Now is the time when current seventh grade students select their elective choices for their eighth grade year.

All seventh graders should complete the course request survey by January 30.

Eighth grade students have an option to take up to three periods of electives, depending on the other courses they take. Please select from the list of elective options for 2019-20 (see below).

For additional information and scheduling help specific to Buford, watch these helpful videos produced by our school counselors.

Rising 8th grade students:

Rising 7th grade students:

Elective Course Descriptions

• Band (Full Year): This course will focus on developing musicianship by studying chromatic scale, major scales, drums (rudiments and various rolls), intermediate methods and rhythms, concert music, and rehearsal skills. Audition for placement required.
• Orchestra (Full Year): The Buford Orchestra program is arranged into four different levels-beginning, lower intermediate, upper intermediate and advanced. Each level focuses on playing technique, music literature, and performance appropriate to the level of the class. Audition for placement required.
• Chorus (Full Year): Come be a part of the Buford Middle School Chorus! This course is emphasizes intensive instruction in vocal techniques, reading and writing or music, vocal expression, dynamic contrast, signing in three and four part harmonies, musical notation, diction, sight reading, ear training, and breathing techniques. Audition for placement required.
• AVID (Full Year): AVID 8 is an academic elective that focuses on college readiness and skills necessary for rigorous high school coursework. Students will develop their skills in note-taking, tutor-facilitated study groups, and WICOR strategies. Students accepted into AVID 8 will be encouraged to enroll in higher-level courses. Application and interview required.
• Garden Aid (Full Year): In the garden aid class, students take leadership roles in maintaining the garden throughout the school year.  Their class time includes planting, harvesting, and watering, along with planning for the next growing season and learning hands-on about the science and history of growing food.
• Introduction to Band (Full Year): This is a beginning band course open to all students that are interested in learning a concert instrument. Instruments that students can choose from are: Flute, Clarinet, Trumpet, Trombone and Baritone.  Students will learn fundamental skills necessary to play an instrument and instruction will focus on rhythmic and pitch accuracy and tone.
• Spanish*, French*, or Latin* (Full Year): This rigorous course is an accelerated high school credit course in the Spanish, French or Latin language and culture. Emphasis is placed on listening comprehension, speaking skills, reading comprehension, and effective written communication at the beginning level. Students must receive a C or above in part I to be recommended for part II.
• Engineering I* (Full Year): Does engineering interest you? Do you imagine yourself designing solutions to problems? Engineering may be a career for you! Engineering is a hands-on course in which students work together to explore the fascinating field of engineering!
• Independent Living* (Full Year): This course allows students to explore strategies for living independently by focusing on relationships, applying financial literacy, and consumerism, managing resources in the areas of apparel, nutrition, and wellness and housing. They will develop leadership roles and plan for careers.
• Art (Full Year): Students will use a variety of mediums in developing painting and sculpture skills. Students produce works that are developed from preliminary ideas and sketches. They compare and contrast art from different world cultures and investigate how content can influence meaning.
• Art (Half Year)^: Through application, art history, art theory, and formal discussion, students will deepen their knowledge and understanding of the visual arts. The course will explore line, value, perspective, basic design, printing, sculpture, and color theory. Students will be responsible for creating, organizing, and maintaining a portfolio.
• Family and Consumer Science (Half Year)^: The students will focus on career research and workplace readiness skills. Students will develop a basic understanding of money management skills and will enhance their knowledge of nutrition and wellness practices. Students will also practice the use of the sewing machine.
• Foundations of Engineering (Half Year)^: Do you remember a world before cell phones, the internet, or computers? Inventions have significantly changed the way our society and the world work! Inventions and Innovations will let students explore inventions and solutions and how to turn ideas into life changing inventions.
• Introduction to Guitar (Half Year)^: Beginning guitar gives students the opportunity to learn via collaboration with peers, to gain responsibility and self-discipline through musical expression in a group activity. This course will include the study of beginning guitar techniques such as basic scales, strumming patterns, arpeggios, use of a pick, and chord progression.
• Introduction to Theater (Half Year)^: This course will help new artists as
  they take their first steps towards understanding the basics of theater: acting, direction, play writing, and stage creation.
• Computer Science (Half Year)^: Students will  cover topics such as: programming, physical computing, HTML/CSS, and data.  During this 18 week course students will be encouraged to learn by hands on experiences and collaboration with peers.
• Early Morning PE (Full Year)^: Students who want to take an additional elective can sign up for early morning PE. The days this course meets is TBD but it will meet from 7:30-8:15 am. Students mustprovide their own transportation.

*= HS credit course
^= Must choose 2 semester courses

Buford’s annual International Night will be on February 21, 2019 from 5:30 – 7 p.m. in the Buford cafeteria.

International Night is a popular school tradition that features International foods, exhibits, and performances. Come enjoy a fun evening and learn about different cultures from Buford students and families that have connections with other countries. Also, please bring a dish to share.

Volunteers are needed to help set up before the event, serve food samples, and clean up afterward. To sign up to help, use this link: www.tinyurl.com/2019BufordInternationalNight.

The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia announced the winners of Writer’s Eye 2018, the Museum’s annual literary competition challenging

writers of all ages to create original works of poetry and prose inspired by art.

In the Poetry category, Buford student Ariela Milstein placed first for her original work, “A Broken Home,” and Lowell Tolton earned first place honorable mention for her poem, “Just Am.”

Nearly 2000 Charlottesville City School students in grades 3-8 visited the Fralin Museum of Art last fall to participate in the program. After an interactive tour, students were asked to use the art as inspiration for their writing.

“For many of our students, visiting an art museum is a new experience,” said Charlottesville City Schools Literacy Coordinator Jen Davis. “The Writer’s Eye program helps our students look at art through a detailed lens and produce creatively written pieces using the art as the springboard.”

While touring the museum, students viewed a special collection of 12 original works ranging from a 1910 Edward Henry Potthast oil painting, “The Balloon Vender,” to more contemporary pieces like Nigerian artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s mixed-media work, “Home: As you See Me.”  Then the students wrote about their observations, emotions, and feelings invoked by the artwork, a concept known as ekphrasis.

Museum docents helped the young writers consider their own human experiences using prompts such as, “Does this painting remind you of a place you’ve been or an experience you’ve had?” and “Imagine a conversation between the figures in this painting—what are they talking about?”

Walker Upper Elementary teacher Jenifer Snyder visited the museum with students who are learning English as a second language. “It was amazing to see how these students were able to think deeply about small details in the artwork and then put their ideas down on paper.”

This year 4,406 individuals participated in the Writer’s Eye tours, and many others sought out the artwork on their own. Community and student docents gave 348 tours to students from 36 public schools and 19 independent schools in the cities of Charlottesville, Staunton, and Waynesboro, and nine surrounding counties: Albemarle, Augusta, Appomattox, Culpeper, Greene, Madison, Nelson, Orange, and Rappahannock.

Contestants submitted 1,306 entries in four age-related categories: Grades 3–5, 6– 8, 9–12 and university/adult. Entries for the younger grades are judged by panels of local writers and teachers.

The winners will be honored at an awards ceremony on March 17 from 3-5 p.m. in UVA’s Newcomb Hall Ballroom, and their works will be published in a 27-page full color anthology, available to the public for free.