Specials Are Special

Students at Indian Trail should feel privileged to be able to have such a wide variety of experiences in our Specials Classes. Few junior high schools in our state have the exploratory courses Indian Trail is able to offer to students. This issue of Trail Talk features classes from both our Specials 1 and Specials 2 rotations.

The Specials 1 rotation courses are Art, Health (6th) Applied Technology (7th/8th), Life Skills and Computer. In the last issue you learned about our Art classes. This time we are featuring our computer classes. Miss Griffith’s and Mr. Tataris’ computer classes are currently working on fine tuning our word processing skills in Microsoft Word. As we progress throughout the quarter, we will have an opportunity to work with other programs such as Publisher, Access, Excel, HyperStudio, Paint, and PowerPoint. Each year we work on expanding our computer knowledge, by building on what was learned in previous grade levels. Many projects are hands-on, based upon real world examples, and prepare students for high school. This class is all about keeping up with technology!

Representing the Specials 2 rotation courses of Music, Math Lab, Literacy Lab and Humanities (6th/7th) Careers (8th) in this issue is Mrs. Wiesen, who teaches and designs the curriculum for our Math Lab. What’s happening in Math Lab? Here’s the angle. Sixth grade students are learning about various angles. They are constructing angles, classifying them, and using a protractor to accurately find their measurements. Later on, students will study the characteristics of triangles and other polygons. Currently, eighth grade students are using the Geometer’s Sketchpad computer program to explore special angle pairs. This interactive computer program allows students to discover key ideas as they construct geometric figures, learn relationships between them and problem solve. In the future, students will have opportunities to investigate the Pythagorean Theorem and 3-dimensional figures. Math Lab is a fun, hands-on way for students to build their math skills. It also provides extra practice and support for standardized tests.

 

222 Kennedy Dr.
Addison, Illinois 60101