Middle School Curriculum

Curriculum for students in Grade 6 to Grade 8

Middle School

Grade 6

Grade 7

Grade 8

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Grade 6

Hebrew

  • Deliver a short oral presentation telling the biography of a person they have researched

  • Ask a wide variety of questions

  • Read about two pages from an authentic source

  • Write an essay about a topic studied in class

Jewish Studies

  • Understand the historical and cultural implications of Rabbinic Law (Toshba) on holidays and rituals

  • Articulate the ways that Tefillot have evolved over time from the Tanach through the Mishna

  • Navigate a Mishna by identifying tractate, chapter and Mishna

  • Decode Mishnaic Hebrew (terms and syntax) as opposed to Biblical or modern Hebrew

  • Display empathy for and take action in support of people with food insecurity

  • Identify key elements of a daily minyan setting

Language Arts

  • Continue to read both for pleasure and information

  • Explore various genres such as modern adolescent stories, historical fiction, biographies, graphic novels, classic literature, etc.

  • Expand the use of literary terms in analyzing a short story or novel (point of view, protagonist, antagonist, inner and outer conflict, foreshadowing, turning points, climax, themes, etc.)

  • Analyze a poem for its meaning as well as the poet’s use of figurative language (simile, metaphor, alliteration, personification, etc.)

  • Outline, write drafts and use editing skills, improving content and skills in various types of writing (descriptive, narrative, expository, letter, persuasive, etc.)

  • Use figurative language/imagery to enhance the writing of original poetry and descriptive prose

Math

  • Read, add and subtract positive and negative numbers

  • Understand that every number has one prime factorization

  • Understand abundant, deficient and perfect numbers

  • Be able to convert fractions, decimals and percents

  • Be able to transfer knowledge of probability to real world problems

  • Fluently add, subtract, multiply and divide decimals

  • Solve for area of triangles, circles and quadrilaterals

Science

  • Create a seismograph model to depict the events of an earthquake

  • Evaluate the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift

  • Apply Newton’s Laws to class activities

  • Use STEM engineering principles to build structures

  • Apply the scientific method to activities involving kinetic and potential energy

  • Manipulate biological specimens and view them under microscopes

  • Apply the idea of carbon footprints to conservation projects

  • Understand ecosystems and the flow of energy in a food web

  • Learn to read, create and understand topographic maps

  • Create models of erosion and deposition with different sediments (sand, rocks, gravel)

Social Studies

  • Introduce different types of social sciences (e.g. history, geography, anthropology) and participate in the social science research process by formulating a social science research question, gathering and analyzing evidence, and drawing conclusions

  • Read, interpret and analyze maps, and identify countries from around the world

  • Explore how archaeologists study early humans, and discuss how early humans migrated, lived, adapted to their environments, and began to develop civilizations

  • Study early civilizations and make connections to the present day, for example, early democracy in Ancient Greece and inequality in Ancient Rome

  • Compare and contrast the beliefs and practices of Abrahamic religions by analyzing texts and videos services as well as individuals’ perspectives

  • Understand concepts such as stereotype, misconception, prejudice, and “the single story” in the context of African history, including ancient West African empires, colonialism, and modern day Africa; write a position essay on this topic

  • Identify the strengths and innovations of Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Maya and Aztec; identify the factors that led European nations to conquer early American civilizations instead of the other way around, and understand the impact of colonialism on local populations.

See Sample Weekly Schedule

Grade 7

Hebrew

  • Use connecting words, e.g. relating to cause/effect, to speak in more sophisticated ways

  • Understand authentic informational films

  • Read short authentic documents drawn from an increasingly diverse set of genres

Jewish Studies

  • Understand the relationship between the Gemara and Mishna

  • Navigate texts from the Gemara by translating key terms, signal phrases and page layout

  • Punctuate unvocalized texts both from the Tanach and the Gemara

  • Articulate key elements of Biblical prophecy and its impact on the Jewish story

  • Use textual evidence from the Tanach and Toshba to grapple with moral dilemmas

  • Learn the skills needed to be a gabbai of a minyan

Language Arts

  • Build their reading stamina

  • Explore different genres from a variety of time periods from a variety of authors

  • Be able to identify literary devices such as irony, conflict, foreshadowing, imagery, personification, hyperbole, simile, metaphor and others

  • Be able to identify the parts of a story using the five essential parts of plot: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement

  • Be able to produce clear and coherent pieces of writing that integrate evidence from a given text to prove a point

  • Write a four to five-paragraph essay with a clear introduction, strong thesis statement, well-supported paragraphs and a conclusion

Math

  • Apply and extend previous understandings of addition and subtraction to add and subtract rational numbers

  • Solve multi-step, real world and mathematical problems using positive and negative numbers

  • Compare and order integers, fractions, mixed numerals, decimals and percents

  • Solve problems involving scale drawings of geometric figures

  • Solve problems involving proportional thinking, blueprints, maps, unit rates and ratios

  • Use facts about supplementary, complementary, vertical and adjacent angles to find the measure of missing angles

  • Add and subtract algebraic expressions using the distributive property

Science

  • Study physical and chemical properties of substances

  • Explore the Periodic Table

  • Explore the conservation of matter

  • Understand the effect of oceans on climate

  • Explore microscopy

  • Discover the relationship between microbes and disease

  • Engage in a study of emerging diseases

  • Begin the study of epidemiology

Social Studies

  • Consider historical and current events from multiple perspectives

  • Use primary and secondary sources to gather evidence and present written and oral arguments

  • Synthesize information from multiple historical sources to form a nuanced understanding of the topic or time period

  • Examine the impact of European colonization and American westward expansion on American Indians

  • Trace the growth of the transatlantic slave trade and its impact on the lives of the enslaved

  • Explain how British political ideas and institutions influenced the development of colonial government

  • Explore the primary causes and effects of the American Revolution, including its impact on women, African Americans, American Indians, and Loyalists

  • Compare and contrast the structure of the federal government under the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution

See Sample Weekly Schedule

Grade 8

Hebrew

  • Tell a story about your life in the past tense

  • Write a three-paragraph essay with an introduction, body, and conclusion

    Read a chapter of a novel in Hebrew and summarize the main idea and key details

  • Compare and contrast Israel’s historical culture with the present day through songs, books, articles and photographs

Jewish Studies

  • Read and interpret long selections from traditional Jewish texts

  • Navigate the textual landscape of our tradition—including Torah, Tanach, Midrash, Mishna, Talmud—and explain these books’ relationships to each other

  • Ask good interpretive questions about our texts

  • Construct and articulate points of view about our texts

  • Articulate points of view that differ from their own, and integrate alternative stances into their positions

  • Connect themes from our texts and applies them to universal ideas and modern-day scenarios

Language Arts

  • Be able to read at home and in school across many genres with depth and understanding

  • Identify and cite evidence to support their claims about a character or a theme, and smoothly integrate text to support a thesis

  • Determine an author’s point of view

  • Be able to identify literary devices including irony, withheld knowledge, rhyme scheme, metaphor, and dialect in a text

  • Write a (minimum) five-paragraph essay with a clear introduction, strong thesis statement, well-supported paragraphs, and a conclusion

  • Be able to write strong in-class essays that contain a clear introduction, strong thesis statement, well-supported paragraphs, and a conclusion

Math

  • Know and apply the properties of integer exponents to generate equivalent numerical and algebraic expressions

  • Perform operations with numbers expressed in scientific notation

  • Graph proportional relationships, interpreting the unit rate as the slope of the graph; compare two different proportional relationships represented in different ways

  • Perform operations and factoring with quadratic and polynomial expressions

  • Solve linear equations, quadratic polynomials and inequalities in one variable

  • Understand that a function is a rule that assigns to each input exactly one output

  • Compare properties of two functions each represented in a different way (algebraically, graphically, numerically in tables or by verbal descriptions)

  • Interpret the equation y = mx + b as defining a linear function whose graph is a straight line

  • Construct a function to model a linear relationship between two quantities

Science

  • Gain an understanding of Newton’s Laws including inertia, force, mass and acceleration, speed and friction

  • Study longitudinal and transverse waves

  • Explore the foundations of harmonics and music

  • Conduct experiments with mechanical and electromagnetic waves

  • Investigate asexual and sexual reproduction

  • Develop an understanding of DNA fingerprinting

  • Engage in the study of evolution, adaptation, competition and extinction

  • Look deeply at mutation, variation, natural selection and antibiotic resistance

Social Studies

  • Study issues from multiple perspectives

  • Use primary source materials to obtain accurate information about historical events

  • Describe social, political, cultural and religious life and various times after the American Revolution through reconstruction

  • Identify the causes and effects of the Civil War

  • Describe the different branches of the

  • American federal government and the roles they are designed to perform

  • Trace the westward expansion of the United States from the early nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century

  • Trace the changes in American life as a result of the Industrial Revolution

    immigration

  • Identify the causes and effects of World War I and World War II.

  • Engage in an intensive study of the Holocaust and its impact on Jewish history

See Sample Weekly Schedule