Electives

Elementary School physical education stresses gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and general fitness; this moves to more specific skills as children mature. Leadership, sportsmanship, cooperation, empathy, and positive self-image are encouraged throughout all grades. Team sports include basketball and soccer starting in 4th grade. An emphasis on breathing, yoga, mindfulness, and meditation are also interwoven into the program. Wellness is offered three times a week.

True to the tides of the 21st century, the use of technology is both seamless and scrutinized. Students learn keyboarding skills, internet use, research skills, Google apps, and digital media skills. IPad apps are carefully chosen to reinforce reading, math, and language. In Grades 2–5, students work on multimedia projects as well as basic word-processing, spreadsheet, and drawing applications. New Roads is a cross-platform school, using iPads, laptops, and Chromebooks depending on the activity and need. Coding is offered as a second language, facilitating familiarity in designing commands for purpose and cross applying these skills to new platforms.

To help instill a lifelong habit and practice of wellness, each student begins to design their own wellness plan when they reach Middle School by choosing how to exercise and nourish her body. Some of the Middle School courses we offer include Group Games, Dance Fitness, Sports Fundamentals & Specializations, Yoga, Foundations of Dance, Hip-Hop Dance, and Creative Movement.

This program introduces students to the latest techniques and application of technology. Courses help nurture their self expression through creativity, strengthen their technical skills, develop their problem-solving, and provide them with foundational theories and procedures to create/ understand thought-provoking media. Our main goal is to allow students the opportunity to learn by “doing.” Every student will be given the chance to bring their imagination to life through courses such as Introduction to Animation, Introduction to Digital Media, Video Shorts 1, Video Shorts 2, Robotics, and Coding.

Well-rounded education and self-directed learning go hand-in-hand. We believe that when students claim agency for their study, they end up connecting more deeply with the subject matter and ultimately build pathways toward expertise that they often chase down throughout their time at New Roads and beyond. Some of the Middle School electives we offer include Creative Writing, Study Hall, STrEAM, Robotics, Speech & Debate, and Math Enrichment.

For more than sixty years, modern Western medical and biological sciences have acknowledged the close and interdependent nature of mind and body. Similar insights have appeared in Western and non-Western cultures for millennia. New Roads acknowledges the importance of physical development and wellbeing as well as discovering, developing, and enhancing young people’s awareness of the connection between mind and body. Students are offered an array of physical activities, including PE (team games/fitness), yoga, and dance/movement during their daily school schedule. After-school activities may include: swimming, basketball, volleyball, baseball, golf, running, soccer, tennis, and movement. Surf (not offered every year), softball, football, team handball, and a variety of newer and older games have been offered as well.

Film and Digital Media (Arts)
This program introduces students to the latest techniques and application of technology. Courses help nurture their self-expression through creativity, strengthen their technical skills, develop their problem-solving, and provide them with foundational theories and procedures to create/ understand thought-provoking media. Our main goal is to allow students the opportunity to learn by “doing.” Every student will be given the chance to bring their imagination to life through courses such as Film Production, Film Theory, Screenwriting, Animation, Photoshop, and Digital Media.

Computer Science (Electives)
Our Computer Science program combines creativity with exercises and activities that result in fluency in the language of technology and in employing it to innovate. Each student learns basic computer functions, including programming and website development, and our graduates are recognized innovators in the digital world, creating programs and applications that change the way people live and work. Some of the Upper School courses we offer include Introduction to Coding, App Academy, Intro to Programming.

Well-rounded education and self-directed learning go hand-in-hand. We believe that when students claim agency for their study, they end up connecting more deeply with the subject matter and ultimately build pathways toward expertise that they often chase down throughout their time and New Roads and beyond. Some of the Upper School electives we offer include Botany & Horticulture, Bio-imagery, Business 101, Journalism, Robotics, Speech & Debate, and Student Leadership Council.