Wellness

WELLNESS COURSES

Middle School Wellness is comprised of four units: Study Skills, Social Emotional Learning, Library and Information Studies, and Girl Talk. Each grade will rotate through these units during the academic year.

GIRL TALK

The Girl Talk program is part of the Middle School Wellness Program and meets once a week for eight weeks with girls from our Upper School. Girl Talk is part of a national program with a very simple premise: high school girls mentor middle school girls to help deal with the triumphs and trials of the early teenage years.

STUDY SKILLS

The Middle School Study Skills Seminar meets once a week for eight weeks. The curriculum is designed to improve study skills and testtaking strategies within the context of the class curriculum. Students participate in skill-building activities designed by SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Middle School Social Justice is rooted in building communities of belonging, as students work to understand identity and stereotypes through introspection and perspective. Students explore the many ways identity is formed by reflecting on their own identities, assumptions, stereotypes, prejudice and bias in the world.

DIGITAL LIFE

In the Middle School “Digital Life” Seminar, we explore how mobile digital devices, the Internet, and social media impact the ways that we live and learn. Regardless of one’s individual technology use, we are all citizens of a digital era, and we feel the effects of the devices around us and the ways that information spreads. Through class discussions and activities, we reflect on the ways that we are both more connected

and also disconnected because of technology. We also discuss the ways that social media impacts our identity, relationships, and future opportunities. By giving these topics careful thought now, our middle schoolers will be able to manage their digital lives well in the years ahead.

LIBRARY AND INFORMATION STUDIES

In the Library and Information Studies class, students will expand their knowledge of literary forms and describe their characteristics as they read and interpret works of literature for curricular and leisure reading. Students will also identify the criteria of literary genres and award winning books with a focus on diversity and cross-cultural literature. In terms of research, students will learn to identify, evaluate, refine, and ethically integrate a variety of research media into curricular projects. With emphasis on the creation of bibliographic citations, students will also begin to develop an understanding of citation formatting and development.