We believe the world needs you to find your passion. The Riviera Ridge STEAM2 electives program allows our middle school students to develop their talents, passions, and a growth mindset all within a school day!
STEAM2 Certificate Program
The Riviera Ridge STEAM2 (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics, and movement) electives program allows our middle school students to develop their talents, passions, and a growth mindset. We offer 25-30 course selections each year led by highly-trained faculty. Students will choose three courses a year, for a total of 9 courses in their middle school experience.
All Riviera Ridge Middle School students have the opportunity to earn STEAM2certificates. Students enrolled from 6th-8th grade need a total of 4 credits from each certificate area and students who join us in 7th grade need a total of 3 credits from each certificate area. The liberal arts certificate, which is an interdisciplinary certificate, requires students to take one STEM, one art, and one free choice course per year.
Certificate Programs
Liberal Arts
Mathematics
Performing Arts
Science
Service and Leadership
Technology & Engineering
Visual Arts
Fall 2023 Trimester (Sample Course Descriptions)
Engineering 101
Engineers fix the world. Our Engineering 101 course focuses on four types of engineering: mechanical engineering, computer engineering, and electrical engineering. Students begin by learning rapid prototyping and designing thinking through Standfords D. School’s curriculum. Then, they learn TinkerCAD, cardboard prototyping, 3D printing for prototyping, and cast and molds through MIT’s hands-on projects. Next, they learn basic coding, LED lighting, and circuitry. For their final project, they learn with hand tools, including saws, drills (nonpower, and hammers.
Fall Musical
The Musical Elective invites students to be introduced to the world of Theater Production! Students learn the importance of being a part of a collaborative environment and creative team. Students will be exposed to all elements of theater production, on and off stage, and how they work together to bring a musical from the page to the stage. Guided by a team of professional stage directors, vocal coaches, costume designers, choreographers, and makeup artists, our students will learn a wide range of skills, including the audition & rehearsal process; acting, vocal and dance techniques; stage management, makeup & costuming basics; and set design.
Surfing
The surfing elective is so rad! Students study the history, music, cinema, board and fin design, and ocean dynamics that make surfing a soulful endeavor. At Campus Point, on surf trips, students receive expert surf instruction and experience the thrill of surfing for themselves. Students also design and implement plans to help keep our oceans and beaches healthy. Bring your stoke and your aloha, and let's go surfing!
Rock and Roll Robotics
Students will learn the fundamentals of coding with our Sphero robots. Each student will have their own robot, and depending on skill level, students will use block coding or JavaScript to guide their robot through a series of tasks. Some tasks of interest include building a maze, Sphero Olympics, and bridge building.
Service Brigade
Do you LOVE helping others? Connecting with your community? Organizing service initiatives? The Service Brigade is for you! Nurture your soul and build service planning skills. We will organize school-wide service initiatives culminating in a presentation. Additionally, we volunteer with local nonprofits around Santa Barbara.
The Training Camp
Become an all-star athlete. The Training Camp elective is about improving an athlete's knowledge, abilities, and love of training to be their best. We focus on preparing the mind and body, using techniques and methods that can apply to almost all athletic activities. Our main goal is for our athletes to enjoy the process while learning to work hard towards reaching their physical and mental potential.
Chess
The chess elective is for all ability levels. Students completely new to chess and aspiring grandmasters alike are invited to participate. We will learn from each other by playing matches against new opponents each week. Regardless of skill level, there is always something to learn in a chess game against another player. We will continually develop new strategies and tactics to employ and test their success or failure with a critical eye. We will experiment with chess clocks to see the effect of limited thinking time on conducting an action plan. We will apply logic to each move on the board to exploit an advantage. Learning to apply a critical eye to the chessboard will prime your brain to tackle logic problems of all types around the globe.
Pop Art
In Pop Art, we explore the masters of Pop art! We learn how to use popular culture, the signature bold and bright colors, along with the techniques to create comic-style portraits. This fun and fun art style allows students to express mainstream images and popular figures using all mediums. Students work on a series of independent projects and have the opportunity to present their work in our annual art show.
Kaleidoscope routemap
Choose age group
IntroductionAll ages
Early EducationJK - Grade 1
Lower SchoolGrades 2 - 5
Middle SchoolGrades 6 - 8
Kaleidoscope | Introduction
At The Riviera Ridge School, we want our students to examine the world around them, to find the beauty in differences, and to value multiple perspectives. Through the lens of our signature program, Kaleidoscope, our students are given the unique opportunity to experience and study the traditions and values of world religions and diverse cultures through a global and unifying perspective. Just as a Kaleidoscope reflects light in different ways, our students shine in a variety of ways as well. The Kaleidoscope Program presents students to share what lights them up while illuminating the perspective of others as well. In the same way a kaleidoscope’s rotation presents an ever-changing view, we encourage our students to be tolerant, open, and flexible in theirs. Our students broaden their minds through the study of historical, cultural, ethical, and moral perspectives in a reflective view of world religions.
Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.
- Aristotle
Take a singular part out of a kaleidoscope, and it won’t look like much. It relies on the interconnectedness of each little light. As the sum of its parts, growing and changing with every turn, a stunning tapestry is created. Our students learn that they are part of this tapestry, with each year of study, the knowledge becomes more vivid: they’re connected to something bigger. Religious Traditions Explored include: Buddhism, Catholicism & Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Native American Traditions, Indigenous cultures, Shinto, Sikhism, and Taoism.
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Kaleidoscope | Early Education
The idea that one possesses a purpose beyond self is part of our school’s vision. Our core values are introduced to our students the moment they step on campus. In Junior Kindergarten through First Grade, students delve into literature-based units of study that illustrate our shared values of Joy, Kindness, Diversity, and Ethical Responsibility.
In Junior Kindergarten, students and their families share their heritage and traditions through storytelling and by bringing in food and favorite recipes to share with the class. In Kindergarten students learn ways to solve conflicts by being peacemakers as exemplified by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In First Grade, children learn about being a friend to self and others through powerful stories such as The Rabbit Listened.
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Kaleidoscope | Lower School
An exploration of world religions begins in 2nd grade and continues through 5th grade. The Kaleidoscope Program introduces students to religious traditions through stories of real people, especially children. Students encounter religious traditions authentically, as integral to everyday life, as well as personal and communal identity.
In Second Grade students study geometric patterns of mosaic tiles in mosques and make their own mandalas. In Third Grade, students can be found listening to music from various world religions, studying the importance of the arts through cultural traditions. In 4th and 5th grade, students learn about traditions through guest visits from locals, such as a Chumash elder.
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Kaleidoscope | Middle School
As students enter the Middle School years, our vision of cultivating social responsibility and empowering individual potential grows even stronger. In 6th grade Service Learning, students learn about what it means to be a social entrepreneur and create their own Service in Action Project. In 7th Grade Ethics, students reflect on how they make decisions and examine their own beliefs and moral frameworks, as well as the ethics of others. The Kaleidoscope Program culminates with a comparative and comprehensive study of Comparative Religions in the 8th grade. Our 8th grade leaders graduate from The Riviera Ridge School empowered with a profound awareness for empathy, love of diversity, and immeasurable purpose beyond self.
The Riviera Ridge STEAM2 (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics, and movement) electives program allows our middle school students to develop their talents, passions, and a growth mindset. We offer 25-30 course selections each year led by highly-trained faculty. Students will choose three courses a year, for a total of 9 courses in their middle school experience. 
