Curriculum Overview
As middle school students encounter the challenges of a strong curriculum and assume increasing responsibility for their own learning, they need effective and reliable study, organization and time management skills to be successful.
The goal of the Learning Skills course is to empower students to be more resourceful, reliable and resilient learners capable of doing excellent work confidently and independently.
Sixth grade
Each Tuesday, students will receive direct instruction on a specific study skill using the “Brain Camp” curriculum from Study Dynamics. “Brain Camp” is a how-to-study program that teaches students effective ways to take advantage of their unique learning strengths and preferences in order to master their schoolwork. In addition to the “Brain Camp” curriculum, students will receive assignment-specific support (e.g., writing a report or research paper).
Seventh grade
Each Wednesday, students will receive grammar instruction: parts of speech (nouns, pronouns, personal pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections), constructing sentences (subject, predicate, independent and dependent clauses), sentence variety (kinds of statements, statement constructions), and subject-verb agreement. Students will also receive assignment-specific academic support throughout the school year.
Eighth grade
On Fridays during Fall and Winter Terms, students receive direct instruction and academic support on their Washington State History Day projects. This assignment-specific support includes: introduction to primary and secondary sources, selection of a preliminary topic, secondary research, historical interpretation, revised topic selection, documenting research, compiling an annotated bibliography, and construction of an entry (performance, documentary, exhibit, or paper).
