Middle 7th & 8th
Academic Week
Students will work in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics in the afternoons. Our ELA and Math classes will focus on advanced topics and skills while integrating creative and critical thinking. Interdisciplinary projects that are real-world and relevant will be included in the coursework. Our curricular resources are carefully chosen as we have many students that are younger enrolled in these middle grades classes. Students must bring a laptop that has Microsoft Suite and a Google account.
Schedule
Morning
ELA & Social Studies
Midday: Lunch & Special
Afternoon
Math & Science
Students are accepted based on readiness, not age. They must meet a reading level Lexile of 800 or guided reading level S or higher. Please contact us if you need help making this easy determination before registering. If your child is not at this level, please look into our advanced elementary level classes for rapid acceleration.
Philosopy
We will focus on a pedagogy that cultivates the students’ ability to problem solve and think critically. We will focus on the development of the Five Pillars of Education: Content Mastery, School Climate, Operations, Environmental and Sustainable (Life-Long) Learning, and Innovation.
Our instruction style is multi-modal, hands-on instruction. We encourage self-motivated learners who are able to examine/scrutinize, decide relevancy, draw conclusions and explain connectedness in conclusions.
At the end of our middle grades program, our students will be prepared for classes advanced placement, advanced content, or dual-enrollment. The foundations for college placement testing will be covered in English and Math.
English Language Arts
ELA is comprised of these components:
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Grammar, the mechanics of the language,
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Written Expression, the art of communicating through the written word,
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Composition, the art of structuring the written word, and
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Reading, understanding and analysis of the literature assigned.
Grammar will converge on unlocking the usage of the language that forms inherent patterns through investigation of diagrams, as well as constructing diagrams and recognition of the overarching patterns the diagrams represent.
Written Expression diverges between creative and analytic writing. Composition instruction will move beyond the formulaic and toward purposeful use of strategies. We encourage the students toward complex thought processes, including rational, skeptical, and unbiased analysis or evaluation of evidence and the inclusion of these in the writing process through making connections : text- to-text, text-to-world, and text-to-self, etc.
Readings are drawn from both the canonistic literature and modern literature that is within the appropriate Lexile and subject matter that is well-suited to the students' needs. Students will have out of class reading to ensure that they have the capacity to use other works for comparison to in class readings.
Mathematics
7th graders are offered Pre-Algebra.
First Semester
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operations with rational numbers
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expressions and equations
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ratios and proportional relationships
Second Semester
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geometry
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inferences
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probability
8th graders are offered Algebra I. (Available SY 23-24)
First Semester
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transformations, congruence, and similarity
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exponents
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geometric applications of exponents
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functions
Second Semester
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linear functions
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linear models and tables
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solving systems of equations
Students will learn how to use their graphing calculators with proficiency, downloading lessons and apps from a computer, and uploading to a computer. They will need the Microsoft Suite loaded on a laptop as well as a TI-84 Plus graphing calculator.
Math students must know their multiplication facts from 0 to 12 before class begins or will be required to attend tutoring until they are mastered. They must be able to produce the answer fluently by using only memorization and not additive techniques such as skip counting.
