100% DL Electives for Acellus

This course is designed for students seeking a mastery of Spanish as a second language. The course is taught by the Discover Method, making it the right choice for students of any native tongue having little or no Spanish background. Discover Spanish incorporates the syntax, vocabulary and pronunciation needed to comprehend Spanish in an everyday environment. This course is ideal for students learning Spanish for the first time, or for a student needing extra practice and help improving their understanding of the Spanish language. Discover Spanish can be used in a stand-alone environment or to supplement teacher instruction in the classroom in a blended learning environment.

The Elementary Ecology course, targeted for Grades 2-4, is taught by Ms. Emily Rogers. Ms. Rogers engages students by teaching them the food chain in the context of specific ecosystems. She explores changes to ecosystems and how these changes affect the organisms living there. Exciting virtual field trips help deepen students' understanding of the concepts presented.

This Elementary Engineering course introduces students to the basics of engineering and analyzes the major impact engineers have had on the world as we know it. Students will study each step of the engineering design process, and then put these steps into action. They will practice problem-solving and brainstorming through different design challenges, and will also learn about several fields of engineering that exist today.

The Foundations of Music course develops a foundation for students of what music is, the different instruments in the various families of musical instruments, musical periods, select composers, and musical genres and styles. Course topics include:

• What is Music?

• Music Basics

• String Family

• Percussion Family

• Brass Family

• Woodwind Family

• The Human Voice

• Music Ensembles

• Musical Periods of Western Music

• Musical Styles and Genres

• Fundamentals of Music Sound

Music Appreciation is taught by Acellus Instructor Dr. Adrianna Marshall.

In Social Emotional Learning - Elementary, Dr. Pajet Monet addresses basic social and emotional concepts that every child needs - from getting along with others to self esteem, from learning to be aware of the feelings of others to dealing with insensitive people or emotionally challenging situations. Dr. Monet's sincerely caring attitude radiates out to students, helping them to accept the life-enriching ideas she presents. Addressing serious issues that students will encounter throughout their lives, Dr. Monet encourages students to realize that even at a young age, they are the captains of their fates, that they control where their lives will go, and that they have the power to overcome any adversity and become truly amazing people.

In the Acellus STEM 1: Introduction to Coding course, students are taught how to program using the Blockly coding language. With Blockly, everything is done with little building blocks that snap together in an intuitive way. Each block represents a small piece of code that together makes an entire program. Coding with blocks allows students to focus on the fundamental principles of coding without the challenging initial learning curve required for traditional programming languages. Students will be led through activities with incrementally more advanced building blocks. Each block is similar in structure to the syntax and style of real world programming languages. As students learn to program by snapping blocks together, they are laying a foundation for more advanced programming languages. Students will learn about conditional statements, loops, and functions. Acellus STEM 1: Introduction to Coding is taught by Acellus Instructors Dr. John Billings and Jennifer Blank.

Acellus STEM 2: JavaScript is the second coding course in the Acellus STEM-10 initiative. Students are taught how to code first with Blockly and then with JavaScript source code. With Blockly, everything is done using little building blocks that snap together in an intuitive way. The blocks are used to help introduce students to the JavaScript syntax. Students will study fundamental programming concepts, as well as practice writing their own source code. Acellus STEM 2: JavaScript is taught by Acellus Instructor Dr. John Billings.

In the Acellus STEM 3: Electronics and Coding course, students are taught the fundamental principles and aspects of electronics, as well as basic coding for electronics. Utilizing the JavaScript language and an on-screen circuit-board simulator, students are able to code simulated real-world electronics. They learn about circuits, schematics, and circuit boards, as well as electrical current, resistance/resistors, and seven-segment displays. They study electromagnets, electric motors, and electric generators, as well as semiconductors and microcontrollers. Students develop their understanding of the JavaScript language, studying code statements, logic statements, and breaks, as well as switch statements. They explore variables, operators, data types, and functions. They discuss arrays, objects, and digital signals. The Acellus STEM 3: Electronics and Coding course is taught by Acellus Instructor Dr. John Billings.