Welcome to EM Academy!

Plan Your Family’s Next Dream Vacation
Grades 2-5 and 6-8

A tropical island, Disney Parks, a week-long cruise, or exploring a new country: what is your family’s dream vacation? This elective will engage your imagination, creativity, and math skills to plan everything from transportation, daily itineraries, and packing lists to writing a letter to your parents, convincing them this is the perfect trip. Through practicing foundational math skills, following the writing process, and creating schedules and checklists, students will end this course with a presentation and persuasive letter about your next possible family vacation!

Executive Function Skills

• Planning and time management
• Task initiation
• Organization of ideas
• Self-monitoring and follow-through
• Working memory

MA Practice Standards and Frameworks

ELA Writing

• Persuasive Writing
• Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
• Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure 

Standards for Mathematical Practice

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
• Model with mathematics.
• Use appropriate tools strategically.
• Attend to precision.
• Look for and make use of structure.
• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Mathematical Frameworks

• Multiplication and division of whole numbers (later elementary grades)
• Decimals
• Measurement
• Word Problems

Out to eat: Create the restaurant of your dreams
Grades 2-5

Do you ever wish you create the perfect restaurant that has all of your favorite foods? Well, in this elective, you can! You will learn the steps of creating, running, and designing a restaurant. Through researching other restaurants and cafés, designing advertisements, creating a menu, identifying a theme, and determining how many people you need to hire, you will oversee your eatery from start to finish! Combining research skills, writing, and mathematical know-how, this elective will give you a real-life taste of running your very own restaurant or café! 

Executive Function Skills

• Organization of ideas
• Task initiation
• Self monitoring and follow-through
• Writing skills
• Physical organization
• Planning

The Trivia Master!
Grades 2-5

Are you completely obsessed with the musical Hamilton? Do you love everything about baseball? Are you Billie Eilish’s or Justin Bieber’s biggest fan? Channel your passion into creating a trivia extravaganza about your most favorite things! In this elective you will utilize research strategies, organization skills, and your creativity to bring to life trivia games and activities based on your favorite obsession. By the end of this course students will have created a  board game, a puzzle book, or an original trivia night challenge to share with friends and family!

Executive Function Skills

• Organization of ideas (writing, math, reading comp)
• Planning and time management
• Task initiation
• Self-monitoring and follow-through
• Working memory

Design the Perfect Vacation Resort
Grades 2-5

What if you could enjoy all your favorite things like foods, activities, and games in one amazing place? Well in this elective, you can! You’ll dream up and create your own vacation resort that includes all of your favorite things by planning all of the amenities. Think big! Water slides, train rides, and zip lines are just a few things your resort could include! It could have a sports theme, princess theme, animal theme – whatever you decide! You’ll research the location, choose attractions and activities, design your resort’s mascot, plan a restaurant, and advertise your resort. By the end of the course, you will have gained research, writing, visual presentation and executive function skills that will be reflected in a slideshow displaying your dream resort!

Executive Function Skills

• Organization of ideas
• Time management and planning
• Task initiation
• Writing skills
• Active reading
• Working memory

Animal adventures around the world
Grades 2-5

Have you ever heard of quokkas, guanacos, and pangolins? These are just a few of the unique animals that call planet Earth their home. In this elective we will explore different continents and research the animals that live there. We will practice research, writing, and reading strategies through looking at and learning about adorable animals and their natural habitats. Where do they live? What do they eat? What is unique about them? By the end of the elective, students will have created their own animal presentation sharing the facts and interesting information they found to present to family and friends!

Executive Function Skills

• Organization of ideas
• Task initiation
• Writing skills
• Reading strategies
• Self monitoring and follow-through

Fantasy Fiction
Grades 2-5

Do you love getting lost in magical realms and thinking about the possibilities of worlds that are different than our own? Ever wish you had magical powers in this life? This elective will provide you with the opportunity to create and write your own fantasy adventure! We will read selections from various fantasy texts, identify the elements that qualify these stories as fantasy, and then create our own fantasy. Through practicing reading strategies, learning the elements of fiction and fantasy, and engaging in the writing process, students will end the elective with their own original fantasy in the form of an online storyboard.

Executive Function Skills

• Planning and time management
• Task initiation
• Organization of ideas
• Self-monitoring and follow-through
• Working memory

MA Practice Standards and Frameworks

ELA Reading

• Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize a text.
• Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama.
• Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama. 

ELA Writing

• Write narratives to orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a speaker, narrator, and/or characters.
• Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage sequence.
• Use concrete words and phrases, figurative language such as similes and metaphors, and sensory details to convey experiences or events precisely.
• Provide a sense of closure appropriate to the narrated experiences or events.

Meet My Family!
Grades 2-5

How well do you think you know your family, its history, and what makes it unique? In this elective, you will become a historian, writer, and artistic designer and discover all the things that makes your family special. You’ll use your detective skills (along with help from adults in your life) to learn where you family originally came from, what kind of work they did, and what their day-to-day lives were like. With all the information you gather, you’ll create a family Coat of Arms, a symbol that represents, and is unique to, your family. Along the way, you’ll learn about poetry, practice your poetry reading skills and and get the chance to write a few of your own poems about your family and its history. This family-centered elective will end with a presentation that includes all the research, writing, and art you’ve created that you can share with friends, family and classmates!

Executive Function Skills

• Task initiation
• Time-management and planning
• Organization of ideas
• Self-monitoring and follow-through
• Working memory

MA Practice Standards and Frameworks

Reading

• Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text.
• Describe how words and phrases supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from figurative language.

ELA Writing

• Write narratives in prose or poem form to develop experiences or events using effective literary techniques, descriptive details, and clear sequences.
• Write narratives to develop experiences or events using effective literary techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured sequences.
• Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

Speaking & Listening

• Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
• Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

Language: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

• Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

Graphic Novels: Using a Comic-strip Format to Tell a Story
Grades 2-5 and 6-8

Do you love graphic novels? Do you love to draw and write? In this elective, we will explore the format of graphic stories by reading selections from a variety of comics and graphic novels, covering an array of different storytelling styles. You will then have the opportunity to write your own graphic scene or story. For the graphic piece, you may draw by hand, use computer resources, or a combination of both. Students will work to develop characters, plot, and setting to write their own graphic story. This class will culminate in a final presentation of your graphic story to be shared with friends, families, and teachers.

Executive Function Skills

• Planning and time management
• Task initiation
• Organization of ideas
• Organization of materials
• Self-monitoring and follow-through

MA Practice Standards and Frameworks

ELA Writing

• Write narratives to develop experiences or events using effective literary techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured sequences.
• Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
• Use technology, including current web-based communication platforms, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently.
• Use technology to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
• Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Art

• Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.
• Describe and demonstrate influences of personal artistic style and preferences in media arts.
• Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation. 
• Utilize different approaches to share artwork.
• Integrate multimedia components and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence and to add interest.

Dive into Sports Announcing and Reporting
Grades 3-6

Do you love sports? Do you enjoy listening to the colorful, excitable, and often hilarious announcers calling the games? Have you ever wondered what it takes to write a captivating summary about the year’s biggest game? Now it’s your chance to step into the world of sports announcing and reporting! In this elective you will use your imagination to create your own sports personality and choose your favorite games and moments to announce and report on. We will use researching, organization, and writing strategies to help students create their own take on various memorable sports moments. Students will end this course with a sports announcer audition tape, as well as a newsworthy game summary!

Executive Function Skills

• Organization of ideas (writing, math, reading comp)
• Planning and time management
• Task initiation
• Working memory
• Self-monitoring and follow-through

Breaking News! Writing with a Purpose
Grades 4-8

Everything you read is written with a purpose whether it’s to inform, persuade, inspire, or question. In this elective, you will become a journalist and learn how to write with a purpose. You will write about topics that interest you in pop culture, sports, politics, and more. Throughout the elective, you’ll learn how to brainstorm, organize ideas, write, edit and publish a series of articles, including a persuasive opinion piece and a factual reporting piece for your readers. You will gain experience in writing techniques such as writing a captivating hook for your audience, utilizing evidence, and revising. By the end of the elective, you will have gained critical questioning, writing, and editing skills that will serve you well in the newsroom, and beyond!

Executive Function Skills

• Writing process
• Organization of ideas
• Planning 
• Task initiation
• Self-monitoring and follow-through

You Can Change the World! Become an Activist!
5-8

President John F. Kennedy famously said, “One person can make a difference and everyone should try.”  In this elective you will learn about social change agents like Mulala, Muhammad Ali, Greta Thurnberg, and many more who saw a problem, worked towards a solution, and changed the world in the process! After learning what these men, women, and children had in common you will have a chance to become the next great activist! You will identify and research a current social issue that is important to you, make a plan to address it, and begin to put your plan in action! By the end of the elective you will have a developed plan with materials that you will use to get others excited about and involved in your cause.

Executive Function Skills

• Organization of ideas (writing, math, reading comp)
• Planning and time management
• Task initiation
• Self-monitoring and follow-through
• Self-Advocacy

Website and Graphic Design 101
Grades 5-8

Have you ever needed a website that doesn’t exist? A website with all of the best chocolate cake recipes? A website that highlights your personal art portfolio? A website that teaches you a new skill like how to work out with no equipment at home? Let’s build that website together! In this course, you will use an online graphic design platform and an online website-building platform to design and publish your own website! You will design graphics and format / organize your website in a beautiful way that is easy for users to navigate! Students will decide what the theme or concept of their website is, and build it thinking about audience, voice, organization, and content.

Executive Function Skills

• Organization of ideas (writing, math, reading comp)
• Organization of materials
• Planning and time management
• Task initiation
• Self-monitoring and follow-through
• Motivation and Self-Confidence

Special Report: Writing and Creating Your Own Podcast!
Grades 5-8

Given the microphone, what story would you tell? Human life is an interconnected web of stories, and the media presents a large platform for telling them. This elective will help you become the reporter you were born to be by creating your very own podcast! In this elective, you will choose a topic, issue, or event to research and explore, making connections between the personal and the public world. By planning and producing a podcast through all the stages, you will construct a story that is clear, informative and so exciting that listeners won’t even be tempted to press pause. Drawing on other podcasts as models and inspiration, at the end of this elective you will compose your own original podcast, all while gaining the invaluable 21st century skills of innovation and technology.

Executive Function Skills

• Organization of ideas
• Planning and time management
• Organization of materials
• Self-monitoring and follow-through
• Flexibility and transition
• Task initiation

MA Practice Standards and Frameworks

ELA Reading

• Read closely to determine what a text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from a text.
• Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words. 

ELA Writing

• Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
• Use technology to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
• Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
• When conducting research, gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.

Speaking and Listening

• Comprehension and Collaboration
• Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

Using Science to Create the Next Marvel Character
Grades 6-8

In this elective, you will research the backstories and science of your favorite Marvel characters – and then create one! From the physics and geometry behind Dr. Strange to the astronomy involved in Captain Marvel, there is an abundance of science and math that allows these characters to develop. You will watch film clips, research characters, and learn the science that explains your favorite characters’ super-powers; then you will use that information to design your own unique character to add to the Marvel library! The elective will culminate in a presentation of your new character’s bio and a physical rendering. You will use science to support your design and explain your process to unveil the next Marvel character! 

Executive Function Skills

• Planning and time management
• Organization of ideas
• Task Initiation
• Self-monitoring and follow-through
• Working memory

MA Practice Standards and Frameworks

ELA Reading

• Integration of knowledge and ideas.
• Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

ELA Writing

• Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

Science and Engineering Practices

• Asking questions and defining problems.
• Developing and using models.
• Planning and carrying out investigations.
• Analyzing and interpreting data.
• Using mathematics and computational thinking.
• Constructing explanations and designing solutions.
• Engaging in argument from evidence.
• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.

Entrepreneurship: Be the Boss
Grades 6-8

Do you ever wish you could be in charge? Well, in this elective, you get to be your own boss! You will learn the steps of creating, running, and designing a restaurant. Through researching other businesses, writing a proposal, creating advertisements to attract customers and hire staff, creating a menu with pricing, staffing and paying employees, you will oversee your own restaurant from start to finish! Combining research skills, persuasive writing, and mathematical know-how, this elective will give you a real-life taste of running your very own restaurant. 

Executive Function Skills

• Planning and time management
• Task initiation
• Organization of ideas
• Organization of materials
• Self-monitoring and follow-through
• Working memory

MA Practice Standards and Frameworks

ELA Writing

• Write arguments.
• Write informative/explanatory texts. 
• Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting.

Standards for Mathematical Practice

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively.Task initiation
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
• Model with mathematics.
• Use appropriate tools strategically.
• Attend to precision.
• Look for and make use of structure.
• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Mathematical Frameworks

• The Number System.
• Expressions and Equations.

Design and Create Your Own Digital Escape Room
Grades 8-11

Escape Rooms have seen an increase in popularity recently, and it’s time for you to join the craze! In this elective, you will design and create your own digital escape room! Centered around a theme and audience of your choosing, you will research a topic and come up with clues in the form of logic puzzles, trivia, math problems, or riddles, for your audience to solve. Weekly assignments for this project will include conducting research on a chosen topic, note-taking, mapping ideas, writing clues, developing a digital interface, and usability testing. This elective will culminate in a final project: your own Digital Escape Room that can be shared with classmates, friends, and family!

Executive Function Skills

• Organization of ideas
• Planning and time management
• Organization of materials
• Self-monitoring and follow-through
• Flexibility and transition
• Task initiation

MA Practice Standards and Frameworks

ELA Reading

• Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it, and manipulate time create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
• Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the presence or absence of connections between them.
• Determine the meaning(s) of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.

ELA Writing

• Write narratives. 
• Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view.
• Narrative techniques such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
• Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting.

Standards for Mathematical Practice

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
• Model with mathematics.
• Use appropriate tools strategically.
• Attend to precision.
• Look for and make use of structure.
• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Mathematical Frameworks

• The Number System.
• Expressions and Equations.

Digital Literacy Standards and Frameworks

• Use digital tools to design and develop significant digital artifact.
• Gather, organize, analyze, and synthesize information using a variety of digital tools.         
• Select digital tools or resources based on their efficiency and effectiveness.

Design Your Own Project!
All Grades

This elective provides the chance to research, read, write, and present about a topic of great interest to you. Students work with their instructor to brainstorm topics and design a step by step project that is both exciting and energizing. As a culminating project, you will create a paper, video, podcast, or Powerpoint presentation to share what you’ve learned with friends, family, and teachers.

Executive Function Skills

• TBD depending on scope of project

MA Practice Standards and Frameworks

• TBD depending on scope of project

One-On-One Executive Function Coaching
All Grades

Tackle summer reading homework with support and strategies:

• Planning and organization (to make sure it gets done!)
• Guided reading
• Comprehension
• Active reading strategies
• Written responses

Strengthen the writing process:

• Dissecting a writing prompt
• Pre-writing: planning and brainstorming
• Developing a thesis
• Providing evidence and supporting details
• Building a thoughtful conclusion
• The editing process

Reinforce executive function skills:

• Planning and time management
• Task initiation
• Organization of materials and ideas
• Self-monitoring and follow-through
• And more!

Early Readers Program
Grades K-3

Reading is the gateway to learning, making the world new and magical, and all students deserve to feel confident and positive about reading. 

Sometimes, early readers need additional and more focused support as they’re learning how to read, despite the best efforts of teachers, parents, and caregivers. It is important for children and adults to remember that difficulty with reading is not an indication of a student’s intelligence. There are any number of reasons why a child may struggle with reading, and Engaging Minds can help.

Learn more about our Early Readers Program here. 

Get a Head Start on the College Application Process
Rising 12th Graders

The fall can be a busy and overwhelming time for high school seniors. There’s school work (that matters!), SAT/ACT exams, and the college application process. Reduce stress by getting the college application process started and under control this summer, while also strengthening important skills for college: planning, organizing, task initiation and time management. Students will get started (and finish!) essays/personal statements, create a timeline and calendar of important dates, and develop a spreadsheet to help track key data of each college to easily compare and contrast offerings and areas of expertise. Get a jump on the process to make the fall significantly less stressful!

Executive Function Bootcamp
All Grades

Is your backpack, bedroom or Google Drive a disaster, making it hard to find things? Are you a procrastinator? Do you get stressed about school? You are not alone! Many students do not possess the skills – yet – to be able showcase their full potential. This elective will help you explore and understand the executive function skills you need to reduce academic stress and build better work habits, processes, and routines. We will reflect on various aspects of your education and life including getting organized (physical and online), using a calendar effectively to plan and manage time, limiting procrastination, and increasing and maintaining focus, and we will discuss strategies that can help strengthen those skills. As we learn and explore together, we will add practical strategies and checklists that resonate with you to a Google Drive folder that you can reference once school is back in session. With a better understanding of these skills and with tools at the ready in your Executive Function Google Drive folder, you will enter the school year with a greater sense of control and confidence!