Photo Provided Bridgeport fifth-graders Jennifer Agler, left, and Mason Cuiksa in Kayla Heller’s health and wellness class are studying nutrients and diagramming the water composition of some fruits and how the body uses fats.

BRIDGEPORT — Students are broadening their horizons at Bridgeport Middle School.

New enrichment courses were on offer starting this year, with in-depth explorations of history, the sciences and practical life skills. During eighth and ninth periods, students might research details of World War II or lesser-known elements of local history, create code or learn life skills.

The enrichment classes were made possible by a change in middle school and high school scheduling beginning this school year. The district added five minutes to the end of the school day, altered the other class times from 43 minutes to 40 minutes, and reduced time between classes. This meant an overall yearly increase of 39 class hours for study, intervention and completion of assignments for high schoolers, and enrichment classes at the middle school.

Teachers had the chance to stretch their wings, researching and building new curriculum around subjects they thought would be of interest to their students.

Teacher Kyle Turley has started an introduction to music history class, where he has been covering music from the medieval period and its development through the Renaissance.

“I think it’s important to get familiarized with the very early times of music,” he said.

He is teaching eighth-graders now and will teach seventh-graders next semester.

“They seem to be enjoying it,” he said, adding that his students are gaining insight into how current musical styles have developed. “It’s cool to see them make those connections to modern day music.”

English language arts teacher Tracy-Lynn Nguyen’s enrichment class is introduction to coding for fifth-graders. She uses the resources available through Code.org to design the curriculum.

Students gain some new understanding as they see the programming language behind the actions on screen.

“With the way that technology is going, our future students will be at a disadvantage if they do not understand technology and its various uses,” she said, pointing out her students’ progress in troubleshooting and debugging. “They’re finding the pieces of the code that are not working how they expect them to. They’re analyzing where does that problem happen and how can they go about fixing it.”

ELA teacher Tessa Kinsey is teaching a course on World War II. This subject elicited great interest among her students and matched her own love of history. Kinsey said the class incorporates history, geography, and a study of other cultures. She said enrichment classes allow her students to delve deeply into the timeline to explore details of the war as well as how the world was changed in the aftermath.

“It’s a great addition, having different semester courses that these kids can be exposed to and learn some more in-depth information,” she said. “It’s gone really well. The kids are receptive to the activities.”

Fifth grade math teacher Kayla Heller is teaching a class on health and wellness. The coursework includes social and emotional development. Fifth-graders also learn about nutrition and how their bodies use food. The material encourages students in building habits of healthy food choices.

“It’s important because it’s going into our adulthood. We have to be healthy to function and to have energy,” she said.

Heller added that her students have shown growing skill in research and are building confidence when they present to the class.

The assignments incorporate project-based learning, calling on students to do some hands-on work or think about practical design. Turley’s students use their iPads to write articles about the first printing press and design Renaissance period instruments. They also comment on each other’s work.

Nguyen’s coding students often use video game design as exercises. Students learn why sprites move the way they do. They make interactive components of different games and learn about artificial intelligence and how machine learning can be used to help in coding.

In Kinsey’s class, students study some of the more interesting elements of the period. Lessons include decoding using Navajo code talker methods and creating ration books that might have been used during war time. They also construct biographies of historical figures of the period, from political leaders to spies.

Heller’s students are also building their research and public speaking skills. Their graphs map out the water composition of some fruits and vegetables, and the role of fat in storing energy.

Teachers have come up with some new ideas from the upcoming semester. Turley plans to start his next class studying early 20th century music. Heller will begin incorporating exercise and outdoor activity when the weather allows, and Nguyen said her students who have completed the course are asking for more opportunities to put the material to use.