Terms: 3Grades: 10|11|12
Spend the trimester learning about and making art from the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries. As a class, we will focus on making art dealing with the revolutionary aesthetic and art practices of the 1800’s in Europe such as Impressionism and Expressionism then move to the Modernism and Abstract movements in the 1900’s that took inspiration from many cultures and art practices around the world. We will end the trimester making art inspired from the present time with an emphasis on pop, street art, artists of color, woman artists, and LGBTQ artists.
Honors Option Available. Explore additional art practices and materials during the trimester through various prompts and well as open ended visual challenges to earn Honors credit.
Skills: Students will be able to identify, interpret and execute different styles and art practices through the last three centuries of art.
Grades 10, 11, 12
Prerequisites: Art Survey
Terms: 1Grades: 10|11|12
Find different ways to convey stories through two dimensional art with emphasis on comics, children books and wordless novels. We will explore pen and ink techniques, color theory, sequential drawing, storyboard techniques and character development. Students will keep a sketchbook and regularly develop original characters and stories throughout the trimester.
Prerequisites: Prerequisites: Art Survey
Terms: 3Grades: 10|11|12
Ms Carroll and Mr Orton bring Zoology and Art together.
Students will use a variety of artistic techniques and materials to explore natural variations and differences in patterns of life at all levels and the critical role of organisms in ecosystems. Through the analysis of these differences, students will interpret their findings through 2D and 3D art and will gain an appreciation for the nuances in form and function that embody the diversity of the animal kingdom.
Skills: Students will be able to communicate differences in the natural world by implementing drawing, painting and sculpting fundamentals for each assignment and project.
Honors Options: Students in honors will design, create and compare a species that evolves in two theoretical environments.
Prerequisites: Art Survey, Biology 9
Terms: 1Grades: 10|11|12
Mr McLain and Mr Orton bring studio arts and graphic design together. You’ll create physical products like posters, book covers, type experiments and much more, and you’ll apply your designs in virtual environments like web pages, videos, and CAD designs. Emphasis will be on learning composition and design principles in the art studio in order to refine interesting projects with our Computer lab’s top design software.
Terms: 3Grades: 10|11|12
Learn about Historical and Contemporary mural ideas and practices throughout the world then participate in making a mural that is interesting, original and uplifting. In small groups, students will design and execute murals on large wood panels as well as large RHS fixtures to be displayed for years.
Skills: Students will gain a working knowledge of composition fundamentals, color theory and design basics and apply these skills to community based artwork. .
Grades 10, 11, 12
Honors Option Available. Explore additional art practices and materials during the trimester through weekly prompts and well as open ended visual challenges to earn Honors credit.
Prerequisites: Art Survey
Terms: 1Grades: 10|11|12
Learn the fundamentals of painting then further develop your individual point of view while experimenting with traditional as well as non-traditional painting techniques and materials. Artists are encouraged to experiment with the many styles and techniques demonstrated then begin the road toward mastery of their favorite.
Terms: 2Grades: 10|11|12
Learn the history, culture and techniques of zine making from the 1980’s to present. In the art studio, we will explore various binding techniques then work with prompts to make zines covering counter-cultures, how-to guides, art, collage, underground comics and more. Most zine projects will be photo copied, editioned and shared with the class as well as the world around us.
Skills: Students will gain a working knowledge of many book binding, zine binding, printmaking and design techniques.
Honors Option Available. Explore additional art practices and materials during the trimester through weekly prompts and well as open ended visual challenges to earn Honors credit.
Grades 10, 11, 12
Prerequisites: Art Survey
Terms: 3Grades: 10|11|12
Students will select a Spanish speaking country and research specific historical and cultural info each week and present to classmates. They will also include an interview with someone from that country about the topic. It is recommended to have at least two years of Spanish.
Prerequisites: Spanish 1
Terms: 2Grades: 10|11|12
In our busy lives, it is often hard for us to find free time to read. This class will provide students time to read for pleasure. Students will choose what we read as a group and the speed of reading, as well as read their own selections. Book-related activities, refreshments, and discussions will be regular features in the class. Find a book and join us for some tea and talk!
Terms: 3Grades: 10|11|12
In this class, students will experiment with various forms of creative writing--including poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. We'll examine diverse texts and learn to talk about craft. We'll spend time doing fun writing exercises, prompts, and games to get the creative juices flowing. By the end of the term, students will produce a portfolio of work.
Terms: 3Grades: 10|11|12
How do communication skills affect one's life personally, professionally, and socially? The average person ranks public speaking among their top fears, yet it is required in many school and professional settings. This course provides instruction and practice for a variety of speaking situations with a focus on developing skill and confidence in a fun and safe environment. Practice speaking on a variety of topics; work on non-verbal skills like eye-contact, gestures, and posture; and create effective visual aids.
Terms: 2Grades: 10|11|12
People possess multiple, layered identities, including race, gender, class, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and ability, among others. The intersection of these identities affects individual experiences, perspectives and relationships with others. Exploring these identities can help clarify ways in which a person can simultaneously experience privilege and oppression. This course examines various disabilities and the ways in which people in the US experience them. We will also apply an intersectional lens to explore the particular ways that ability impacts our American experience.
Prerequisites: N/A
Terms: 3Grades: 10|11|12
People possess multiple, layered identities, including race, gender, class, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and ability, among others. The intersection of these identities affects individual experiences, perspectives and relationships with others. Exploring these identities can help clarify ways in which a person can simultaneously experience privilege and oppression.
LGBTQ explores the spectra of gender and sexuality and the impact of these on our American experience. The course works to help students navigate the world around them, conscious of various experiences of gender and sexuality in America and with greater empathy for others.
Prerequisites: n/a
Terms: 3Grades: 10|11|12
Across time and across borders, humans have eaten not only for sustenance, but for pleasure, and food has helped shape the creation of societies and religions as well as nations and corporations. Eating together or eating similar cuisine binds families, cultures, and states together, while food taboos and distinctions draw distinctions between strangers. What we eat is not an incidental component of life, but an essential part of how it is structured; every meal we ingest represents a confluence of power, culture, technology, and taste that can be traced back far into the past. We will explore different cultures, create menus, shopping lists budgets, and you will create recipes and cook them using various ingredients you are not used to eating.
Terms: 2Grades: 10|11|12
A fun and competitive class that involves writing, practicing and performing to prepare for the annual High School Mock Trial Competition. Hosted by the Classroom Law Project, the competition is one of its most popular and enduring programs. It begins with more than 70 teams competing in regional competitions across the state and culminates with the state finals competition in Portland. Students work together with classmates, teachers and volunteer attorney-coaches on a hypothetical case. They develop and sharpen critical analysis, public speaking and interpersonal skills. They become more poised and self confident – and they learn about the U.S. justice system in the process. Teams of 8-18 students argue a case in a county courthouse before three-judge panels, comprising attorneys and educators or other community representatives. They will stage the case three times – arguing each side at least once. The top teams from each region compete in state competition.
Terms: 2Grades: 10|11|12
What role does the United Nations play in promoting peace, sustainability, and human rights in a 21st century world? The goal of MUN is to increase understanding about international issues, policy making, and the activities of the United Nations. MUN is an awesome extra curricular activity that brings students from all over Oregon together in a simulation of the United Nations. Students enrolled in this class will complete all requirements to attend the conference during class time and will gain skills in public speaking, research and writing, negotiation and powers of persuasion, leadership, organization, and interpersonal communication. Our countries for the 2019-2020 school year are Australia and Guatemala!
Terms: 3Grades: 10|11|12
For a state on the Pacific Coast, separated from the original United States by vast distances, Oregon has a long history. From its American discovery through the Lewis and Clark Expedition, rapid expansion via the Oregon Trail, the suffragette movement, and the rapid economic expansion during the Second World War. Much of that history is centered around the city and history of Portland. Through this course we will explore the development of Oregon through the lens of its most populous city.
Terms: 1Grades: 10|11|12
This is an introductory course of Philosophy that deals with issues that are profound, complex, challenging and important for understanding in what makes us who we are. More importantly it helps us identify intentional misinformation. A concern with clarity of understanding lies at the core of this philosophy course. This clarity is achieved through critical and systematic thinking, careful analysis of arguments, the study of philosophical themes and a close reading of texts. Through this examination of themes and texts, we will explore fundamental questions that people have asked throughout human history— such as: What does it mean to be “human” and a “person”? What is “wisdom” or “virtue” and can you teach it to others? What is a good life? How ought we to treat others? What is truth?
Terms: 2Grades: 10|11|12
Is Washington gridlock a result of our modern political systems or the intent of the Framers of our Constitution? This course explores the creation of the US Constitution, its flaws and drawbacks, the defined and assumed roles of the branches of government. As we look into our 230 year old government framework, we will keep in mind that “democracy is the worst form of Government, except for all those other forms”.
Terms: 1|2|3Grades: 12
The Global City is a three - 5 credit trimester concurrent enrollment experience: fall (Honors 101), winter (Honors 102) and spring (Honors 103). Students register and pay tuition each term, and are simultaneously enrolled at both Portland State University and Riverdale High School. The course series’ objective is to prepare students for academic research, discussion and process writing. The articles, essays, short stories and documentaries we examine come from a variety of disciplines, calling primarily upon history, political science, urban studies and economics. Daily participation in seminars is required, and entirely dependent upon intentional, thorough reading and annotation; students enrolled in the course typically spend 6-10 hours of time outside of class interpreting and writing about what they've distilled from the course readings. Rather than a survey, or "cities of the world", course, The Global City examines the urban environment as a concept; our objective is to deconstruct, examine and interpret the social, political and economic systems that determine a city's ability to provide a safe, inclusive and environmentally sustainable environment.
Prerequisites: Acceptance Requirements:
3.75 cumulative GPAcompletion of the 2022-2023 The Global City Application form (MUST email lkeldorf@riverdale.k12.or.us for access)Humanities teacher recommendation form (MUST email lkeldorf@riverdale.k12.or.us for access)forecast for the course (using the forecasting platform) and submit BOTH the application and recommendation forms to lkeldorf@riverdale.k12.or.us no LATER than June 10 (11:59pm)enthusiasm for and commitment to the revision process
Terms: 1Grades: 10|11|12
Conflict is an enduring characteristic of human culture. War literature results from human beings experiencing combat and being driven to reconcile their experience. Through writing and discussion this course explores war literature from Ancient Greece to the modern world and realizes that the experiences of human beings in war are a constant.
Terms: 1Grades: 12
What is good academic writing? This college class for seniors offers high school credit, as well as four college credits. Students in this course become better readers, writers and thinkers, as they practice their skills within the writing and reading community of our class. Primary features of the course include: weekly in-class essays, grammar review, a book review and a variety of writing experiences in and out of class that help students to develop their thinking and writing.
Terms: 2Grades: 10|11|12
This is a choir specific to Sopranos and Altos. Through the study of choral music, students will achieve mastery in reading and performing music, allowing for varied proficiency levels by individual students’ capabilities and musicianship abilities. Students will develop an overall awareness of styles and all factors that are involved with choral music will be explored.
Terms: 1|3Grades: 10|11|12
What does it take to produce a high quality choral performance? Through the study of choral music, students will achieve mastery in reading and performing music, allowing for varied proficiency levels by individual students’ capabilities and musicianship abilities. Students will develop an overall awareness of styles and all factors that are involved with choral music will be explored.
Terms: 3Grades: 10|11|12
We adventure through a timeline of musical compositions from the earliest piece of music ever written to modern music. We will listen to and study the scores of some of the best compositions of all time performed by some of the best musicians. Class discussions daily, lectures, moderate reading and writing.
Terms: 1Grades: 10|11|12
Learn to read and write music. This class is designed for the musician to become more familiar with music notation and composition. It will provide insight into the building blocks of music such as harmony, melody and rhythm. Basic music theory will examine key signatures, pitches, intervals, scales, chords, and other music fundamentals.
Terms: 2Grades: 10|11|12
All basses, baritones, and tenors welcome! This will be a singing ensemble for low voices....in contrast to the treble voices of Bella Voce, this group has been nicknamed “Fella
Broce”. Learn and perform a variety of musical styles from pop to barbershop to classical. Guaranteed to be fun, powerful, interesting and rewarding. The larger the group the better...so invite your low-singing friends to sign up too!
Terms: 1|2|3Grades: 10|11|12
Our school library is the heart of the school. It is a center for information and exploration, providing equitable access to information and intellectual freedom. Student assistants will perform tasks required to effectively run the library media center including circulation (check in and out of materials), shelving (returning books to the correct location on the shelves), and display. A library media center student assistant is dependable and accurate, able to work with others and effectively use materials and technology in the library media center.
Terms: 1Grades: 10|11|12
In this elective class students are expected to design, implement, and monitor their own workout plan. This plan shall include goals and performance standards that will be monitored both daily and weekly. Additionally, students are expected to create a new game concept that has not been developed before. This concept will include rules, strategies, and equipment that the students will demonstrate and have the class participate in. They will receive feedback on their concept for modification for their final version of their game concept.
Terms: 1|2Grades: 10|11|12
This class will focus on developing appropriate nutrition and training programs for students specific to their goals. Goals, whether they be sports or fitness, will be taken into account when developing exercise programs, including individual exercises, numbers of sets, repetitions per set, time between sets, and order of exercises. Caloric intake and timing relative to sleep and training, macronutrients, hydration and vitamin/mineral intake will be worked into the training plans as well.
Terms: 3Grades: 10|11|12
Yoga is great for your physical body, but what about your mind and overall health? Can you train your body to support optimal mental well-being as well as strength and flexibility? In this class we will practice the yoga asanas as well as learn about how to incorporate healthy eating habits, reflective journaling, and restorative sleep for wellness. You will learn how to work out the physical distractions to calm your mind. If you would like to explore ways to build foundational habits for a healthy future you, then this is the class for you!
Terms: 1|2Grades: 10|11|12
Advanced PhysicsAdvanced Physics covers all of the topics of physics 10 and 12 including various forces, motion, gravitation, light, waves, etc. However in this course students dig much deeper into the math including multi steps problems. Students will apply what they learned in Physics 10 to creating more complex experiments as well. This course focuses on much of the same material that is on the AP Physics exam and is great for students interested in Physical Science fields.Skills: Facility with numbers and an understanding of their application in describing aspects of the physical world will be the focus. Students will perform many experiments and even design their own.Honors: The honors for this class consists of preparing for the AP Physics exam as well as some extra research based projects.
Prerequisites: Calculus(10th Graders must get approval from Mr. Laughlin to take the class.)
Terms: 3Grades: 10|11|12
Terms: 1Grades: 10|11|12
Are you interested in a healthcare career? Are you curious about how the human body works? If so, this course might be right for you. Human Anatomy is designed to give you some in-depth knowledge about parts and systems of the human body not typically addressed in your Biology or Health classes. Special emphasis will be placed on the relationship between structure and function. Units of study include: the musculoskeletal system with the basics of kinesiology, the under-appreciated alimentary canal, kidney structure and function, gross head and neck anatomy, skin and other integument, the nervous system demystified and the magic of neurons, the spongy beauty of lungs, joints and common sports injuries, blood flow in/out and around the heart, and appreciating the complexity of hands and feet. Along the way, we’ll also be looking at the pathogenesis of some common diseases. Students will have ample hands-on experience such as a suture lab and real as well as virtual mammalian organ dissection. Alternate years, our students are invited to a surgical viewing at one of the Providence Medical facilities.
Terms: 2Grades: 10|11|12
In this course students will work on developing critical thinking and problems solving skills to prepare to evaluate, synthesize and generate knowledge that provides them with the ability to fully participate in an evolving, global, and knowledge-based society. Students will study the evolution and function of immune systems and the pathogens they have evolved to battle. Students will use case studies, labs, simulations, real-world spillover events, and historical and modern epidemics to demonstrate application of higher order thinking (ex. Classify, diagnosis, evaluate, synthesize, design, hypothesize…). At the end of the course students should be able to create a framework of the connections of topics within biology and the connections between biology and other disciplines.
Terms: 1Grades: 10|11|12
In this course students will have the opportunity to use the practice of journaling to deepen their observations, thinking, memory and connection to local natural elements. Writing will be used to strengthen thinking as students will need to organize their thoughts. Drawing and photographing will lead students to close and careful observation and increasing their skill at observing patterns and significant details. Using numbers will allow students to make different kinds of observations and reveal meaningful patterns.
Terms: 1Grades: 10|11|12
No prior knowledge or experience is needed for this class. In fact, it is designed for people who have done no programming ever. Learn to write programs in the easy, powerful, and professional Python programming language. This course will look at common programming patterns as well as how to leverage Python to automate repetitive computer tasks, gather information from the internet, grab and change what's on the clipboard, work with files, and much more. The textbook will be, "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python: Practical Programming for Total Beginners"
Prerequisites: None. This is an entry-level programming course.
Terms: 2Grades: 10|11|12
How do computers do what they do? And what does that mean for the choices we should make as a society? In this introduction to computer science, you'll learn how we got from mechanical calculators like the abacus or slide rule to modern computers; look at what forces drive advances in technology; understand how computers are actually able to do anything with just electricity and switches; see how encryption works and how Google and other search engines work; examine big data, the implications of artificial intelligence, and the many possible applications of technology in varied career paths. You'll get an easy and fun introduction to computer programming using Code.org. There is also the possibility of earning college credit through the Willamette Promise program for this course.
Prerequisites: None -- this is an entry-level class.
Terms: 3Grades: 10|11|12
A student-led, project-focused course. Students dig into the process of learning a concept together by completing a project. Past years have included measuring atmospheric conditions by sending sensor packs to near-space altitudes using weather balloons; designing, building, and flying drones; developing and testing autonomous vehicles; and creating a submersible Remote-Operated Vehicle.
Terms: 1Grades: 10|11|12
Use the Unity game engine to make games. Learn to identify what the fun game mechanics are and how to apply them in your own creations. We'll do work in text, 2-dimensions and 3-dimensions to get a strong base in generating games. Along the way, we'll learn techniques to solve common game problems, like detecting when a game has been won or lost, or moving a character around, spawning enemies and vanquishing those enemies.
Prerequisites: None. This is an entry-level course.
Terms: 2Grades: 10|11|12
Use Free/Open-Source Software application 'Blender' to design 3-d models of real-world objects, and to create animations. These can be used for short films or for integration with video games. There's plenty of skill instruction built in, but fluency and imagination are key to this kind of artwork; this course will involve lots of opportunity to 'play' with the skills we're learning and expand them based on your own interests.
Prerequisites: None. This is an entry-level course.
Terms: 2Grades: 10|11|12
How many ways can you think of to pick something up? Start learning the basics of robotics. Use Vex robotics kits to build and program robots to do a variety of tasks. Learn good processes for solving engineering problems and different approaches to particular problems. Learn some basic programming to make the robot respond to controls or to act on its own. Safety procedures for tools, including a chop saw and a drill press, will be included.
Prerequisites: None: this is an entry-level course
Terms: 1Grades: 10|11|12
Work in the computer lab and in the shop on extended robotics projects. Try your hand at designing an elevator mechanism; develop a quick, effective work flow for using the robotics team's CNC machine; explore different styles of drive train; and/or experiment with different sensors or programming challenges. This will be a dynamic course where you get to guide which projects you'll be involved in.
Terms: 2Grades: 10|11|12
How do we write web pages that react to users and do more than just display information?Learn to write dynamic web pages using Javascript -- a programming language that has evolved into a powerhouse. Make web pages that respond to user input, save information, produce and manipulate maps, and more. This is the second course in Riverdale's Web Design CTE program.
Prerequisites: Web Design 1 or comparable web design experience with HTML and CSS before taking this course.