INTRODUCTION TO THE MIDDLE SCHOOL SCHEDULE

The Middle School schedule is designed to support our students’ development of a variety of core academic skills, including reading, writing, listening, speaking, inquiry, problemsolving, and critical thinking. Throughout the day students have the opportunity to advance their skills in academic classes, including Math, English, Science, History, and World Language. Additionally, all students are required each year to take courses in Computer Science, Arts, Health, and Athletics.

Our Mission in Action (MIA) guides our students each day and serves as our motto. It states, “be Nice, be Empowered, Work hard….because every day is a NEW day.” Our schedule provides opportunities to grow as we encourage kindness, self-advocacy, and stretching ourselves to be our best, providing the chance to start a NEW day when mistakes are made. Advisory, Skill-Lab, and Clubs are intentional blocks in the schedule that focus on fostering these skills.

Grade level English courses meet five times in the eight-day cycle.

English — Grade 6

The Grade 6 English curriculum is designed to harness our students’ curiosity and creativity, inspiring them to become lifelong readers and writers. Using a wide variety of texts, both chosen by the students and as whole-class reads, classes explore how authors purposefully craft stories to convey specific messages. Reading units include: Fast and Furious Reading, Subgenre Book Clubs, A Deep Study of Character, Narrative Nonfiction (in conjunction with 6th grade History and Science), and Social Issues Book Clubs. The Middle School English department recognizes the importance of dedicating instructional time to independent reading as a key tool in developing habitual readers with conscientious reading identities. Students discuss how understanding different perspectives makes books- and life, richer and more robust. As a daily activity, writing emphasizes choice and creativity, in accordance with structure, technique, and grammar. Writing units include: Subgenre short-stories, Literary Essay, and Personal Narrative. The Hansen Library supplements informational lessons and resources for our class in choosing appropriate texts and honing in on research strategies. Self-reflection about their reading and writing growth helps students develop a clear sense of who they are and who they want to be. Students learn how to use effective communication, including speaking and writing, to make themselves heard and to affect change.

English — Grade 7

The Grade 7 English curriculum encourages students to continue to develop their identities as lifelong readers and writers. In addition to increasing the overall volume of writing crafted this year, students learn to adjust their own writing style, structure, and format based on the purpose, task, and audience of their varying writing tasks. Grade 7 students develop an increased sense of competence and confidence as writers whose voices matter, and whose words have the power to affect change. The Middle School English department recognizes the importance of dedicating instructional time to independent reading as a key tool in developing habitual readers with conscientious reading identities. Building on the strong foundational reading work from the previous year, Grade 7 students maintain a regular habit of independent reading with selfselected texts as well as whole class novels. In our shared novel units, students deepen their critical reading skills, focusing on text-based discussion skills and identifying strong supporting evidence to validate varied interpretations of literature.

English — Grade 8

In English, Grade 8 students deepen their creativity, curiosity, and independence by interacting with whole-class and self-selected texts. Students engage with literature and nonfiction that present multiple perspectives, allowing them to analyze complex and three-dimensional issues. Reading units include: Multi-Perspective Literature, World Conflict texts, Social Issues Literature, Poetry, Speeches, and Classics. Debates, books clubs, discussion groups, and one-on-one conferences with the teacher help students hone their skills. As a daily activity, writing emphasizes choice and creativity, with direct instruction on rhetorical structures, persuasive techniques, grammar, word choice, and voice. Writing units include: short answer response, analytical essay, creative story, poetry, and persuasive essay. Using their growing ability to self-reflect, students choose, monitor, and modify individual goals for progress as lifelong readers, writers, and thinkers.

History

Grade level History courses meet five times in the eight-day cycle.

History — Grade 6

Students in Grade 6 history broaden their knowledge, perspective, and appreciation for world geography, world cultures, and world history. Inquiry, investigation, and research skills are strengthened as students are guided to recognize issues of global importance. Each global issue is examined through case studies in various regions of the world. Students investigate the historic and contemporary challenges of Migration, Standard of Living, Globalization, and World Religions. Through their investigations, students develop skills for discussion, debate, research, inquiry, writing arguments, and reading informational text. Several cross-curricular elements enhance the course design, such as our study of World War II paired across Grade 6 English, history, and science classes as is the Environmental Summit & World’s Fair capstone project.

History — Grade 7

Grade 7 United States History encompasses a detailed study of American history beginning with early migration to North America and exploring various factors leading to the United States’ current position in the world. The study of United States history involves understanding how the government, groups of people, or individuals have created and/or solved problems, affected the direction of the country, and influenced world affairs. Important themes and trends will be identified by studying the role of ideas, individuals, and significant events. Students will develop historical reasoning skills and explore how events in the past have contributed to our present as a nation.

Additionally, students will continue to expand on the analytical and assimilation skills they began in 6th grade through an introduction to Document Based Questions (DBQ’s). DBQ’s help students learn to compare and contrast issues from various perspectives while paying particular attention to different viewpoints and motivations, and identifying strengths and weaknesses in arguments. This is achieved by developing DBQ’s that make use of primary sources including historical documents and records as well as news sources, personal accounts, images, and song lyrics from the era.

History — Grade 8

The Grade 8 civics course inspires students to generate solutions to social problems of personal interest to them, through which they construct their understanding of the dynamic relationships between governments and the governed. Much of the coursework is driven by students’ capstone studies; after selecting a theme for the year, students develop portfolios of research projects that illustrate this relationship. Throughout the year, students develop robust understandings of political elections, the three branches of government, and citizen participation. The course curriculum is responsive to current events, giving students ample opportunity to apply foundational knowledge to real-world circumstances. They craft their skills as writers of evidence-based arguments and regularly receive coaching on their abilities to engage in civil discourse.