Interior design is the art and science of designing functional and visually appealing interior spaces. It involves arranging and coordinating furnishings, materials, and colors to create a harmonious environment that meets the needs and preferences of the occupants. It aims to create spaces that are both beautiful and functional, considering elements such as space planning, lighting, furniture design, color theory, and materials selection.
This Interior Design course is designed to provide students with a strong foundation in the principles and practices of interior design, preparing them for a career in this exciting and creative field.
Intermediate Chess
The Intermediate Chess course reviews and builds upon the foundations that were laid in the Introduction to Chess course (a prerequisite). The course teaches new strategies, how to better begin your chess games, new and more difficult checkmating patterns, how to better finish off your opponent, how to use chess engines to become a stronger player, provides opportunities to analyze chess situations, and also reviews many of the standard chess openings known throughout the chess world. The course ends with a final project that allows the student to participate in a chess tournament or do their own independent research on a specific chess opening.
Intro to Chess
This course is designed for any individual with an interest in learning about the game of chess. The first half of the course starts with some early chess history and focuses mainly on the basics of the game (the board, the pieces, and how to play). No prior knowledge of chess is required. After learning how to play chess, students learn how to read and write chess notation and are given the opportunity to play chess both online and with someone they know.
The second half of the chess course is designed to make the student a better chess player. It teaches various tactics and strategies such as forks, pins, skewers, discovery, attraction, gaining pieces, and how to checkmate with specific chess pieces. In addition, the course also covers the basic understanding needed for playing in a chess tournament, provides opportunities to explore local/national/global chess organizations, and presents multiple lessons in chess history. A final research project on a chess topic is required.
Design Basics
If you love fashion, architecture, game, graphics, or interior design, this class is for you. All design has the same basic principles at the core, and you’ll learn about how to use the elements and principles of design to design a Doc Martens boot, a skateboard, a tee shirt, and more!
Drawing
Online drawing is a course for the beginning drawer. The course covers introductory concepts that will help beginners learn skills to improve their drawing abilities. Additionally, the course covers the elements and principles of design, color theory and art history. Standard semester course, .5 credits; however, course can be shortened to accommodate students working on a quarter or trimester credit. Students will be placed in groups within the course based on their credit needs.
EmpowerU: Resilience Skills
EmpowerU – An elective course to build student resilience, persistence and success.
Northern Star Online is excited to partner with EmpowerU to bring a proven, data-driven SEL curriculum to students in an effective and meaningful way. Now more than ever, students need support and skills to engage, learn and focus. We help them do that in a credit-bearing course.
EmpowerU equips students with the skills to build persistence, resilience and success by pairing interactive daily lessons with 1:1 support from dedicated online instructors. These instructors serve as life coaches and personalize the course content to apply to each student’s goals and barriers.
Over 93% of students who complete EmpowerU report increased confidence and wellbeing, and make meaningful progress towards their goals.
It has been proven that effective SEL programs increase student’s academic performance, classroom behavior, stress management, and attitudes.
Course Description:
High School (9-12)
EmpowerU high school Tier 2 program functions as a high school MTSS SEL semester intervention for students who need additional support.
Students complete daily online skill-building lessons using the online portal. These lessons help them master critical SEL concepts and coaching skills.
Each day, students receive personalized coaching by their 1:1 EmpowerU instructor through the online portal (text/email).
Program includes curriculum (six units, 44 lessons) , student portal access and six hours of 1:1 coaching. Final pre and post data is reported for each participating student, as well as overall school data.
Middle School (6-8)
This course functions as a middle school MTSS SEL semester intervention and is designed to be used for students who need additional mental health support.
Students use guided study or target time to complete six units of daily middle school SEL skill-building lessons using the online portal. These lessons help them master critical SEL concepts and coping skills.
Each day students also exchange asynchronous text and email messages through the online portal for personalized coaching with their EmpowerU instructor
Program includes curriculum (6 units, 34 lessons), student portal access, six hours of 1:1 coaching. Pre and post data is reported for each participating student, as well as overall school data.
Computer Programming A & B
Computer Programming A is the first course in programming. It uses the Java programming language to introduce students to the foundations of all computer programming. Students learn about basic output, working with variables, basic input, mathematics in programming, and basic control methods. Student who would like to continue to learn more programming concepts are required to complete this entire course before they can take the Computer Programming B course.
Computer Programming A Syllabus
Computer Programming B Syllabus
Intro to Social Media
Have a Facebook account? What about Twitter? Whether you’ve already dipped your toes in the waters of social media or are still standing on the shore wondering what to make of it all, learning how to interact on various social media platforms is crucial in order to survive and thrive in this age of digital communication. In this course, you’ll learn the ins and outs of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and more. You’ll also discover other types of social media you may not have been aware of and how to use them for your benefit—personally, academically, and eventually professionally as well. If you thought social media platforms were just a place to keep track of friends and share personal photos, this course will show you how to use these resources in much more powerful ways.
Entrepreneurship
Do you dream of owning your own business? This course can give you a head start in learning about what you’ll need to own and operate a successful business. Students will explore creating a business plan, financing a business, and pricing products and services.
Early Childhood Education
Want to have an impact on the most important years of human development? The main purpose of this course is to introduce you to the study of the early years of childhood. Students will learn how to create fun and educational environments for children, how to keep the environment safe for children, and how to encourage the health and well-being of infants, toddlers, and school-aged children.