Group 4

Ages 11-13 | Middle School

Art

Lisa Young

Students will focus on further developing their art skills, vocabulary, and creativity. Course will cover concepts of design, advanced drawing techniques, 2- and 3-point perspective and different art movements. Students will use a wide range of mediums including graphite pencil, colored pencil, soft pastels, oil pastels, watercolor, charcoal and clay.

Lisa Young is a professional artist with her own art studio in Warren. She regularly shows her work at Art Fairs and Exhibitions across the Tri-State area and is a member of the NJ Watercolor and Pastel Societies and of the Artsee Artist network. Lisa specializes in animal and people portraiture, landscapes and still life and has a passion for painting endangered animals.

Choir

Martha Nowik

N.B. Students MUST be able to read solidly on a 3rd-grade level, and be able to concentrate for the whole 45 minute rehearsal.

The Little Way Treble Choir, for Groups 3 and 4, is a performance-oriented group which learns a wide repertoire of mostly religious music. Instruction concentrates on developing the child's beautiful singing "head" voice, beginning work in polyphony and continued experience with reading music for mastery. The choir rehearses weekly, and sings in 3 - 6 performances annually along with the High School Chorale (see below). Students are expected to attend most, if not all, rehearsals and to memorize much of the music, which may require some home study. The students will have robes to wear, and will be expected to care for them properly.

Our choir director, Martha Nowik, is a home-schooling mom of 10 who holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Church Music from Westminster Choir College where she studied organ, voice and children's choir methods and earned a Level I ORFF-SCHULWERK certificate. Martha holds both the Colleague and Choir Master certificates from the American Guild of Organists. She has taught general music in Catholic schools, and has 42 years of experience working with children's choirs. This is her eighteenth year teaching music with our group.

Drama

Robin Nicoloso

In this class we will be working toward a greater appreciation of the dramatic arts. We will practice acting, elocution and presentation. We will do this through improvised as well as scripted exercises while working toward a short play which will be presented at Showcase Day 1 on Friday, May 12th. Our past productions have included adaptions of Cyrano de Bergerac and Twelfth Night; an original play featuring statues come to life in The Enchanted Garden; a new musical about the world’s best cookies; and a 1920s radio production.

Student participation is very necessary in this class. I hope to challenge my students, but I will do my best to respect their comfort level in regards to public speaking and performance.

Forensics (Public Speaking)

Suzanne Greydanus, Jeni Sussmann

Learn and practice the art of public speaking with Excelsior, Little Way’s top-ranked Forensics Team. Develop the skill and confidence to speak well for an audience, and enjoy team camaraderie and competition. Students of all abilities welcome.

Team members practice and perform 3- to 5-minute scenes or speeches in four categories over the course of the year, spending roughly six weeks on each — Reading, Declamation, Drama, and Humor.

Students receive weekly feedback from their coaches and peers before participating in four Little Way meets. The top 6 scorers for each category are invited to compete in corresponding league meets (Oct. 17, Dec. 5, Feb. 27, May 15, all Mondays, with four additional dates TBA). All students are invited to compete in the Union Catholic Forensics Tournament on Monday, May 22nd, and to perform their favorite pieces at Showcase Day 1 on Friday, May 12th.

Gym