Middle School Curriculum

Fall

• animal study
• drawing : light and shadow
• still life
• color paper mosaics

Winter

• 2 point perspective
• graph drawing
• clay

Spring

• advertising: group project
• art history
• painting
• foam vehicle building

Fall

• Introduction to theatre
  • Terms, stage directions, brief history, types of theatre
• Exploring ways to use the body and voice
• Scene work - how to use a script
  • Ambiguous Scenes
• Introduction to improvisation
  • Games teaching Teamwork, Listening, Trust, Risk, Humor
• Introduction to Shakespeare
  • How to read The Bard, Insults, Modern pop-culture impact, Sonnets
• Short scenes from Shakespeare
• Rehearsal and Presentation of final scenes
  • Using plays from various local and nationally known playwrights

Fall

• 8th Grade Focus - Script Writing
• Format
  • Different techniques and formats mean different things
• Reading short plays by various authors (consistent throughout the semester)
  • including reading and performing plays written by previous classes
• Writing Exercises (consistent throughout the semester)
  • Impossible scenes, Allegories, Power, creating a "world", Stage directions only, Writing with your voice, dialogue driven, creating characters, exposition 
  • Communicating to a director through stage directions 
• How to turn ideas into a play
  • Storytelling
  • Improvisation
  • Personal experience
• Development of characters
• Introduction to theatrical lighting
  • How to set up and store a lighting kit
  • How to focus and light a stage
  • Creating mood and tone with lights 
• Creation of original one-act plays

Fall

• Discuss summer reading literature choices and create project based on those books
• Begin our comprehensive, year-long vocabulary units that integrates both literature-based vocabulary and vocabulary from our sourcebook
• Begin our year-long grammar course with a diagnostic assessment of 7th grade concepts and review of subjects, predicates, direct and indirect objects
• Themes such as Self vs. Group Identity woven throughout
•  Begin unit on Lord of the Flies by William Golding including discussions, note-taking and small group work
• Identification and analysis of symbols and themes in the novel, culminating in a formal written assessment including quotations from the literature.   
• Outside Reading projects introduced; students read first of three outside reading books and complete a project based on their book
• Begin to read second novel and focus on identity formation, being the "other", and group dynamics

Winter

• Finish reading and analyzing second novel and focus on identity formation, being the "other", and group dynamics
• Themes such as self vs. other, perspective, sense of belonging and one's role in a neighborhood woven throughout

• Continue work on note-taking and discussion
• In-class writing assessments based on quotations from literature incorporated
• Analytical, creative assessment that compares art and music to the novel.
• Begin third novel with focus on close-reading, inference and perspective.  
• Continue vocabulary program.  
• Continue grammar program. 
• Students begin Automated Wax Museum project, based on a book of the student's choice

Spring

• Students present Automated Wax Museum to RDS community, and hand in written monologues.
• Students embark on Short Story unit including analysis of stories, learning the story arc, understanding voice, perspective and dialogue and culminating in creative short story project. 
• Begin reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the final novel of the year.  
• Themes including gender stereotypes, racism, classism and courage woven throughout
• Students continue discussions, note-taking and in-class close readings and writing about quotations from the novel
• Students create paper topic based on To Kill a Mockingbird 
• Vocabulary units continued
• Grammar units continued
• Prepare for formal final examination

• To Further Discuss Changes that Occur During Puberty, both Emotional and Physical Changes. 
• To Discuss In Depth: Values, Peer Relationships, Personal Relationships and Responsible Decision Making With Regard to Personal Health. 
• Introduction and Prevention of Drugs and Alcohol.

Fall

• Preview of year and timeline activity
• Rise & Fall of Rome
• European Feudalism--Focus on English Feudalism
• Byzantine Empire--split of the Roman Empire to Justinian
• Research paper on Byzantine buildings as artifac
• Islam--Foundations of. Projects include Dialogue with a Muslim

Winter

• Three Religions Paper with focus on Jerusalem
• Essay test on schism in Islam (previous years)
• Crusades from the First Crusade to the Fall of Constantinople
• Children's Crusades and modern-day context of Children of War (WWII, Northern Ireland, the Balkans) (previous years)
• Imperial China: Focus on the Han through the Song. Focus on art and spirituality--Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism
• Feudal Japan: Governance by daimyo, protection by samurai, Chinese and European influence

Spring

• West African Kingdoms and various art and writing projectsAsian Art Museum Visit
• Independent Research Project
• From Cradle of India to Imperial China to Feudal Japan: Religion and Balance in art and spirituality. Includes -isms including Buddhism as well as lifestyle practice Ayurveda.(previous years)
• Mesoamerica cultures: Art, religion, and everyday life in the Aztec and Mayan societies
• South America: Inca society

Fall

• Creation Myths and Ancient Flood Stories
• Vocabulary and Grammar
• Note taking - main ideas 
• Creative Writing
• Public Speaking - Impromptu speeches
• cultural universals museum - research and presentation - integrative unit
• how to read a text book and 2-column note taking
• study skills
• Ancient Mesopotamia

Winter

• Essay Writing - paragraphs
• Journalism/News reporting writing
• Internet research
• Public Speaking - demonstration speeches
• Ancient Civilizations novels
• Vocabulary and Grammar
• Ancient Egypt - video project/research project
• Ancient China and India
• Introduction to Hinduism and Buddhism
• 3-column note taking

Spring

• Short Stories from the Ancient Hebrews
• Circle Justice Literature
• Ancient Greek Mythology
• Report Writing and Research skills
• Vocabulary and Grammar
• Ancient Hebrews - reports
• Ancient Greeks - god/goddess presentations and Greek Olympics
• five paragraph essay and report writing
• study skills

Fall

• Linear Equations: solving and graphing
• Linear Inequalities: solving and graphing

Winter

• Systems of Equations and Inequalities: solving and graphing
• Polynomials: adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing
• Factoring Polynomials

Spring

• Exponential Growth and Decay
• Quadratic Equations: solving, factoring, graphing
• Algebraic Word Problems

Fall

• Singing: Learning, rehearsing songs for Winter Concert.
• Cultural Universals Project:  inventing instruments, creating scales, writing songs.
• Guitar Chords: G major, C major, D major chords

Winter

• Singing: Winter Concert songs, learning, rehearsing new songs for spring.
• Guitar Chords: A minor, E minor
• Introduction to guitar tablature notation and G major scale; playing melodies using these.

Spring

• Singing: Song preparation for Arts and Music Night performance.
• Guitar Chords:  E major, A major, B minor 
• Continuing to play guitar melodies, chord/melody duets

Fall

• Singing: Learning, rehearsing songs for Winter Concert.
• Jazz history:  Overview of jazz from 1900-1950
• Improvisation:  Group free improvisation exercises

Winter

• Singing: Rehearsing songs for Winter Concert, intro to songs for Spring.
• Jazz history:  Overview of jazz from 1950-present
• Improvisation:  Card Pieces

Spring

• Singing: Rehearsing songs for Art and Music night.
• Songwriting/performance project.

Class Objective

• To create a safe space for students to enjoy and explore physical fitness; students implement life long fitness into their lives.  Students understand the importance of sportsmanship and effort.

Class Activites:

• Conditioning, Flexibility and Agility: long distance running, dynamic stretching, agility drills

• Cooperative Fitness Games

Major sports unit:

• Track and Field

• Flag Football

• Soccer

• Basketball

• Floor Ball

• Volleyball

• Baseball/Softball

• Pickle-ball

• Disc Sports

Fall

• Intro Unit- Review Scientific Method, Microscopes, Metrics
• Cells- The Basic Units of Life and How They Function
• Genetics- Understanding Inheritance

Winter

• Human Body- A look at the skeletal, digestive, immune and nervous systems
• The Frog Dissection

Spring

• Environmental Science & Ecology- What is Environmentalism? What are Ecological Issues?
• Environmental Science Expo

Fall

• Introduction of basic grammar and vocabulary integral to surviving in a Spanish immersion classroom-including information to follow basic classroom instructions provided in Spanish
• Introduction of Spanish phonetics and basic pronunciation patterns-looking specifically at written and phonetic alphabets in Spanish
• Theme focus on definition of school community in both English and Spanish speaking worlds
• Descriptive words, adjective and noun use and construction in Spanish. Use of def. and ind. articles and their role and function as realted to genders of nouns
• Sugar skull project in honor of Day of The Dead as well as background reading in the holiday

Winter

• Continuation of present tense grammar and introduction of present tense grammar constructs including first, second and third regular present tense conjugations both plural and singular forms of verbs.
• Elemental reading and writing projects using newly acquired grammar with continued focus on school as community
• Vocabulary related to shopping for clothing and school supplies
• Numbers from 1-1000 and dates, years months and seasons vocabulary.
• Text reading related to school community comparing and contrasting Hispanic world and English speaking world.

Spring

• Continued practice of present tense verb conjugations as well as a basic introduction of irregular grammar constructs ('tener' , possesive adjectives) as they apply to final culmination project.
• Vocabulary related to food, family and home life and household as well as familial relationships
• Basic introduction to the ordinal numbers
• Culminating project on 'family as community' Family tree project and presentation.