Middle School Courses

Students study the ideas, issues, and events from the framing of the Constitution up to the Reconstruction Era. After reviewing the development of U.S. democratic institutions, particularly the framing of the Constitution, students will trace the development and shifts in U.S. politics, society, culture, and economy through 1877.

Students expand their understanding of history by studying the people and events that ushered in the dawn of the major Western and non-Western ancient civilizations. Geography is of special significance in the development of the human story. Continued emphasis is placed on the everyday lives, problems, and accomplishments of people, their role in developing social, economic, and political structures, as well as in establishing and spreading ideas that helped transform the world into the present.

The Middle School Earth Science course assists students in becoming life-long learners who grow in their understanding of the world. This course connects students to the beauty of geological history, the amazing landforms around the globe, the nature of the sea and air, and the newest discoveries about our universe. It gives students an opportunity to relate to their everyday world.

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English 1 students develop skills in reading, literary analysis, vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and writing. While the focus of English 6 will be on expository texts, students will also read short stories, novels, mythology, drama, and poetry.

English 2 students focus on grammar, literature, spelling. Vocabulary will be taught using an integrated approach. Literature includes short stories, nonfiction, the novel, mythology, folk tales, drama, and poetry. Grammar units will include parts of speech, parts of a sentence, kinds of sentences, fragments, run-ons, subject-verb agreement, verb usage, comparison of adjectives and adverbs, and essay writing in the four writing modes.

English 3 primarily emphasizes the careful reading and analysis of literature from various literary genres. Students also gain further experience in narrative, descriptive, and essay writing. Students continue to develop their vocabulary and refine their understanding and use of formal English grammar and mechanics.

Executive Skills supports the development of key executive functioning skills that impact the daily lives of students. This course is individualized based on the unique strengths and areas of growth for the student determined by assessment, student surveys, and interviews. Based on a review of these points of information, skills are identified for focused development during the two terms of this course. Executive Skills empowers students to take control of their experiences through knowledge, strategies, practice, and real-life application.

We use technology to communicate with friends and family, find never-ending entertainment options and do our schoolwork. Discover what it means to be a responsible digital citizen, expand your digital literacy, and become a successful online student. Consider the best ways to find, create, and share information, learn to maximize information and communication Where do healthcare workers spend their days? What do they really do? From cruise ships to sports arenas, you can find healthcare workers in many places that you might not expect. Explore this field, including what it would be like to work in a medical lab. Learn what it takes to keep you and your patients safe, and begin to learn about the human body and basic first-aid.

Are you interested in creating a website or app, or managing various technology solutions, but not sure where to start? If so, then it’s time to explore the different career options available to you in IT and learn the foundations of IT to get you started. Examine various IT pathways of web and digital communications, information and support services, network systems, and programming and software development. Let’s investigate which career pathway is right for you!

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘music’? Do you think about your favorite band or artist? In this course, you’ll learn about how we hear music; how music affects our lives; essential elements of music like rhythm, pitch, and harmony; different musical genres; singing and your voice; various instruments; music composition; and the history and culture of music over the years.

This one-to-one course is designed to equip students to make a successful transition from the physical education instructional program to participation in physical activity for life.

The objective of this series of courses is to introduce students to the basics of the language and the cultures that speak the language, assuming that the students have minimal or no prior knowledge of the language and culture. They address four areas of language development: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Students that complete this series of courses will be prepared for further successful study in high school French with a strong foundation in the language.

A: We love to play video games, but have you ever wanted to build your own? If you are interested in a career in technology but also want a creative outlet, Game Design might be the field for you. Learn how to build a game from the ground up in this interactive and hands-on course that will teach you all the ins and outs of making your own game. B: It’s time to take your Game Design knowledge up a level! You built your game design skills and Scratch techniques in the first part of this course. By the end, you wrote your game design document. Now you are ready to start developing that game! You’ll create details and add component pieces in a game while learning to prototype, troubleshoot, and test.

These courses engage students in the basics of the German language and provide them with the opportunity to gain life-long learning skills and prepare for higher education while allowing them to broaden their world language skills. They encourage students to explore themselves and their potential and to develop a rich and broad understanding of the German language and culture.

Students acquire the health information and skills necessary to become healthy young adults and learn about behaviors in which they should and should not participate.

Students may enroll in an off-campus independent PE. This course must be supervised and documented by a fitness expert for the requisite number of hours per term.

Middle School Integrated Science I introduces the natural sciences as an integrated whole. Its goal is to teach students how to solve scientific problems by drawing methods and concepts from biology, earth science and chemistry. Topics include matter, energy, earth’s systems, and living things in the biosphere.

Middle School Integrated Science 2 introduces the natural sciences as an integrated whole. Its goal is to teach students how to solve scientific problems by drawing methods and concepts from biology, earth science and chemistry. Topics include electricity, waves, distribution of natural resources, cells, and human body systems.

Middle School Integrated Science 3 introduces the natural sciences as an integrated whole. Its goal is to teach students how to solve scientific problems by drawing methods and concepts from biology, earth science and chemistry. Topics include atoms, chemical reactions, heredity, climate and the solar system.

These courses engage students in the basics of the Japanese language and provide them with the opportunity to gain life-long learning skills and prepare for higher education while allowing them to broaden their foreign language skills. They encourage students to explore themselves and their potential and to develop a rich and broad understanding of the Japanese language and culture.

Are you someone who likes to write to get the story straight? Skilled journalists know how to find key facts and write them up in a way that makes it easy for others to read. In this course, you’ll learn how to ask the right questions, how to gather information effectively, organize ideas, format stories, and edit your articles. Get ready to break that news!

This course coincides with English 1. Students are introduced to a variety of writing styles and practice composing their own informative, narrative, and argumentative texts to demonstrate a strong understanding of English conventions and language devices. Poetry will also be a focus as students will engage in creative expression through a variety of poetic styles. Students’ writing will be further supported by grammar studies.

This course is a continuation of MS Language Arts 1 and coincides with English 2. The purpose of this course is to provide instruction and practice in grammar, spelling, and writing related to language arts, reading, and writing. In Language Arts, students continue to develop an appreciation of spoken and written language, expand their use of descriptive words and complex sentences, as well as their choices of modes of writing. Students use oral language, written language, and media and technology for expressive, informational, argumentative, critical, and literary purposes. Students use the stages of the writing process to write clear, coherent compositions that apply and further develop their knowledge of the grammatical rules and standards of the English language.

This course is a continuation of MS Language Arts 2 and coincides with English 3. Students will continue to explore various types of writing styles, including informative, narrative, and argumentative, in addition to creative writing through poetry. A focus will be on vocabulary development and the use of formal conventions of communicating. Grammar studies will support the development of students’ command of the English language.

The purpose of this course is to provide a middle school student with a solid foundation to move forward to high school Latin or any other Romance language. Students engaged in this course will become familiar with the very basics of Latin from pronunciation to parts of speech and declensions.

This course sparks students’ curiosity in discovering the interconnectedness and diversity of our living world. All the units in the course will include a focus on: biological and environmental literacy, authentic laboratory experiences, determining the validity of claims, participating in citizen science, designing new studies based on their questions, and methods of analyzing their collected data.

Students taking these courses will be given tools to effectively study the Mandarin language. Focus is placed on building an understanding of the construction of Chinese characters rather than memorizing specific characters themselves. Students will learn pronunciation by studying the proper way to read pinyin, giving them the ability to correctly pronounce all vocabulary they will encounter in the future. Students will also practice looking up the meaning and pronunciation of unfamiliar Chinese words, and how to effectively use resources to translate between English and Mandarin independently.

MS Math Course 1 is the first of three courses in an integrated middle school mathematics sequence designed to prepare students for Algebra 1. The content presented in the course covers five main areas of mathematics: ratios and proportional reasoning, the number system, expressions and equations, geometry, and statistics. Students begin to extend their knowledge of arithmetic with whole numbers to numbers including fractions and decimals. They also explore the fundamental aspects of algebra involving the concept of a variable and solving one-step equations, especially in the context of real-world applications.

MS Math Course 2 is the second of three courses in an integrated middle school mathematics sequence designed to prepare students for Algebra 1. The content presented in the course covers five main areas of mathematics: ratios and proportional relationships; the number system; expressions and equations; geometry; and statistics and probability. Students begin to extend their knowledge of rational number operations, proportional relationships, and percents, as well as the fundamental aspects of algebra involving generating equivalent expressions and solving equations and inequalities. Finally, students explore sampling, probability, and geometry.

MS Math Course 3 is the last of three courses in an integrated middle school mathematics sequence designed to prepare students for Algebra 1. The content presented in the course covers five main areas of mathematics: the number system; expressions and equations; functions; geometry; and statistics and probability. Students begin to extend their knowledge of real numbers and explore the fundamental aspects of algebra involving solving linear equations, using functions to model relationships, and systems of linear equations. Students investigate deeper in bivariate data and ways to represent it. Finally, students explore congruence and similarity, the Pythagorean Theorem, and surface area and volume.

Students study the social, cultural, and technological changes that occurred in Europe, Africa, and Asia in the years 500 - 1789 CE. After reviewing the ancient world and the ways in which archaeologists and historians uncover the past, students study the history and geography of great civilizations that were developing concurrently throughout the world during medieval and early modern times.

Students study the ideas, issues, and events from the Second Industrial Revolution through the present. They make connections between the rise of industrialization and contemporary social and economic conditions.

Students examine people, places, and environments on local, regional, national and international scales in contemporary society. Students are provided the opportunity to study the influence of individuals and groups on historical and contemporary events in those societies.

Middle school music students gain a broad understanding of music and how it is used as a language of human expression. A large emphasis is placed on music history and exposing the students to music of diverse cultures and genres.

Discover the real-world uses of Microsoft Excel and its impact on business, academic, and personal applications. Move from inserting and manipulating data, to working with tables, charts, graphs, and calculations.

Master your email and learn about Outlook’s functions to produce professional communications, helping you to succeed in business and in life. Understand effective communication techniques, working with attachments, formatting, replying, and organizing. Be prepared for your day with other features such as calendars, contacts, and tasks.

Learn to create clean and professional presentations while also building your skills as a speaker, leader, and marketer! Create and format presentations while inserting multimedia, images, transitions, and animations to make a dynamic final product!

Learn to effectively and efficiently use one of the most common tools of business, school, and personal correspondence! Discover how to format and style documents using fonts, colors and editing tools, create tables, use bullets and numbering, and insert images.

Students will learn the basics behind core ideas in the physical sciences – physics, chemistry, astronomy, and life sciences. The performance expectations blend the core ideas with scientific and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts to support students in developing usable knowledge to explain real-world phenomena, master scientific practices, and develop skill sets that are transferable into future studies.

MS Pre-Algebra prepares students for Algebra 1. The course covers five main areas of mathematics: the number system, expressions and equations, functions, geometry, and statistics and probability. Students extend their fundamental knowledge of algebraic concepts to include the concept of a function, and to extrapolate to make predictions using data.

In Middle School Spanish 1, 2, 3, students learn the basics of the Spanish language. Students will become skilled in using conversational phrases, including greetings, introductions, and the expression of feelings. In addition, students will learn vocabulary, how to tell time, use numbers, and pronounce the Spanish alphabet. Fundamental Spanish grammatical concepts will also be covered. During this series of courses, care will be taken to explain differences and similarities between the English and Spanish languages, preparing them for further study in high school.

This course allows students to learn and practice: physical postures (asana), discussion, readings, meditations, and hands-on activities to help the student understand all aspects of the art and practice of Hatha Yoga.

This course allows students to learn and practice: physical postures (asana), discussion, readings, meditations, and hands-on activities to help the student understand all aspects of the art and practice of Hatha Yoga.

This course allows students to learn and practice: physical postures (asana), discussion, readings, meditations, and hands-on activities to help the student understand all aspects of the art and practice of Hatha Yoga.