We have completed the first semester of SAGE work this year. Our students have been busy learning new and exciting concepts in their units of study. Read on to learn more about our Unit of Study work so far!

In this course, students will solve medical mysteries to learn more about the work of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. Students have used evidence and hands-on-experiments to determine why a patient is sick and to stop the spread of disease. Our focus this quarter has been on learning about the manner in which a medical detective solves mysteries. Students have been working on investigating three case studies so far. Our first one was a mystery involving checks found in a old home – these lesson focused on developing evidence to support a claim. The next was a historical cholera outbreak, and our final case study involves a girl named McKenna who was having issues with many different body systems Students have been using evidence and experimentation to determine what is causing patients to become ill. They also offer solutions to help the patient get better, recommend treatment, or to determine a solution so the problem does not keep recurring.

In the Character Design unit of study, students think and learn critically by analyzing the work of professionals at Pixar® Studios. During 1st semester, students learned character design techniques from A Bug's Life, Toy Story, Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, and Cars with a focus on research and development. Student designers used facial expressions to show emotions, posture and body part placement to show personality traits, and physical characteristics like fur, scales, and clothing to add to a character’s personality. One challenge was to create a monster character and then create a "world" for the character. Another challenge was to bring an inanimate object to life. In the Maquette Challenge, students created a clay sculpture for a character and learned about the rigging process used at Pixar®. Throughout the semester, students kept a digital portfolio of their character designs.

The photography students have had an amazing first semester! We began the semester learning the basic photography fundamentals using the Photos App and the iPad camera. Many of the students were surprised to learn the many capabilities they have at their fingertips! The photographers first project was to discover the beauty in everyday objects through photography. Students learned how to photograph objects in a variety of lighting conditions, explore different angles, and how to adjust the focus and exposure to optimize their images. Each student created a digital presentation that shows their mastery of the photography skills they have learned. Your student can show you their presentation, along with their favorite shots taken thus far. Currently, the photography students are working on portraits. They are learning how to shoot self-portraits that don’t look like the average “selfie.” Students are learning to explore creative framing techniques, integrate props, and how to create a photograph that will make an emotional connection or tell a compelling story with their viewers.

This past semester students in the Makers’ Miniatures class completed a gift-giving activity that was designed to have students participate in the design thinking process. They practiced using the elements of empathy, design, ideate, prototype, and test and then presented their gifts to their partners. They have completed soldering projects and have been working hard to learn techniques in 3D printing. Some of the best learning has come from our mistakes!

Planning, shooting, and editing video packages are the skills we’ve focused on in Broadcasting this semester. Students wrote questions and interviewed other SAGE students for a Student Spotlight segment. Then, they learned to use Adobe Premiere to edit their videos and add transitions, text and background music! Recently, we have started filming our SAGE News shows to share with our SAGE peers. We are excited to continue this work throughout the second semester!

We have been busy working through the chapters in Design Your Thoughts in Drawing: Graphic Design. Our first chapter focused on thinking like a graphic designer as the students learned about using color, typography, hand lettering, and images to create a logo for themselves, or a business they’d like to create one day. In chapter two, the focus was on creating infographics. They learned that by using a combination of images, colors, shapes, and limited text, infographics tell a visual data story in a way that makes it easier for viewers to understand and remember important information.

January 17 - No School, MLK Day

January 18 -Second Semester Begins

February 18 - No School, Professional Development

February 21 - No School, President's Day

March 14-18 - No School, Spring Break

PAGS is a group for those parents whose children attend the SAGE center in the North Kansas City School District. It is intended to keep us connected!