Middle School Curriculum

Throughout the year our main theme was government. We studied many aspects of this issue which are described in further detail in the social studies section to follow. We also studied mysteries and geography.

During our winter sports period, we had a mystery mini-theme. This was a fun whodunit called The Case of the Missing Millionaire in which the students went to the scene of a crime (in Neighbor's Hall) and collected clues to find out just what happened to millionaire Felix Navidad. The students enjoyed performing experiments that would actually happen in a crime lab. The class even had a visit from our local police fingerprint specialist. The culminating trial was performed with members of the class portraying the suspects and prosecuting attorney. During this time the class as a whole read a Sherlock Holmes book, The Case of the Dancing Men, and each student worked to create his/her own secret code.

Middle School students had several additional teaches who led special courses. Lisa Holderness taught science two afternoons a week and organized our Wild Treasures Sustainability study. Chris Parkins taught computer science on Tuesday afternoons. Laura Battles taught Spanish twice a week. Finally, the students had many different teachers for the arts.

Personal and Social Development

In the Middle School there was a strong emphasis on group process, social behavior, and responsibility. We began the year by doing challenge initiatives to develop group cohesion. After processing the activities, we developed class rules that everyone agreed to. This was the introduction to the consensus process. When conflict occurred in class, we used the mediation model in which each disputant must restate what the other had said before s/he could present his/her view. It is a challenge for this age to embrace both sides and see that there can be two views of the same experience.

We implemented two systems for the class to help the students stay focused on their work. One of those systems was the reflection journal. This was an opportunity at the end of the day for students to write to the teacher about the day and receive a response from the teacher. Students could write about the day academically or socially, or write about an event that stood out to them. Many students started by rating their day on a scale of 1-10.

Another system was Center Circle. At the very end of the day, students gathered in a silent circle on the rug. Each student in turn went to the center of the circle, but only two or three students were able to take a turn each day. Once in the center circle, the student would sit in front of each student, make eye contact with that person and either give him/her a handshake to acknowledge something good that happened, or a light pound to acknowledge a problem, or a nod to acknowledge that it was a regular day. After all had received their messages from the center person, they could, if they wanted, ask why they were given their shake or pound. Students really looked forward to this time of day.

Responsibility was also a big part of their experience and was encouraged in many ways. First and foremost, students had binders in which they organized and maintained all their work. Second, the reading groups were self-run and the students, as a group, decided how many pages they would read for homework each night. The math programs were similarly self-paced and inspired students to work independently. In other areas: students themselves were responsible for returning from lunch recess 15 minutes before the rest of the school, and each student had a chore s/he was responsible for completing at the end of the day. The hardest part for some of the students was the enforcement of deadlines-they did not receive credit if their work was not in on time.

Language and Literacy

In the realm of language and literacy we reviewed grammar and basic sentence and paragraph structure. Writing was integrated into many areas. Students wrote in their reflection journals about three times a week-Friday's entry would include academic and social goals for the next week. Nightly homework often included reading comprehension questions from assigned chapters, pamphlets and newspaper articles. Even the math program involved a lot of writing. We used the Vermont state standards as our guide for portfolio pieces, and every child wrote at least six papers: a response to literature, a report, a narrative, a procedure paper, a persuasive paper, and a personal essay that was about something learned in life. Students were required to get feedback from other students and write at least four drafts for each paper.

Every week the students were responsible for 10 spelling and/or vocabulary words. Some of these could be misspelled words from their own writing. The other words were derived form Latin and Greek roots. Each week the student would look at a root and its meaning and then study words derived from it. For example, the root philia is the Greek root meaning love, adolphos is brother. Therefore, Philadelphia is the "City of Brotherly Love."

For literature we used the book Literature Circles by Harvey Daniels. For this program, students were in groups of four or fewer. They would decide how many pages to read, and each night they would have a role sheet to fill out based on their reading. Roles included the Discussion Director, who wrote questions to help guide the discussion; the Illustrator, who chose a scene and created a picture about it; and the Vocabulary Enricher, who looked up difficult words from the text and brought the definitions to the group. Some groups worked very well and the students generally did their homework because they knew they were going to be held accountable by their peers.

Mathematical Thinking

We have matched up our scope and sequence with the Vermont standards math curriculum guidelines. Many students used the Dale Seymour Connected Mathematics program. This was self-paced. The students would work through their packets in their groups, getting help from each other and the teacher as necessary. At the end of each packet there was an assessment piece to check for student mastery of the material. Students covered the curricular requirements for this age group including: advanced multiplication skills; long division; all operations with decimals; all operations using fractions and percents; the conversion among decimals, fractions, ratio, and percent; averages; measurement; graphing and interpretation of graphs; word problems; and some algebra.

Other students used straight forward packets from Key Curriculum Press that focused on all operations with decimals and fractions. We augmented the math program with games and activities from a variety of sources, including Marilyn Burns's Activities for 6-8th Graders, The Family Math Book and other sources. We also did all class probability problems throughout the fall and some logic puzzles in the spring.

Scientific Thinking

The skills emphasized in science were observing, recording data, questioning, forming hypotheses, and using a science journal to record those observations as well as reflections. We used the topic of tree identification to start working on these skills. Students learned to identify between five and ten trees on the property surrounding the school, using Tree Finders and a handmade key. As we noticed patterns among the trees, we explored two ideas: basic needs of organisms and classification.

We used the basic need of "energy and nutrients" to focus on concepts of sustainability. These included energy flow in food webs, roles of organisms (producers/consumers/decomposers), and the sun's key importance, laws of energy, nutrient cycles, and exponential growth.

At this point we began the Wild Treasures program. a sustainability curriculum to help students learn about the sustainability of their school and implement change that will improve the school's practices. Students had hands-on experiences with these concepts at the Wild Treasures Trail at the Keene Municipal landfill. Later in the year we worked on the Wild Treasures Action Plan. Students set to work to educate the school community about energy and waste by performing skits, puppet shows, and straight-up science demonstrations. We balanced that indoor group work with spring observations.

We started our chemistry unit in February, brainstorming questions and gaining knowledge about the Periodic Table and the structure and behavior of atoms. We observed examples of diffusion, acted out Brownian motion and the effects of temperature on the rate of diffusion and reactions. We delved briefly into pH, observing chalk in vinegar for evidence of chemical reactions.

During our final unit we focused on health issues. We took up the topic of drugs (including alcohol) and addition, and human development and reproduction. We discussed male and female body parts, fertilization, and birth.

Social Studies

Our government study began by asking the students what they wanted to learn about "government." They organized their questions into categories, and that is how we created our study. We started by looking at different types of government. Communism, capitalism/democracy, socialism, and fascism. Students were in study groups and, after completing their research, we had a formal debate as to which form of government was better, with each study group supporting the type of government it had explored. A high point of the debate occurred when the "fascist group" was asked how they view 'freedom of speech.' A group member calmly replied that all people in a fascist society are "free to express themselves however they wish-bearing in mind the consequences."

Then, as elections were nearing, the students split into different groups to study the state, local, and national levels of government. Each team researched the candidates who were running for office at one level and then did a presentation for the older students in the school.

After winter sports, we studied the history of independence including the Revolutionary War and the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Students practiced listening to lectures and note taking, reading and answering questions, and taking tests. We had fun looking at how a bill becomes a law. After watching the Schoolhouse Rock video, "I'm Just a Bill," each student created a large flowchart that showed the steps needed for bills to become laws. We culminated our government study with a trip to Montpelier to see the Capitol and talk with Senator Chard.

Current Events study happened about four times a week. Almost every morning, a student was assigned to bring in a current event that he or she had found in the newspaper, magazine, radio, or other source. After reading a summary of the event, the student would share his or her own thoughts and feelings about the subject. Then that student would facilitate a conversation about the current event. Many topics were discussed at the local, national, and international level. Of course, the ballot count in Florida was a hot one. Other issues included hate crimes (which we also connected to the Bill of Rights), local train derailment, cloning, and genetic engineering. Media literacy and the decoding of advertising was also a regular part of current events time.

The students' last weeks of school were filled with a geography project. For the project each student was given a continent from which to chose a country to research. The students had to create maps and travel brochures. After being in so many work groups throughout the year, many students really seemed to enjoy this independent project which allowed them to work at their own pace.

Computers

Middle School students were taught word processing skills using Microsoft Word 6.0 and basic computer graphic skills using Adobe PhotoShop Deluxe and a Hewlett Packard flatbed scanner. In addition, students did some work using Hyperstudio, a multimedia presentation program. Students were also introduced to the care and use of a digital camera. Throughout the year students used the computers. Computers were also used for research, using both the Internet and encyclopedias on CD as research tools.

The Arts

Students in our Middle School had opportunities to be creative within their studies, but most significant was their exposure to many different art forms through resident artists who taught 4-6 week classes. These classes usually happened on Wednesday afternoons. The class went to River Gallery School where they were able to study their interests with Barbara Campman. Some students focused on painting, others on sculpture.

We next had a multi-cultural puppet making workshop that the students enjoyed. Later in the year, some students used this knowledge to create puppets for a skit on sustainability. After that, there were four week photography workshops during which the students focused on composition and self portraits. Local clown, Robin Zegge did a comedy improvisation workshop which culminated in a class performance presented to the primary class.

The Vermont Wilderness school offered a wilderness survival unit, during which students learned to start a fire using a bow drill, among other skills. Following the wilderness unit the students were presented with a five-week printmaking unit. They learned to make prints and used them to illustrate a book of Haiku that they wrote. Finally, the year culminated with four weeks of music which everyone enjoyed so much they wished they had more.