Short Takes are classes offered at Stoneybrook Middle School.
General[]
Short Takes classes are mini-courses that run for three weeks. The subjects are always interesting. Students sign up for what interests them. The teachers are professionals in their fields that they teach. Carrie Murphy teaches the moviemaking class. The classes are sometimes the focus of books such as Stacey's Movie and Stacey and the Mystery at the Mall.
In Claudia and the First Thanksgiving, Claudia Kishi takes the Learning to Read course where students learn how to interpret the news. Students were to look at stories on the same subject in different newspapers and news magazines, to see how each one of them told the story. That meant paying attention to where in the newspaper or magazine the article was placed, and even what the headlines said. Read different editorials on the same topics in different newspapers. Even looked at the advertisements, and tried to figure out who they were aimed at. That gave us clues about who the readers were, and why a newspaper or a magazine would tell a certain news story a certain way. The teacher is Ms. Boyden and Claudia wraps it up before starting a drama course for the book. She learns how to write a play and put one on which gets censored by the parents under Ms. Garcia. In her class is Abby Stevenson and Stacey McGill. Jessi Ramsey took world drama and Mallory Pike took Drama as Literature. Kristy Thomas and Mary Anne Spier are in Books, Plays, and Movies.
In Don't Give Up, Mallory!, Mallory Pike is in a children's literature class.
In Stacey and the Mystery at the Mall everyone in the BSC works at Washington Mall for three days a week called Project Work. Just before Stacey McGill finished up taking Math for Real Life. The class learned how to balance a checkbook, make a grocery budget, mortgage payments, and play the stock market.
In Stacey's Movie, Stacey takes the movie making class with Kristy Thomas. They make their own documentaries for the course. Mary Anne Spier takes modern Egyptology. Abby Stevenson takes athletic physiology.
Jessi is in computer programming in Jessi's Horrible Prank.
According to Stacey, Modern Living was a short takes class in Mary Anne + 2 Many Babies.
Classes[]
- Modern Egyptology (#130)
- Contemporary Political Campaigns (#130)
- Music Composition (#130)
- Architectural Design (#130)
- Movie Making (#130)
- Business Management (#130)
- Athletic Physiology (#130)
- Children's Literature (#108)
- Drama
- Project Work (M#14)
- Math for Real Life (M#14)
- Learning to Read (#91)
- World Drama (#91)
- Drama as Literature (#91)
- Books, Plays, and Movies (#91)
- Stress Reduction for Teens (M#14)
- Computer Programming (#75)
- Career Class
- Special health and civics classes
- Modern Living (#52)
Book Appearances[]
- BSC #52 Mary Anne + 2 Many Babies
- BSC #75 Jessi's Horrible Prank
- BSC #91 Claudia and the First Thanksgiving
- BSC #108 Don't Give Up, Mallory!
- BSC #130 Stacey's Movie
- Mystery #14 Stacey and the Mystery at the Mall