Health Education is a health science elective course that introduces students to what good health is, why good health is important, and what students should do to achieve good health.

• Body Essentials: This unit introduces the different systems in the human body, showing how the body develops.

• Physical Health: This unit demonstrates to students how they may develop good practices as they promote proper physical health.

• Social and Mental Health: This unit teaches how to establish strong social and mental health though true health wisdom.

• Preventive Healthcare and First Aid: This unit focuses instruction on safety, emergency care, and disease prevention.

• Responsible Living: This unit discusses how students may apply the principles of good stewardship, covering topics like pollution, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

Fundamentals of Digital Media presents an overview of the different types of digital media and how they are used in the world today. This course examines the impact of digital media on culture and lifestyle, reviews the basic concepts for creating effective digital media, and introduces a number of different career paths related to digital media.

Students learn about the tools used as well as the best practices employed for creating digital media. This includes an overview of the new media creation process and the basic concepts of project management.

In this course, students explore topics such as the use of social media, digital media in advertising, digital media on the World Wide Web, digital media in business, gaming and simulations, e-commerce, and digital music and movies. Students also review the ethics and laws that have an impact on digital media use and creation.

Keyboarding and Applications is a semester-long elective that teaches students keyboarding skills, technical skills, effective communication skills, and productive work habits. In this course, students will learn about proper keyboarding technique. Once students have been introduced to keyboarding skill, lessons will include daily practice of those skills. Students will gain an understanding of computer hardware, operating systems, file management, and the Internet. In addition, they will apply their keyboarding skills and create a variety of business documents, including word processing documents and electronic presentations. 

Students will develop knowledge of the history and theory of art and the relationship between artist, artwork, and society, including researching and critiquing periods, styles, and works of art from early civilizations through modern and contemporary art. Additionally, students will complete extended, focused projects that will challenge their research, writing, and analysis skills. 

BCIS is a high school elective that explores the use of technology applications in both business and personal situations. The course provides key knowledge and skills in the following areas:

• communication skills

• business technology

• word processing applications

• spreadsheet applications

• database applications

• telecommunications technology

• desktop publishing technology

• presentation technology

• computer networks

• computer operating systems

The course is intended to help students arrive at the following understandings:

• Effective communications skills and productive work habits can increase employees’ success.

• Technology solutions can help employees be more productive and effective.

Keyboarding is a stated prerequisite for this course. While there are some keyboarding reviews in the course, there is no keyboarding instruction.

Computer Science Principles is a two-semester course that helps 11th- and 12th-grade students understand computing systems beginning with how they work on the inside and how they communicate with each other through networks to create the internet. Students learn how to program Python, an open-source programming language. They will plan and write original programs both on their own and as part of a team. Programming includes making mistakes, so students will learn how to write test cases that thoroughly test their programs. They will also learn how to handle errors that users make. 

In this course, students also study the impact of computer science on the world around them. They investigate the digital divide and measures that can be employed to address inequities. Students learn about security issues and how they can be addressed. In every lesson, students will complete computer-graded assessments. Each lesson also includes at least one video animation and an interactive activity. Each unit contains at least two projects that require students to do research or solve a problem, often by writing an original program. The course ends with a culminating project that will require students to create a computing artifact.

Essentials of Communication: A Guide to Interacting Effectively in Today's World™ is a five-unit elective course for high school students. The materials cover fundamentals of the communication process important for successful interaction in a variety of social and professional settings. Students can use the course to gain and apply knowledge about communication theories, characteristics of language and language use, interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, and public speaking in order to interact more effectively with others.

The course seeks to help students expand their knowledge and skills as communicators so that they may achieve the following goals:

• Know and understand aspects of communication theories and processes appropriate to both social and professional settings.

• Use interpersonal communication strategies appropriately in social and professional settings.

• Effectively communicate in social and professional group settings.

• Plan, prepare, deliver, and evaluate formal and informal personal and professional presentations.

In attaining these goals, students will be better equipped to use communication to hone other life skills, including exchanging information, fulfilling social obligations, developing relationships, and understanding and meeting the needs of others.

This class aims to demonstrate the ways the media are more than "just entertainment." Please keep in mind, though, that this class does not aim to ruin the entertainment value of media for you! Go ahead and enjoy your movies, TV shows, video games, and whatever else you enjoy. Keep in mind that media are more than entertainment. And don't worry — you can learn how to be more critical of the media and still enjoy them. In fact, by learning more about them, you might enjoy them more. 

Students will build a strong foundation of knowledge focused on basic musical elements and the development and growth of classical music, and will acquire a greater appreciation of music. Additionally, students will examine music in the world around them and discover how they experience music. They'll be introduced to the basic elements and sounds of music and instruments, learn the names and backgrounds of several famous musical composers, and learn how and where classical music began, how it developed over the centuries, and the ways in which music and culture affect each other. Lastly, students will examine the ways modern music has been influenced by classical music.

• Discovering Music: Students will learn the basics of listening to, responding to, and participating in music, including completing independent projects that utilize engaged listening skills; students will also understand music from other cultures.

• Beginnings of Music: Students will examine early music history, spanning from medieval times to the Baroque era, and complete focused research and writing projects on the topic.

• Modern Music: Students will focus on music of the twentieth-century, including popular, Broadway, and film music, culminating in project requiring students to attend and critique a classical concert in their community.

• Course Review and Exam: Students will complete a full review of key course concepts, and demonstrate their mastery through a final examination.

Please note that this course provides students with lessons in engaged listening. These special lessons allow students to listen and respond to music. A template for how to listen and respond is provided.

Students will explore the nature of music, integrating the key concepts of rhythm and meter, written music notation, the structure of various scale types, interval qualities, melody and harmony, the building of chords, and transposition. Throughout the series of assignments, ear training exercises are interspersed with the bones of composition technique, building in students the ability not only to hear and appreciate music, but step-by-step, to create it in written form as well. This highly interactive course culminates in the students producing original compositions, which while based on standard notation, demonstrate facets of personal expression. As the students’ ability to perform increases in the future, they will better understand music and therefore better demonstrate its intrinsic communication of emotion and ideas.

• Rhythm and Meter: Students will build a foundational understanding of the elements of musical rhythm and meter, including the measure of different notes, time signatures, and special rhythms; additionally, students will participate in ear training exercises to build their skill in this area.

• Notation and Pitch: Students will identify musical symbols, intervals, and instrumentation, and will be able to use this knowledge to compose and original melody.

• Harmony: Students will construct an understanding of the key aspects of harmony including the various categories of intervals and triads, and participate in ongoing ear training exercises; this unit culminates in the independent composition of a simple accompaniment.

• Making Music: Students will actively participate in the interpretation and composition of music, utilizing their knowledge of musical elements such as rhythm, pitch, key, harmony, and expression.

• Course Review and Exam: Students will complete a full review of key course concepts, and demonstrate their mastery through a final examination.

This semester-long high school elective takes students on an interactive exploration of the challenges they may face as they transition into adulthood, including constructive conflict resolution, nutrition and health, building healthy families, financial responsibility, and long-term employment.

Physical Education is a semester-long elective designed for high school students. The course focuses on performance of individual and team sports, with explanations of proper technique, rules of the game, and preparation. Team sports introduced include soccer, basketball, football, baseball, and volleyball. An introduction to fitness, strength, endurance, and nutrition is also included.

Students will have the opportunity to perform each sport on their own time, while keeping a log of activity. The goal is incorporation of activity into their daily lives and the gain of lifelong healthy fitness habits.

Throughout the course, students may be asked to answer questions or to reflect on what they’ve read in their notes. The notes are not graded. Rather, they are a way for students to extend their thinking about the lesson content. Students may keep handwritten or typed notes.

Physical Fitness is a semester-length elective designed for high school students. The course focuses on the health benefits of regular physical activity and of a long term exercise program.

As students work through the course, they will learn about the many aspects of physical fitness, including basic nutrition, the importance of flexibility, cardiovascular health, muscle and strength training, and realistic goal setting. Along the way, students will be required to maintain and submit an activity log in order to measure progress in course exercises, as well as in personal fitness goals.

Upon completion of Physical Fitness, students should possess the knowledge and skills needed to do the following:

• Analyze the key components of successful physical activity and use this analysis to determine if a program is reasonable and effective.

• Describe the three main types of physical activity that should be included in a exercise regime and the health benefits of each.

• Perform basic fitness exercises associated with the three main types of physical activity discussed in this course.

• Identify the main motivational strategies that can be used to help the student continue in positive fitness habits once this course is completed.