Middle School Curriculum

An integrated, interdisciplinary approach lies at the core of Principia’s Middle School curriculum. That’s because making connections across disciplines and learning how to analyze and apply information to a range of issues and in a variety of contexts are essential skills in today’s knowledge economy.

Our learner-focused culture prizes honest inquiry, individual responsibility, and a collective openness—among faculty as well as students—to new experiences and ideas. We foster this culture in an environment of wraparound care that, at all times, supports each child’s intellectual, moral, spiritual, social, and physical growth.

From grades 6 through 8, students continue to strengthen their foundational skills in language arts, math, social studies, and science, while developing 21st-century competencies in digital, visual, and artistic communication and expression. With the help of rubrics and upfront standards, students participate in evaluating their own performance as learners. In addition, tests, quizzes, finals, and performance task assessments provide opportunities to demonstrate their understanding.

The afternoon CATCH program gives students approximately 30 minutes four times a week to start homework, catch up with a teacher for more information or support, or link up with other students on group assignments.

Each Middle School student is provided with a MacBook Air laptop for use during the school year. Homework assignments are occasionally completed and submitted using the computer.

Field trips and annual weeklong class trips emphasize deep engagement with a variety of subject areas and with experiential learning. The locations and activities of trips are closely tied to the curriculum at each grade and bring to life aspects of history, language, culture, and science. In addition, they enhance our students’ confidence, worldview, and application of Christian Science.

Language Arts

The language arts curriculum is foundational to the overall academic program. We probe and understand literary texts and use them to back up assertions and inferences, as students write, edit, and rewrite. Students critically consider a range of memoirs, poetry, short stories, and novels, and incorporate characteristics from each genre into their own writing. Independent thought and the ability to craft logical arguments and strong conclusions are emphasized in both oral and written work.

In each grade, language arts learning is aligned with both science and social studies units, an integration that helps support fuller expression and communication of understanding in those subjects as well as improved language arts skills.

Mathematics

The Middle School math program trains students to think critically, communicate quantitatively, and develop a problem-solving attitude that positively impacts other areas of learning.

With the aim of having all students be algebra-ready by the end of eighth grade, instruction is aligned with the Math in Focus® program (“Singapore math”). This approach helps students master concepts through a three-step process—moving from the concrete to the pictorial to the abstract. This builds a solid basis for understanding the relationships and values of numbers and symbols. With blended learning (instruction that combines teachers and software programs) and workshop sessions, students benefit from individualized and differentiated instruction.

Integrated Social Studies

Social studies covers a broad spectrum of topics—including history, geography, government, culture, and identity. Students explore these issues, identifying recurring themes or patterns that help them understand human interaction within societies and civilizations, past and present. Units of study are built around grade-level themes—ancient civilizations, immigration, or the causes and consequences of world wars, for example.

In line with national standards, the program incorporates experiences that explore how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance around the world. These include in-depth examinations of resource economics (production, distribution, and consumption) as well as the role of science and technology in local, national, and international progress and development.

Integrated Science

A scientific approach to inquiry and the search for answers, combined with project-based learning and independent research, equip Middle School students to make the transition into high school science at the end of eighth grade. Project work—indoors and out-of-doors—reinforces the application of scientific, mathematical, and communication skills through research, data collection, reporting, and presentation. Each grade level studies science all year long.

Spanish

Through their three years of Middle School, students complete a comprehensive course that establishes an elementary foundation for continued study in high school. In an immersion-style classroom, students apply Spanish every day and express ideas in the present, basic future, and basic past tenses. Working in a collaborative environment, they create and present materials on a variety of topics while speaking with correct pronunciation and intonation. The exploration of Hispanic culture, history, and traditions underscores the relevance of language and global communication skills and also prepares students for their eighth-grade trip to Costa Rica.

Digital Media

Digital Media class helps students become discerning consumers and creative producers of media. Using iPads, video cameras, and more, they strengthen their technical abilities as they plan, communicate, and critique ideas, and they learn how to analyze media, on the road to becoming informed consumers. Students also engage in deep, meaningful, and creative production of media, often on topics related to coursework for other disciplines.

The Bible

In three yearlong, required classes (one each year), students meet one hour per week to delve into the Bible. The aim is to cultivate an enduring understanding about the role of the Bible as a practical guide to life, the centrality of its “inspired Word” to the teachings of Christian Science, and a recognition of the importance of discerning its spiritual meaning.

The Arts in Middle School

The integration of music education into the regular school day is a Principia hallmark, and students may perform in instrumental and vocal groups all three years of Middle School. All sixth graders participate in band and choir. Seventh- and eighth-grade students may choose to participate in band and/or choir

Visual and studio art are integrated into both science and social studies throughout the year. Students work on interdisciplinary projects in the classroom or in our well-equipped art studio, where they can receive specific training in 2D, 3D, and multimedia techniques and skills from our Middle School art teacher.

REV

This unique class harnesses the power of art, music, and movement to meaningfully enhance student communication, culture, and self-expression on a range of levels—academic, social, and cultural. Each year, students REVolve through a set of three visual and/or performing arts experiences (for example, drum circle, studio art, and dance). Engaging and active by its very nature, the program improves individual and group practice of observation, listening, and empathy—thus strengthening social and academic confidence. (See REV in action.)