our department chair for science. Hello.
I'm Julie Barker. I'm the science department chair. I've been here for 25 years and I love teaching science to all students. And Mrs. Kathy Sullivan. Oh, you're muted. Knew I do that. I'm Kathy Sullivan. I'm department chair for physical education and health K through 12. So I have all the way the whole district. And Mr. Shawn Mchuan. Good evening. I am chair for career and technical education grades 7 through 12. Mrs. Cindy Sarlo.