Course Catalog

Life Education provides the opportunity for students to learn life skills such as study strategies and time management, as well as provide academic support. This course focuses on reinforcing positive and productive behaviors, good character traits, building relationships, and exposure to the community and its resources.

Life Education is vertically aligned, grades 6-8. Each grade level includes the following five units and build off each other in a sequential fashion to provide consistency in developing a positive, caring learning environment. This curriculum is written for 32 days of the course. The remaining days are divided among additional building level educational topics and experiences.

The middle school library media curriculum is totally integrated with other curriculum subject areas. Middle school media specialists collaborate with classroom teachers to provide relevant instruction to support identified standards in a flexible schedule that aligns with timeframes outlined in the curriculum subject areas.

The purpose of Technology Applications is to utilize International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards to develop knowledge and skills for 21st Century learners. Students will use the software in Microsoft Office to integrate real-world skills for the workplace. Online collaborative communication, and the use of digital media, will enhance student learning. Digital citizenship is emphasized throughout the course.

In eighth grade English/Language Arts, students will read from a variety of narrative and expository texts, including classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, and online information. They will determine and articulate the relationship between the purposes and characteristics of different forms of poetry, evaluate structural elements of plot, and identify literary devices. They will continue to follow the writing process as they craft clear and coherent narrative, expository, persuasive, and descriptive essays.

Math 8 focuses on formulating and reasoning about expressions and equations, including modeling an association in bivariate data with a linear equation, and solving linear equations and systems of linear equations; grasping the concept of a function and using functions to describe quantitative relationships; and analyzing two- and three-dimensional space and figures using distance, angle, similarity, and congruence, and understanding and applying the Pythagorean Theorem.

Students in grade eight study the ideas, issues, and events from the framing of the Constitution up to the Civil War and Industrialization. After reviewing the development of America’s democratic institutions founded on the Judeo-Christian heritage and English parliamentary traditions, particularly the shaping of the Constitution, students trace the development of American politics, society, culture, and economy and relate them to the emergence of major regional differences. They learn about the challenges facing the new nation, with an emphasis on the causes, course, and consequences of the Civil War. They make connections between the rise of industrialization and contemporary social and economic conditions.

Grade 8 centers on Physical Sciences and focuses on the study of motion, forces, structure of matter, Earth in the solar system, reactions, the chemistry of living systems, the periodic table, and density and buoyancy. Students continue their investigation of the scientific process as they plan and conduct a scientific investigation to test a hypothesis; evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility of data; distinguish between variable and controlled parameters in a test; construct appropriate graphs from data and develop quantitative statements about the relationships between variables; apply simple mathematical relationships to determine a missing quantity in a mathematical expression; and distinguish between linear and nonlinear relationships on a graph of data.

Life Education provides the opportunity for students to learn life skills such as study strategies and time management, as well as provide academic support. This course focuses on reinforcing positive and productive behaviors, good character traits, building relationships, and exposure to the community and its resources.
Life Education is vertically aligned, grades 6 - 8. Each grade level includes the following five units and build off each other in a sequential fashion to provide consistency in developing a positive, caring learning environment. This curriculum is written for 30 days of the course. The remaining days are divided among additional building level educational topics and experiences.

The middle school library media curriculum is totally integrated with other curriculum subject areas. Middle school media specialists collaborate with classroom teachers to provide relevant instruction to support identified standards in a flexible schedule that aligns with timeframes outlined in the curriculum subject areas.

Computer Science for Innovators and Makers (IM) teaches students that programming goes beyond the virtual world into the physical world. Students are challenged to creatively use sensors and actuators to develop systems that interact with their environment. While designing algorithms and using computational thinking practices, students code and upload programs to microcontrollers that perform a variety of authentic tasks. The unit broadens students’ understanding of computer science concepts through meaningful applications. Teams select and solve a personally relevant problem related to wearable technology, interactive art, or mechanical devices.

App Creators introduces students to the field of computer science and the concepts of computational thinking, through the creation of mobile apps. Students are challenged to be creative and innovative, as they collaboratively design and develop mobile solutions to engaging, authentic problems. Students experience the positive impact of the application of computer science to society as well as to other disciplines, particularly biomedical science.
The unit provides students opportunities for self-expression. Teams identify a personal or community problem of interest to them that can be solved with a mobile app solution. The problem can address issues such as health and wellness, the environment, school culture, emergency preparedness, education, community service—the options are endless!

Course Description Design and Modeling (DM):
Students discover the design process and develop an understanding of the influence of creativity and innovation in their lives. They are then challenged and empowered to use and apply what they’ve learned throughout the unit to design a therapeutic toy for a child who has cerebral palsy.

Course Description Automation and Robotics (AR):
Automation and Robotics (AR) allows students to trace the history, development, and influence of automation and robotics as they learn about mechanical systems, energy transfer, machine automation, and computer control systems. Students use the VEX Robotics® platform to design, build, and program real-world objects such as traffic lights, toll booths, and robotic arms.

SSAT Overview:
Quantitative (Math): One section of 30 questions composed of math computation.
Verbal: One section of 30 vocabulary and analogy questions.
Reading: One section of 28 questions based on reading passages.
Writing Sample: There is one story-writing prompt. This story is not scored, but schools use it to assess writing skills.
Experimental: One section of mixed content questions (verbal, reading, and math). This section does not count toward reported scores.