5th Day at Crossroads

Students will be introduced to the medium of ceramics through fundamental hand-building techniques using slabs, coils, and pinch pots. Students will also be introduced to basic wheel-throwing skills such as centering, opening, and pulling up a cylinder. Along the way, they will gain an understanding of the properties of clay and its history throughout the world as a vehicle for communication and a culturally integral source of functional vessels and decorative objects. Students may repeat this 5th Day course for more advanced skill development.

Using cutting edge technology, Drone Crew will produce short videos for nonprofits for their websites and social media pages. The crew will interview their clients, plan the shots, coordinate with neighbors to ensure safety, film the location, and produce a final piece meeting client expectations. Drones are exciting, and who doesn’t want to learn to fly? Well, those who are afraid of heights or the risk involved in flying. Drones mitigate both worries and keep all the thrill. The day-to-day realities of running a tech service/company like aerial photography will present design challenges with real-world constraints and consequences. Drone Crew will not only serve the nonprofit sector of St. Louis, it will open up another path into STEM careers. Note that drone operation is limited to students age 16 and older, but younger students will be able to participate in many other ways. Students may repeat this 5th Day for more advanced skill development.

In this 1st Quarter course, students will explore elements of producing a play, from the process of auditioning for and rehearsing a show to the technical expertise required to mount a production. Students will collaborate in a variety of acting, directing, design and management approaches. The class will culminate in a live theatrical production performed for an audience. Some fall play rehearsals will also take place after school. Students who would like to participate in the fall play are strongly encouraged to take this course, but enrollment in this 5th Day is not a requirement for participation in the play.

You are what you eat! Or are you? Have you ever wondered what it means to eat a “balanced diet?” How does the FDA determine the safe way to store foods? How seriously do you need to take those expiration dates on packages? These are all common questions people have about the food they eat. The Food Science class will help you answer all of these and, of course, learn how to make some new and exciting dishes. We will take regular trips to Field Foods to gather the ingredients necessary to create our dishes each week.

In this course, students will build on what they learned in Food Science I. Students will learn more about the science of cooking, practice more complex recipes, and find ways to connect what they learn to their lives. The course will continue to take regular trips to Field Foods to shop for ingredients to make different recipes each week.

Students learn the engineering design process, computational thinking, and workforce skills to build a robot to compete in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics competition. Students are introduced to the robot's systems and the essential math and science needed to build the robot. At a minimum, students will have a driving robot, with a basic autonomous and a driver-controlled program, using a basic arm for manipulating game objects. Students will also assemble an FTC regulation playing field, develop game strategy, and conduct practice matches. Students will gain valuable engineering experience as they continually iterate their design and programming, while documenting the process. Students who take this course are expected to be a part of our FTC team through the end of the season (end of 3rd quarter). Students may enroll in this 5th Day course more than once.

Students in this course will read and research sports history in St. Louis with an emphasis on their political, economic, and social impact. Planned topics include the team that represented St. Louis in the Negro Leagues, the only NBA champion from the city, the site of the first forward pass in college football history, researching the origin of nicknames, and a study of St. Louis’ greatest athletes. Students will also connect sports to the greater social impact of teams, stadiums, and athletes. The end product will be a student-created project.

Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? How do we build good and fulfilling lives in such a confusing, noisy, scary world? How do we form nourishing relationships with our own selves, and why might we explore our inner worlds? How do we form meaningful, nourishing worldviews and understanding of life itself? This course dives into these essential questions. To explore them, we will engage in: contemplative study of topics like holistic psychology, philosophy, secular spirituality, and cosmology; frequent personal reflection through journaling and meditation; experiential learning outdoors and in our imaginations; and creating practical tools and practices to support an inspired and intentional life. The goal is to explore and start developing ways of thinking, being, perceiving, and relating that feel nourishing and true. In our age of despair, confusion, and disorientation, we need this deep personal grounding in order to sustain a meaningful life for ourselves — and to help the world from a place of wholeness and awareness.

This class is for anyone interested in exploring the world of robotics without a commitment to the robotics team. Students will learn how to design, build, and program a robot, and will gain understanding of how the engineering process applies to each of those aspects. Students will have opportunities to learn coding, use CAD software, and do hands-on work building the robot. The class will work together to produce a working robot to accomplish a specific task.

The Mastery Learning Project (MLP) is an opportunity for students to complete a project that falls outside the boundaries of typical school courses. Past students have studied hydroponic gardening and beekeeping, written and illustrated a book in French, taught themselves and other students ASL, and designed and built a strategy board game. Students may also choose to complete an independent research project. An MLP is approximately 40 hours of independent work per quarter, 24 of which occur during the 5th Day block. Each MLP spans one quarter, with the possibility of expanding the project, with approval, in a subsequent quarter. Most MLPs culminate in a presentation/demonstration to the Crossroads community of the learning achieved during the project. Students interested in completing an MLP for one or more quarters of 5th Day should read the complete expectations for an MLP here and complete the application found here by May 11. Students may enroll in this 5th Day course more than once, pending approval.

This course will provide students with a variety of mindfulness techniques as well as the skills to actively listen to and support classmates and peers. Students will participate in a yoga and meditation experience during each time block. Students will learn actively listening, increase their ability to be safe allies, understand confidentiality and its limits, learn and adhere to a safety protocol. Students may choose to serve as a peer mentor and advocate upon successful completion of the course. A variety of learning modalities will be employed including lecture, role play and presentations. Students who take this course must agree to adhere to all safety and confidentiality expectations.

Students in the Mock Trial 5th Day course will learn about the components of trials and legal concepts, such as rules of evidence and objections, while preparing to compete in the Missouri High School Mock Trial Competition. Students will prepare to represent the case from the perspectives of the plaintiff and defendant, with students portraying witnesses and attorneys on both sides. Students will analyze the case materials, including witness statements and evidence; develop theories of the case; write lines of questioning, including direct and cross examination questions, and opening and closing statements; and compete against other local schools in the 3rd Quarter Students who take this 2nd Quarter course are expected to compete and are required to continue with Mock Trial during the 3rd Quarter during their Activity period. Students may enroll in this 5th Day course more than once.

In this course, students will learn, practice, and master basic skills that they can apply in both recreation and survival settings. The topics will include some or all of the following: basic first aid; orienteering; Missouri Stream Team water quality monitoring; fire, water, and shelter; fishing; watercraft; plant and animal identification. We will be outside as much as possible, barring severe weather. The course will utilize Crossroads College Prep, Forest Park, and local state parks as our learning locations.

In this 5th Day class, students will learn about the largely unseen world of trash and recycling. We will explore questions such as: What happens to our trash? What materials can be recycled? How does the recycling process work? What are recycled materials useful for? What impact does recycling our goods make on our environment locally and globally? How can we increase participation in recycling programs? If possible, we will visit a landfill and a recycling center. The course will culminate in students identifying a specific problem related to trash/recycling and developing a solution to address it.

Students in this 5th Day will conduct their own scientific research in an area that interests them (life science, physical science, geology, engineering, psychology, etc.). Students will conduct background research into the topic, design laboratory investigations directed at addressing a question or problem, and conduct those investigations with teacher support, where needed. Along the way, students will learn how to assess sources of information and develop the skills necessary to present and analyze data. Students will present their research at the end of the quarter, and some students may choose to continue their work in the next quarter in preparation for the regional science fair. Where feasible, older students may be placed in a research lab at a local university. A general research proposal will be due one week before the first quarter ends for those participating in 2nd quarter research and one week before the second quarter ends for those participating in 3rd quarter research. Students may enroll in this 5th Day course more than once, pending approval.

This class studies the history, politics, and economics of housing and neighborhoods in St. Louis, including topics such as urban design, neighborhood communities, red-lining, homelessness, and eminent domain. We will also examine what “home” means to us, and how these socio-political forces affect the ways different groups of people can create home in the city. The class frequently travels to different areas of St. Louis to study how these issues and forces play out in real time and space. We may also study the house-purchasing process to examine how we would encounter these questions and issues on a personal level. The course will culminate in student-directed projects that respond to this learning and offer some vision for future action. For their creative projects, students might: practice journalism by interviewing community members, design a solution to a neighborhood issue or housing problem, create artwork to protest unjust housing practices, or research a topic in more detail and present their findings to the St. Louis Planning Commission.