Elective Offerings

Preview course descriptions and then use the sign up form to confirm your choices.

Please use extend the + sign to view the different elective offerings. Please note that some electives are two semesters in length and unless you signed up in the fall, it will not be available for a second semester enrollment. Additionally, Drones is only offered in the fall.

Art and Design

Basic Art

One Semester Course- .5

Fees- None

Learn the basics of art while you develop your own style. Master basic techniques and tricks-of-the-trade as you frame your subjects, build your sketches with basic art forms, and fill your works with color and texture. You will create artwork as you explore each topic assigned. At the end of the course suggested art venues in which you may be successful will be discussed.

REQUIREMENTS-All artwork will be done in your personal sketchbook (except for special projects). All work will be critiqued by instructor. At the end of the class you will complete an online portfolio for your final grade.

SUPPLIES LIST

8/12 card stock computer paper
o Mod podge — available at Target or Amazon and craft stores
o Xacto knife
o Scissors or paper cutter
o Pencils
o Rulers
o Collage craft paper– available at amazon
o Magazines
o Paint brushes- Suggested set 
o Watercolors- Suggested set  
o Acrylic paint
o Gesso Paint
o Illustration Board- white
o Sharpies- colors
o Colored pencils
o Pencils
o Pens
o Rubber cement
o Elmer’s glue

Blending Stumps- Suggested Set

Charcoal Pencils

Beginning Photoshop

Course Fee: None

In this course you will also learn how to apply filters, create effects and work with layers to create some interesting effects and projects.
You’ll learn how to:

  • Create filters
  • Draw effects
  •  Adjust the colors in your photos to make them crisp and clear
  • Change the mood of your photos
  • Crop and resize photos and images
  • Work with text effects
  •  Add layers

You will need Adobe CC for this course and you may ‘rent’ it for a modest $9.99 fee using Adobe Creative Cloud. You will need the SINGLE APP PHOTOGRAPHY plan.

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html?promoid=CJ132JRD&mv=other

Culinary Artistry - Food FX

One Semester - .5 Credit

Course Fee - $182

There are two universal languages, Food and Music; both bring out a myriad of emotions. Music speaks to us when there are no words left to say and food is well known for feeding the soul. In this course, your taste buds explode in a symphony  of flavors and your creative chef skills come to life.

Learn how to use a knife like the pros and the importance of refining your palate as you cook. You will discover how

flavor combinations work together to produce dishes that are truly outstanding and by the end of his course, you will level up from being a good cook, to becoming a true culinary artist!

This course relies heavily on hands on cooking exercises and requires you to use a digital camera or device to document your progress each week. We will be meeting, sharing and discussing our culinary experiences each week.

Music Appreciation

.5 Credit

This class is for students who have an appreciation for music but don’t want to participate in a performance-based course. Students will be introduced to the elements of music through exploration of music theory, concert observations, computer programs, web based instruction, and listening assignments.

Topics covered in Music Appreciation include

  • The Elements of Music
  • The Instruments of the Orchestra
  • Musical Style Periods
  • Elements of Music as used in the various Style Periods
  • Musical Forms of the Style Periods
  • Jazz and World Music

Gaming and Technology

Drones- .5 credit

NOTE- OFFERED FALL SEMESTER ONLY

Course Fee- $175 in addition to the required Drone Kit available from Amazon.

Note 1- A smartphone is needed to utilize the video app for production.

Note 2- Available for high school credit to 8th graders with experience in video production and or a desire to learn drones.

Attention Potential Pilots-Note from Instructor : Flight Space Restrictions.

It is important to understand that due to  the size of the drone and the scope of this course, considerations of flight space need to be made. Flight in an airspace enclosed by trees or other hazards typical to a residential back yard will not be a suitable areas to perform your flights. Students enrolled in Drones will need access to a public park, recreational area, or a local school with unused sports fields as possible flight locations. Suitable flight spaces and flight restrictions will be covered in detail but any initial questions about access to a  suitable flight space should be emailed to me first. Please use the main contact form here on the WiloStar site to ask your questions.

Course Overview

Drones are one of the fastest growing industries in aviation. This course will teach you how to build your own drone, the basics of aerial photography and how to pilot your drone. Drone maintenance, as well as system programming and an overview of aviation and radio laws will also be covered. This course is for beginners and requires the purchase of the recommended drone from amazon.com. Students will also be expected to take and share their aerial photography and videos as part of the course participation and assessment.

  • Drones Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules and regulations for commercial drones.
  • How to assemble and fly your new drone.
  • Drone models and equipment, from hobby and prosumer drones, to microdrones and specialty drones.
  • Step-by-step guide to registering your drone.
  • Drone safety guidelines and flight checklist.
  • Industry trends, jobs and market projections.

Unity 2D Platform Game Development: .5 Credit
Cost- $175

NOTE- OFFERED FALL SEMESTER ONLY

Class size limited!

Note- this class has live class meetings on Wednesday using Adobe Connect -screen sharing app 11:00-12:00 EST

A town is in peril after their friendly robots become broken! It’s Ruby’s quest to fix them! Learn to create this small 2D RPG from scratch and save the town!
Level- Beginner
In this course you will learn:

How to use and customize the Unity Game Engine Editor
How to manage your project resources and scenes throughout development
How to create a character and controller
World layout and design using tile maps
How to adapt static sprites to animated sprites
World interactions for:
Blocking character movement
Picking up collectibles
Damaging the character
Enemies in the world
Making A Quest and dialogue UI
Visual styling using particles
Visualizing game information in a HUD
Adding audio for BGM and SFX
Building, running and distributing your game

E-Sports Gaming/ Stem Accredited

Open to grades 9-12 only

Course Fee- $199 + league registry fee for a total of $300 per semester

One Semester - .5 credit starting at high school level.

Live Wiloworlds Class - Every Wednesday from 1:30-2:30pm EST in the ESports world

E-Sports is a flourishing industry. Participants will learn of many job opportunities besides being a pro-player. Students will explore the influence of media and culture on technology and E-Sports Health, and  participate in streaming live games.

Gaming brings people together and when you work together in E-Sports it’s unlike any other team sport. Our E-Sports class infuses gaming with compassion and good sportsmanship that students can take with them all throughout their lives.

This two semester E-Sports class helps students improve communication skills, and  healthy gaming behaviors. Students who  participate in our E-Sports class  will have the chance to win a scholarship for college!

So if you love to play Video Games, are looking to Level Up and the chance to make Lifelong Friends , then our E-sports Class is for you!

Space is limited so sign up early!

Information Technology Applications

One Semester (.5 credit)

Fee- $175

Information Technology Applications prepares students to work in the field of Information Technology. Students will be able to demonstrate digital literacy through basic study of computer hardware, operating systems, networking, the Internet, web publishing, spreadsheets and database software. Through a series of hand-on activities, students will learn what to expect in the field of Information Technology and begin exploring career options in the field.

Information Technology Applications is an introductory level Career and Technical Education course applicable to programs of study in information technology as well as other career clusters. This course is built to state and national standards. Students who successfully complete the course will be prepared to pursue the Microsoft® Office Specialist certifications in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access, as well as IC3 certification.

2D Animation using open source OpenToonz

Just starting to learn animation? This course, taught by the pros at Animator Island v will help you to understand and master this magical skill quicker. This course will show you how to animate step by step and master the basics of 2D animation. Each Wednesday you will have exercises to complete and you will be expected to stay on track for the final production of your animated monster. There is no live class meeting but you will have weekly check ins on your WiloStar dashboard.

Skills you will learn include:

  • smoothing
  • physics
  • blueprinting
  • keyframe interpolation

By the end of the course you should be skilled enough to export a video of your cute bouncing monster!

Chess Logic - Chess Club and Critical Thinking

Course Fee: $198

One Semester - .5 credit

Live Wiloworlds Class - Every Wednesday from 12:30-1:30pm EST in the ChessLogic World

Chess, the Game of Kings! The most challenging game in the world has come to Wilostar3D.  Chess has stood the test of time, surviving the centuries. Chess is a game that has immediate rewards and punishments and is a great place to practice your problem solving skills.  The only thing you need to play chess is basic logic, and in this course your brain power is about to level up!

This course is for the most basic beginner (which means you have never played chess in your life), to the player who considers himself a Champion. Students will challenge other students in weekly duels, and attempt to best their instructor for his chess title! You will love Chess Logic if you are competitive, have a quick wit and love a good old fashioned challenge.  We will meet weekly and learn new moves to enhance your game, connect with friends, and conquer enemies in this age old game.

In the meantime you will learn how to exercise your brain, recognize good reasoning power from bad, and outwit your competitor. So come get your game on, where flexing your aplomb and showing off your finesse is a good thing.  Stake your claim for victory and become, The Master!

Class size limited to 16 students.

English and Foreign Languages

Pre-Latin – Introduction to Latin

Course Fee: $182 PER SEMESTER.

This is a full credit two semester course. Students need to take semester 1 in order to take semester 2.

Latin remains a vital tool in improving children’s fundamental understanding of English and other languages. Latin comes alive in this course through the use of hands on activities and virtual world projects creating the foundation for a deep understanding of cultural, political, and literary history. You may already know about the academic benefits of studying Latin. If not, consider this: Recent studies conducted by the Educational Testing Service reveal that Latin students consistently outperform their peers on the verbal section of the SAT. A similar effect has been documented among students taking the ACT. I am sure everyone has heard the phrase, “Knowledge is Power.” In terms of the origin of words this couldn’t be more true. There are thousands upon thousands of words in our English language. Simply studying vocabulary words alone would be an overwhelming task. However what if you could learn 3-5 new words per week, over 100 in total at the end of the school year, and those 100 words would open doors for you to have a better vocabulary and give you the ability to have better comprehension of everything you read in all of your future school years! Well that is the goal of “ Origins” class. By learning 100 Greek and Latin root words, you will be able to decipher the meanings to many new words. In this class, you will not only learn root words, but you will as study the history behind the meanings of the words and the people that first used them.

French 1 and French 2

Course Fee : $175 per course

French is a full year course which means students need to take it both semesters. It is a full credit course.

French I teaches students to greet people, describe family and friends, talk about hobbies, and communicate about other topics, such as sports, travel, and medicine. Each lesson presents vocabulary, grammar, and culture in context, followed by explanations and exercises. Vocabulary includes terms to describe school subjects, parts of the body, and people, as well as idiomatic phrases. Instruction in language structure and grammar includes the verb system, adjective agreement, formal and informal address, reflexive verbs, and past tense. Students also gain an understanding of the cultures of French-speaking countries and regions within and outside Europe, as well as insight into Francophone culture and people.

French 2

French II teaches students to communicate more confidently about themselves, as well as about topics beyond their own lives – both in formal and informal address. Each lesson presents vocabulary, grammar, and culture in context, followed by explanations and exercises. Vocabulary includes terms in cooking, geography, and architecture. Instruction in language structure and grammar includes present- and past-tense verb forms and uses, negation, and direct and indirect objects. Students deepen their knowledge of French-speaking regions and cultures by learning about history, literature, culture, and contemporary issues.

The material in this course is presented at a moderate pace.

Spanish 1 and Spanish 2

Course Fee: $175 per course

Spanish I teaches students to greet people, describe family and friends, talk about hobbies, and communicate about other topics, such as home life, occupations, travel, and medicine. Each lesson presents vocabulary, grammar, and culture in context, followed by explanations and exercises. Vocabulary includes terms to describe school subjects, parts of the body, and people, as well as idiomatic phrases. Instruction in language structure and grammar includes the structures and uses of present-tense verb forms, imperatives, adjective agreement, impersonal constructions, formal and informal address, and reflexive verbs. Students explore words used in different Spanish-speaking regions and learn about the cultures of Spanish-speaking countries and regions within and outside Europe.

Spanish 2-Building on Spanish I concepts, Spanish II students learn to communicate more confidently about themselves, as well as about topics beyond their own lives – both in formal and informal situations. Each lesson presents vocabulary, grammar, and culture in context, followed by explanations and exercises. Students expand their vocabulary in topics such as cooking, ecology, geography, and architecture. Instruction in language structure and grammar includes a review of present-tense verb forms, an introduction to the past tense, the conditional mood, imperatives, impersonal constructions, and reported speech. Students deepen their knowledge of Spanish-speaking regions and cultures by learning about history, literature, culture, and contemporary issues.

Fantasy Writing Course

Credits- .5

Live Class Requirement on Wednesdays- 11:30-12:20 EST

Course Fee- $175

This course is an introduction to the art of fantasy writing and merges immersive storytelling into the mix.  Class participants will write and revise  fantasy pieces in a number of  sub-genres of their choices from dystopian, medieval, gothic and other fantasy genres. The central focus of the class will be on various processes for creating, revising and using feedback during the writing process. Students will use 3D immersive tools to help organize their drafts and recreate scenes from their creations along with our whiteboarding collaboration tools. Most importantly, however, will be learning to engage in a supportive creative community that empowers individual curiosity, and artistic risk taking.

Science and History

Forensic Science

Two Semester course - 1 credit

Note - this course has been re-vamped and is now a 2-year program. You can just take one year with it; however, in order to receive a special avatar as well as other achievements you will need to complete the full 2-year program.

Course Fee - $208 PER SEMESTER

Live Wiloworlds Class - Every Wednesday from 11:00am-12:00pm EST in the SherlockScience world

Do you love technology, science, cybernetics,  virtual reality, wildlife, CSI, and unsolved mysteries? How about all of those combined? That’s exactly what we will be exploring in The Science of Sherlock Holmes.

We will be learning just how old fingerprinting really is, how your nose always knows, and how bugs are actually good for you. We will learn how modern-day Robocop facial recognition glasses work, how deleted files are never really deleted, and how your DNA can be found on a knife that you never touched!  We will learn that teeth are trustworthy, how a fly solved a murder, and how to create a life raft from raincoats. After breaking ground in forensics, we will combine our newly acquired knowledge to help solve a mystery.

In our second semester we will work on three wildlife CSI cases, then we will recreate the famous Escape from Alcatraz in 1962, as well as the prison itself. Lastly, we will explore forensic clues using Google 360 virtual glasses. Sign up soon, class size is limited to 16 students.

This course is a two semester elective which means double the fun!

Health

One semester- .5 Credit

Course Fee: None

Topics covered include:

Personal Health, Mental Health, Conflict Resolution, Nutrition, Fitness, Drugs, Disease Prevention. Health risks, decision-making and refusal skills are integrated into the curriculum.

Major units include:

(1) First Aid and CPR

(2) Family Living

(3) Mental Health and Well Being.

Child Development

One Semester- .5 Credit

Course Fee: None

Families are an important aspect of today’s society. In this course positive interpersonal and family relationships and a realistic understanding of the stages of the human life cycle will be taught. Specific emphasis will be on the responsibilities of parenting and the developing child. The connections among the individual, the family, and the world of work will discussed. A goal of the course is for the students to realize their individual potential in their present and future family, the community, and their future careers.

Financial Literacy

One Semester -.5 Credit

Fees- None

Financial Literacy helps students recognize and develop vital skills that connect life and career goals with personalized strategies and milestone-based action plans. Students explore concepts and work toward a mastery of personal finance skills, deepening their conceptual understanding of key ideas and extending their knowledge in a variety of problem-solving applications. Course topics include career planning; income, taxation, and budgeting; savings accounts, checking accounts, and electronic banking; interest, investments, and stocks; cash, debit, credit, and credit scores; insurance; and consumer purchasing advice on how to buy a car or house, including buying, renting, and leasing options. These topics are solidly supported by writing and discussion activities. Journal activities provide introspective opportunities for students to apply concepts on a personal scale as well as analyze scenarios from a third-party perspective. Discussions help students network with each other by sharing personalized strategies and goals and recognizing the diversity of life and career plans within a group. To assist students for whom language presents a barrier to learning or who are not reading at grade level, Financial Literacy includes audio resources in English.

College and Career Prep- one semester (.5 credit)

Course Fee- 169

Open to grades 10-12

High school students have many questions about the college application process, what it takes to be a successful college student, and how to begin thinking about their careers.

In College and Career Preparation I, students obtain a deeper understanding of what it means to be ready for college. Students are informed about the importance of high school performance in college admissions and how to prepare for college testing. They know the types of schools and degrees they may choose to pursue after high school and gain wide exposure to the financial resources available that make college attainable.

Career readiness is also a focus. Students connect the link between interests, college majors, and future careers by analyzing career clusters. Students come away from this course understanding how smart preparation and skill development in high school can lead into expansive career opportunities after they have completed their education and are ready for the working world.

Students who complete College and Career Preparation I have the basic skills and foundation of knowledge to progress into College and Career Preparation II, the capstone course that provides hands-on information about the transition from high school to college and career.

Geography

One Semester- .5 Credit

Fees- None

This course is dedicated to a study of the world around us.  The class starts with an introduction to geography, in which students will learn the five themes of geography, the features that define the earth, the climate patterns of the earth, how to study peoples and cultures of the earth and how to use various geographic tools.  From there students will use the skills they have learned to apply to the ten areas of the world we will be studying by creating 10 different virtual world projects showcasing what they have learned.

.  In addition to using these skills to apply to ten areas, the students will look at the physical features of those areas (land, climate, and types of vegetation).  Each area will also be addressed in terms of its culture, which includes studies of population patterns, history and government, and cultures/lifestyles.  The final area to be addressed to each of the ten areas is current news about the area.  This includes current living conditions, current news events, and how people there are interacting with their environment.

Digital Information

Two Semester course - 1 credit

Course Fee - $182

Digital X is the class in which you will learn basics of Digital Safety, Etiquette, and about how Social Media effects your choices. We will be focusing on navigating the web and staying safe while learning about your Avatar Life and your Myi-Identity. Other topics cover include:

  • How to manage Digital Friendships
  • Big, Big Data
  • Chatting and Red Flags
  • Don’t Feed the Phish
  • Protecting Online Reputations
  • Hoaxes and Deep Fakes
  • Challenging Confirmation Bias
  • Find out Who’s Looking at your Digital Footprint
  • Filter Bubble Trouble
  • Credit-Mix and Mash and  Risk Check for New Tech
  • My Hacker Life
  • How to Connect with Digital Audiences

Since the internet is ever expanding this is a 2-semester class.

This is an interactive class that meets once per week on Wednesday for a live interactive session.

Zen Fit - A Guided Customizable Fitness Program

Course Fee - $79 per semester

Having trouble deciding what to do for P.E each day? Then Zen Fit is for you! Our program is more than just giving you a daily exercise routine or learning about eating right. It’s about teaching students to understand what influences their choices. Zen Fit focuses on making good, sound choices for oneself. Zen Fit is grounded on the understanding that being a healthy human means making healthy choices.

Zen Fit Objectives and Topics Covered include:

  • Establishing Physical Literacy
  • Teaching Lifelong Fitness Skills
  • Guide and Monitor Progress
  • Inspire Confidence
  • Encourage Participation
  • Sleep Routines
  • Healthy Thinking Patterns
  • Body Types
  • More than 100 hours of Stress-Free Content
  • Fitness
  • Nutrition
  • Dance Fitness
  • Shadowboxing
  • Switch Fitness Boxing
  • Switch Ring- Fit
  • Switch- Just Dance
  • Nintendo Switch Sports
  • Mobility
  • Mindfulness
  • Yoga
  • Tai-Chi