Science

Percussion Ensemble 1.0 credit AY 6-8

Students will get hands-on experience playing the djembe and other hand percussion. The class will get familiar with African, Brazilian and Latin rhythms. We’ll listen to world music and break down the percussion parts. The class will also study basic rhythmic notation and form a cohesive ensemble. We will also explore the different methods involved in playing these styles: call and response; theme and variation; and soloing.

Introduction to Band 1.0 credit AY 5-6

Introduction to Band is designed to introduce students to instrumental ensemble playing. Students may choose between traditional woodwind and brass, or common rock/pop instruments such as drum kit, piano, guitar, and bass. Throughout the year, students will learn techniques specific to their instrument of choice while becoming musically literate with emphasis on notes, rhythm, and expression. Daily practice is expected.

Band 1.0 credit AY 6-8

This is a course meant for students with at least one year of band experience. Instrumentalists will continue to build on skills learned in the beginning band and will look to expand their range, adding more complex rhythms and overall more challenging musical material. In this course, some students may choose to switch to oboe, French horn, baritone, or tuba with director permission.

MS Glee Club 1.0 credit AY 5-8

MS Glee Club provides a musical foundation, love of singing and familiarity with everyone’s own natural instrument, their own voice. Via a fun and interactive process, students will sing from the vast canon of vocal repertoire as well as pop and Broadway songs, while learning correct vocal technique, music fundamentals, and performance skills. Chorus performs in both the Winter and Spring concerts, thereby developing skills of confidence and poise. Written and oral assessments will track students’ musical progress as they become musically literate and expressive singers.

MS Chamber Choir 1.0 credit AY 6-8

MS Chamber Choir offers 6th, 7th and 8th Grade students the opportunity to strengthen their musical foundation and prepares them for singing in an Upper School chorus. Music literacy is continually stressed, with students reading their music from a vocal score and singing in 3-part harmony. The selection, preparation, and performance of music highlights students’ mastery of these skills. Students will gain poise and self-confidence as well as develop the musical skills for a lifetime of musical enjoyment through the participation in chorus.

Science

“If it isn’t hands-on, it isn’t science.” This maxim underscores our Middle School science curriculum. Our faculty combines their real-world experience with a passion for incorporating openquestion research into students’ experiences. Developing a basic understanding of inquiry, research, the scientific method, and articulation of that knowledge in the written and spoken word and using digital media, are core departmental goals.

Energy Science 3.0 credits AY 5

This course focuses on energy transfer. The first trimester explores how energy flows into an ecosystem through photosynthesis and emphasizes food webs. While exploring ecosystems, Natural Selection, physical and behavioral adaptations, and Darwinism are woven into the lessons. Students do hands-on explorations of the ecosystems available here on campus and learn about stream, pond, and forest ecosystems. The winter trimester switches to physical energy. Newton’s Laws, potential and kinetic energy, and gravity are taught with hands-on physics labs and engineering challenges. The spring trimester bridges their physics knowledge to the solar system. We learn about asteroids and comets, moons, and the planets that orbit our star, the sun.

Physical Science 3.0 credits AY 6

The ocean defines and dominates everything about our planet. It covers most of our earth, is home to most of the life here, regulates our weather and climate, provides most of our oxygen, and feeds much of the human population. In 6th-grade science students explore our oceans through a collection of hands-on/minds-on activities focusing on physical, geological, and biological concepts that are fundamental in ocean science. Using a problem-solving approach students are exposed to key concepts including density, pressure, buoyancy, energy, climate change, ocean acidification, and overfishing. The curriculum features hands-on learning, experiments, scientific inquiry skills and data explorations.

Life Science 3.0 credits AY 7

This course introduces students to the world of Life Science using a holistic approach. In the fall, the focus is on the characteristics of life as well as cell structure and function. In the winter, the focus shifts to plant life and animal structure and function. In the spring, students study ecology through a wide range of hands-on experiences in the outdoor classroom. Throughout each theme, connections are made to the relationships that exist between and among living organisms and the environment. Regular use of microscopes and other basic lab equipment encourages students to engage and participate in investigation and inquiry.

Earth and Space Science 3.0 credits AY 8

Earth Science explores the natural history and processes that influence the lives of students on a daily basis. Through reading, discussion, research, writing, and outdoor exploration, students are encouraged to relate global phenomena to local experiences. The primary areas of focus include: methods of scientific inquiry and ‘scientific thinking’; the composition of matter; the Earth, Sun, and Moon system; solar system exploration; stellar history, influence, and exploration; atmospheric dynamics and meteorology; oceanic circulation; landscape formation and plate tectonics. Within these areas, emphasis is placed on developing analytical dispositions and student skills that support the assimilation and expression of understanding.