The Middle School years are exciting times as students move into the early stages of adolescence and take on increasing levels of responsibility for their learning and for their roles in Far Brook life.
As the ability of the students to think abstractly and analytically, and with more critical discernment increases, teachers work to utilize and stretch these developing skills by challenging students to work in greater depth and scope than in earlier years. To prepare for more vigorous academic study, students are taught organization and study skills.
In the larger Far Brook community, students begin to participate on interscholastic athletic teams, to present class plays in Morning Meeting, and to assume more challenging roles in school pageants and traditions. Middle School students become members of the Far Brook Choir and in Sixth Grade participate in Schola Cantorum in which they study and sing music of the Middle Ages.
Each Middle School classroom’s studies is focused on a year-long, in-depth history core curriculum beginning with Ancient Egypt in the Fourth Grade, continuing with Ancient Greece in the Fifth Grade, and moving to Ancient Rome and the Middle Ages in the Sixth Grade. Literature study, research, and class plays grow out of each year's history curriculum. Students read mythology such as D’Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths and works of the period such as Beowulf. Research projects may include reports on Egyptian gods and goddesses, theater in Ancient Greece, or the role of women in medieval society. Class plays have included The Myth of Osiris; Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and Oedipus at Colonus; The Oresteia Trilogy by Aeschylus; Aristophanes' Lysistrata; Terence's Phormio; and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Coriolanus. These core curriculum topics provide a rich, meaningful context for learning by utilizing critical thinking skills such as analyzing, comparing, and drawing conclusions and helps students appreciate the important role the arts have played and continue to play in cultures across the world and through the ages.
The goal of the language arts curriculum is to develop lifelong readers and writers. At each grade level students read great literature as a class, honing reading comprehension skills while developing an appreciation for these works. Students also learn and are encouraged to develop a rich independent reading life, learning how to choose, analyze, and write about a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books. The writing program utilizes a process approach to writing in which students learn, across a variety of genres, to write, revise, and edit their written work. Writing lessons focus on teaching students a variety of writing strategies and developing confidence and fluency to apply what they learn to all genres. Emphasis on the writing process includes fostering an expansion of vocabulary and a proficiency in writing mechanics in context. The language arts curriculum also emphasizes strong oral expression. These skills are developed through oral presentations of research reports, recitations of poetry and prose, mastery of dramatic roles, and frequent participation in class discussions.
In mathematics, we see the basic skills of math literacy to include critical thinking, experimenting, questioning, and flexible thinking. Students work individually and in groups. The emphasis on problem-solving processes and sound basic skills continues as students master the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division as applied to whole numbers, fractions, and decimals. Concepts of ratio and proportion, percent, integers, variables, and equations are introduced at this level. Studies of geometry and probability become increasingly sophisticated as the abstract thinking skills of the students grow.
The lab-based science program emphasizes the skills of observation, questioning, experimenting, recording data, and analyzing results. Students conduct experiments in cooperative groups and maintain records of their results and discoveries. By Sixth Grade, students have developed a more advanced ability to record and analyze data and so are able to generate formal lab reports, presenting hypotheses, observations, results, and conclusions. Some areas of study arise out of the history core curriculum. Fourth Graders study ecology, botany, mummification, paper-making, and simple machines. Fifth Graders study the human body and genetics. The Sixth Graders are introduced to chemistry, geology, bio-medical research, physics, and astronomy.
The study of a foreign language continues in Middle School with French. Through games, shared experiences with French cuisine, dramatizations, and videoconferencing with a school in France, Middle School students become comfortable learning to speak another language. There are three main cultural units in the Middle School: in Fourth Grade, students prepare a simulated flight to Paris; in Fifth Grade, students study famous French landmarks; and in Sixth Grade, students are introduced to formal grammar through exploring the French comic Astérix et Obélix, which goes along with their core curriculum study of Ancient Rome and the barbarian tribes.
The arts are integrated into the academic classroom curriculum to add meaning and context to what the students are studying. A few examples include creating paintings in response to the journey of the Egyptian soul after death, illustrating scenes from novels in clay, interpreting scenes from the Odyssey through collage, designing and creating elaborate medieval coats of arms, and performing a formal medieval dance while exploring the Middle Ages.
In addition to the integrated arts in the classroom, all Middle School students participate in courses of art, music, dance, and woodworking taught by specialists in their fields. These classes explore each art form more in depth through units that address the formal aspects of each discipline. Arts classes are scheduled on a rotating basis throughout the year and play an important role in each child’s education at Far Brook.
Teachers extend and broaden learning by using technology such as computers and interactive white boards to conduct research, present a project, plot data, videoconference with students in France, or track sea turtles. With the combined support from the classroom teacher and the educational technology specialist, technology is integrated into the classroom curriculum and makes learning relevant and connected to life.