Curriculum & Community

The Middle School follows an academically challenging and engaging curriculum that also offers students some choice in their areas of focus.  All students take core courses in English/language arts, social studies, math, science, and physical education; students also study a world language of their choice (Spanish, French, German, or Chinese) and choose to play a musical instrument or sing in the choir. Middle School students rotate through trimester-long courses in art, drama, wellness, and computer science. Learn more about the curriculum in Grade 6, Grade 7, and Grade 8.

Over the course of the Middle School years, students participate in several interdisciplinary experiential learning opportunities that are connected to the curriculum but take place outside of the classroom. Some of these opportunities take the form of off-campus retreats, such as the week-long Grade 7 trip to Camp Widjiwagan in northern Minnesota; others take place at school but in different spaces and formats than the regular school day.

Experiential learning takes the form of activities, projects, experiments, exploration, performances, or public events in the Middle School. These experiential learning opportunities are an important part of student life and are often the moments that students remember the most from Grades 6-8 because the experiences involve intensive, hands-on learning, and engaging interactions with teachers and peers.

For more about experiential learning in the Middle School, visit the grade level pages for Grade 6, Grade 7, and Grade 8.

Technology as a learning tool: In Grade 6, each student is assigned a school-owned laptop for use in school and at home during the school year. This laptop is used across classes as an essential tool for content creation, research, organization, and collaboration. Necessary technology skills are developed in the context of academic classes where they are needed, often taught collaboratively by the content teacher and an integration specialist. Strategies encouraging responsible use of technology, both personally and academically, are emphasized in all grades through Advisory and Compass courses. Students also use school laptops for a range of extra-curricular activities, such as Lego League, and the Middle School Yearbook. By the end of Grade 8, students are prepared to transition from using school-owned technology to more independent use of personal technology in the Upper School.

Computer Science: All Middle School students take a Computer Science (CS) class every year. CS 6 begins with programming in a block-based environment as they create animations and video games. Students explore how the concepts they learn can be applied across the Middle School curriculum. In CS 7, students transition to text-based programming to create 2D and 3D objects with Python. CS 8 focuses on building an abstract understanding of computational constructs and computational thinking skills. Students who complete Computer Science 6, 7, and 8 are prepared for Upper School advanced computer science electives.