Wednesdays at the Phoenix

Wednesdays at the Phoenix provides two classes (plus lunch time and free time) weekly during the school year!

Revolutions!
Celebrate and honor the diverse group of voices and communities that call North America (including the Caribbean, Antilles and Central America) home! In this hands-on course, students will learn all about the social, cultural, environmental, intellectual, and economic forces that have affected various groups of people in North America.

We will learn about the Gullah Geechee, the Taino, the Ojibwe, Afro-Mexicanos, Chinese Jamaicans, the European diaspora, and many, many more through primary sources, in-person and online workshops, art, film, song and dance, games and critical thinking exercises. Exploring these communities will help students have a greater understanding of significant figures and events that shaped North American communities…and help them understand just how expansive and diverse these communities are! Students will have the opportunity to put on their own production on the main stage at the theatre, as well as present an art show to their families and friends.Revolutions! will begin with colonialism and its effects on the non-European world with an emphasis on Africa and the Americas, the cataclysmic wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the defining cultural revolutions of the 20th century.

The idea of absolutism, the overthrow of monarchies, and slave rebellions around the world (ending with the Haitian Revolution) will be discussed. We will look at this age of globalism from many different perspectives: the rulers, their subjects, women, the enslaved, pirates and privateers, children, Native Americans, and revolutionaries. Stories of resistance and resilience abound, and students will unearth hidden histories while using critical thinking skills, analyzing objects and the written word, and creating art.
Our exploration of history, civics, art and geography will include a lot of hands-on learning, loads of field trips, a history fair, scavenger hunts, a film festival, and an outrageous amount of fun.

Mythologies
A course investigating myth, history, the psychology of myth, archetypes, mythology in pop culture, and art. This class is in-depth and hands-on, and the perfect fit for all types of learners. Students will:

Make projects (cave paintings, cuneiform, cylinder seals, mask making, and more!)

Research assignments (sources available on a variety of reading levels, so there is no general reading requirement...research tailored to each student's individual reading ability)

Expand their learning of ancient cultures through hands-on baking and cooking projects

Learn the basics of hieroglyphs, as well as Latin and Greek, and indigenous and patois languages, for good measure

Go on field trips to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Bell Museum, Minnesota History Center, Bde Maka Ska, etc

Have an opportunity to act out The Epic of Gilgamesh-live on stage!-to be presented to friends and families.

Both classes meet weekly on Wednesdays from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM.