Middle School (5-8)

Humanities

The Middle School combines English and History classes into a robust Humanities course. This allows time and flexibility for students to take a deep exploratory dive into reading and writing, as well as critical and analytical thinking. Middle School students consider big questions that cut across disciplinary boundaries. Students develop their reading, writing, and information literacy skills through engaging discussions, individual and group projects, and a variety of written assessments. The course includes a range of texts including contemporary and classical literature, historical and narrative fiction.

Faculty include a significant amount of voice and choice for students and their learning. There are many opportunities for student agency including book clubs and choice reading, as well as independent research topics. In addition, faculty strive to bring in opportunities for students to hear from experts in their field, and learn from real-world professionals about their experiences. Our humanities courses are rich with experiential education opportunities that connect to all interwoven themes of study.

Students also spend time building important foundational skills such as note-taking, annotation, discussion practices, debate, grammar, and citation as well as writing stamina, study skills, and time management. 

Mathematics

The Middle School math program provides a balanced approach to skill development and mathematical reasoning. We emphasize the discovery and application of mathematical ideas. Middle School courses begin by reinforcing basic skills and exploring geometry and pre-algebra topics. Eighth grade students study Algebra I, though some advance to Geometry in Middle School. 

Middle School Geometry is an eighth grade equivalent to high school Honors Geometry courses. 

Science

Students will develop their science skills through reading, investigations, virtual models, engineering challenges, performance assessments, discussions, and student-designed experiments. Instruction will focus on developing students’ abilities to form strong qualitative and quantitative observations, ask testable questions, design experiments, gather and organizing data, analyze data, and communicate results with their teachers and classmates.

Fifth grade offers an integrated science curriculum that exposes students to physical, earth, and space science. In sixth grade, the content focus is life science with the themes of ecosystems, adaptions, cells, and genetics. Seventh grade students learn about science through an integrated approach as they investigate the composition of matter, Earth’s processes through geological time, matter cycles and energy flows, and the distribution of Earth’s resources. Eighth grade students solve engineering problems and plan investigations about the speed of objects and waves, including modeling the light in the solar system, and exploring how non-contact forces influence phenomena. 

World Language 

Students in fifth grade learn Greek and Latin roots to help them decode more complex vocabulary words in history, English, math, and science. Learning roots helps students gain access to larger groups of words because they can break them into smaller pieces based on the prefix, suffix, or base word being used. These roots also serve as the basis for other languages such as Spanish, French, and Italian. As our students take World Language classes in the Middle School, the roots they learn will help them see similarities and patterns in other languages as well.

Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students have the opportunity to choose between two world languages – Spanish and Japanese. Most will continue studying this language through the Upper School’s advanced courses. Students learn about culture and history in these courses, as well as develop the vocabulary and grammar to speak, read, and write in another language.