1st Semester	2nd Semester
English Language Arts	English Language Arts
Social Studies/Writing	Social Studies/Writing
Math	Math
Science or Health	Science or Health
Digital Literacy or PE	Digital Literacy or PE
Elective	Elective

English Language Arts (ELA)
Middle level English Language Arts classes provide intensive instruction in reading and writing aligned to the Washington Common Core State Standards. Throughout the course students will focus on developing critical reading, writing, listening, speaking, research, and thinking skills. Students will apply those skills to comprehend and analyze literary and informational text as they study units in Plot, Conflict & Setting, Analyzing Character and Point of View, Understanding Theme, and Information, Argument, and Persuasion.  

All 6th - 8th grade students will be provided differentiated learning opportunities to make growth in reading and writing. This includes providing all students-- including students identified as Highly Capable-- opportunities to extend and deepen their learning beyond grade level standards. 

Social Studies
Students take Social  Studies within the English Language Arts block class.

Math 1
The focus of Math 1 is on four critical areas: 

• connecting ratio and rate to whole number multiplication and division and using concepts of ratio and rate to solve problems
• completing understanding of division of fractions and extending the notion of number to the system of rational numbers, which includes negative numbers
• writing, interpreting, and using expressions and equations
• developing understanding of statistical thinking

Science/Health
The middle school science program and curriculum empowers students to ask questions, design investigations and solutions, and to use scientific reasoning and communication to figure out the natural world. We use an integrated approach to learning that incorporates opportunities to learn about Earth Science, Life Science, and Physical Science throughout 6th - 8th grades.

Our middle school science program empowers students to be both knowers and doers of science and develops a classroom culture in student ideas and thinking that emerge from units of study shapes the way we think, read, write and argue as scientists and engineers. Our middle school science program is:  

• Phenomenon Based - centered around exploring phenomena or solving problems 
• Driven by Student Questions - storyline based on students’ questions and ideas 
• Grounded in Evidence - incremental building and revision of ideas based on evidence 
• Collaborative - WE, the class and the teacher, figure out ideas together 
• Equitable - builds a classroom culture that values ideas and learning of all students

Health in 6th grade incorporates a comprehensive life skills program that develops communication and coping skills to promote healthy adolescence.  The human development unit of studies identifies physical, emotional and social changes of puberty and the understanding that HIV is preventable. 

Physical Education
Students are required to take two quarters of physical education during the year.  Develop fundamental and complex motor skills through a variety of sports and activities.

• Use principles of fitness/conditioning to develop a fitness plan.
• Understand the importance of good nutrition, healthy eating habits, and their impact on an active lifestyle.

Digital Literacy 
This course will give students entering middle school the skills needed to utilize technology creatively and effectively, allowing for growth and success through middle school and beyond. Developed with Washington’s educational technology standards, students will become empowered learners, constructing and designing digital communications and responsible digital citizenship skills. 

Students will develop digital literacy skills through the exploration of digital citizenship and critical thinking around media use, interaction, and navigating a technology-rich world. Students will focus on creating, sharing, and collaborating with multiple tools like the Google Suite, learning online communication etiquette, and practicing safe and creative digital media and personal expression.

Students will be introduced to digital skills and routines for middle school, including time management and scheduling, navigating online resources for course work, and goal setting as part of the foundational skills for middle school success. These skills will build as students progress through 7th and 8th grade, giving students room for additional creativity and exploration of interests and content in general education classes.

1st Semester	2nd Semester
English Language Arts	English Language Arts
Social Studies/Writing	Social Studies/Writing
Math	Math
Science or Health	Science or Health
Digital Literacy or PE	Digital Literacy or PE
Elective	Elective

Students continue to have a block class with one teacher, while the remainder of the day is a different teacher for each class period.

English Language Arts
Middle level English Language Arts classes provide intensive instruction in reading and writing aligned to the Washington Common Core State Standards. Throughout the course students will focus on developing critical reading, writing, listening, speaking, research, and thinking skills. Students will apply those skills to comprehend and analyze literary and informational text with increasing complexity as they study units in Plot, Conflict & Setting, Analyzing Character and Point of View, Understanding Theme, and Information, Argument, and Persuasion.  

All 6th - 8th grade students will be provided differentiated learning opportunities to make growth in reading and writing. This includes providing all students--including students identified as Highly Capable--opportunities to extend and deepen their learning beyond grade level standards. 

Social Studies: Washington State History 

Students will study the history, civics and geography of Washington State, with a specific focus on Washington State Territory and Treaty Making and state government.  This will meet the Washington State History graduation requirement. This course also includes the State mandated curriculum, Since Time Immemorial, focusing on the culture and history of Pacific Northwest Native Americans.

In addition, students will focus on writing unified, coherent paragraphs and short essays which logically support a main idea with textual evidence, strong reasoning, and standard conventions. Students will use the writing process to produce creative writing, personal narratives, and small/large research projects. Throughout the course students will focus on critical reading, writing, listening, speaking, research, and thinking skills.

Math 2
The focus of Math 2 is on four critical areas: 

• developing understanding of and applying proportional relationships
• developing understanding of operations with rational numbers and working with expressions and linear equations
• solving problems involving scale drawings and informal geometric constructions, and working with two- and three-dimensional shapes to solve problems involving area, surface area, and volume
• drawing inferences about populations based on samples

Math 2/3 Accelerated 
For students able to work at an accelerated rate, we have compacted the content that is typically taught at 7th and 8th grade into one year. This would enable a student to take Algebra 1 in 8th grade. While coherence is retained in that it logically builds from the previous grade, the additional content demands a faster pace for instruction and learning. The focus of Math 2/3 Accelerated is in four critical areas: 

• developing understanding of and applying proportional relationships
• developing understanding of operations with rational numbers and working with expressions and linear equations
• formulating and reasoning about expressions and equations, including modeling an association in bivariate data with a linear equation
• analyzing two- and three-dimensional space and figures using distance, angle, similarity, and congruence, and understanding and applying the Pythagorean Theorem

Science/Health
The middle school science program and curriculum empowers students to ask questions, design investigations and solutions, and to use scientific reasoning and communication to figure out the natural world. We use an integrated approach to learning that incorporates opportunities to learn about Earth Science, Life Science, and Physical Science throughout 6th - 8th grades.

Our middle school science program empowers students to be both knowers and doers of science and develops a classroom culture in student ideas and thinking that emerge from units of study shapes the way we think, read, write and argue as scientists and engineers. Our middle school science program is:  

• Phenomenon Based - Centered around exploring phenomena or solving problems 
• Driven by Student Questions - Storyline based on students’ questions and ideas 
• Grounded in Evidence - Incremental building and revision of ideas based on evidence
• Collaborative - WE, the class and the teacher, figure out ideas together 
• Equitable - Builds a classroom culture that values ideas and learning of all students

Health in 7th grade incorporates a comprehensive life skills program that develops communication and coping skills to promote healthy adolescence.  The human development unit of studies identifies physical, emotional and social changes of puberty and the understanding that HIV is preventable.

Physical Education
Students are required to take two quarters of physical education during the year.

Students will:

• Apply basic offensive/defensive strategies when playing various racket and court sports and field games.
• Perform fundamental and complex movement skills and adapt and apply safe practices and procedures when playing various sports.
• Work cooperatively to achieve group goals in competitive and noncompetitive activities.
• Select appropriate exercise methods to achieve fitness goals, monitoring performance and progress.
• Understand the role of nutrition in weight control and disease prevention.
• Analyze how media and social eating habits influence personal food choices.
• Perform movement combinations in rhythmic activities such as dance, gymnastics, and aerobics.

DigiTools
Through the Canvas Learning Management System, this course will give students academic learning choices as they perform basic data, text, and presentation tasks.  Students will explore coding through hands-on and web based activities.  Leadership skills will be enhanced through integrated communication and collaboration tasks as well as analyzing media and representing data. During the final project, students will use the Engineering Design process to develop possible solutions to real world problems. Students will explore tools for word processing, spreadsheets, databases, 3D design, coding applications and more.  Through career exploration, this course will also show students how their schooling is directly linked to their future life and work roles.  

1st Semester	2nd Semester
English Language Arts	English Language Arts
Social Studies (U.S. History)	Social Studies (U.S. History)
Math	Math
Science	Science
Health or PE	Health or PE
Elective	Elective

Students continue with a secondary schedule with different teachers for different classes. Students will have a two-period block class integrating social studies and language arts as well as a math, science, health and physical education class. In addition 8th graders will have the opportunity to take several electives.

English Language Arts
Middle level English Language Arts classes provide intensive instruction in reading and writing aligned to the Washington Common Core State Standards. Throughout the course students will focus on developing critical reading, writing, listening, speaking, research, and thinking skills. Students will apply those skills to comprehend and analyze literary and informational text with increasing complexity as they study units in Plot, Conflict & Setting, Analyzing Character and Point of View, Understanding Theme, and Information, Argument, and Persuasion.  

All 6th - 8th grade students will be provided differentiated learning opportunities to make growth in reading and writing. This includes providing all students--including students identified as Highly Capable--opportunities to extend and deepen their learning beyond grade level standards. 

Social Studies: US History
Using the National Council for the Social Studies frameworks of Time, Continuity, and Change; Civic Ideals and Practices; and Power, Authority, and Governance, students will study the history of the United States (Colonialism - 1870).  Specifically, students will study the causes and impact of the Revolutionary War, including the development and nature of the U.S. Constitution.  Students will also learn about the political, social, and economic effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction.  These skills will be addressed with primarily informational text, and Expository and Persuasive writing at a more complex and difficult level. This course will also include the State mandated curriculum, Since Time Immemorial, focusing on the culture and history of North American Native Americans. 

Math 3
The focus of Math 3 is on three critical areas: 

• 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
• analyzing two- and three-dimensional space and figures using distance, angle, similarity, and congruence, and understanding and applying the Pythagorean Theorem

Algebra 1 (Advanced High School credit granted)
Algebra 1 will introduce students to families of functions, with special emphasis on linear and quadratic functions.  Students will learn to represent functions in multiple ways – as verbal descriptions, equations, tables, and graphs.  Students will model real-world situations using functions in order to solve problems arising from those situations.  Algebra I also includes lessons on probability and data analysis, as wMLL as applications involving geometry.

Science
The middle school science program and curriculum empowers students to ask questions, design investigations and solutions, and to use scientific reasoning and communication to figure out the natural world. We use an integrated approach to learning that incorporates opportunities to learn about Earth Science, Life Science, and Physical Science throughout 6th - 8th grades.

Our middle school science program empowers students to be both knowers and doers of science and develops a classroom culture in student ideas and thinking that emerge from units of study shapes the way we think, read, write and argue as scientists and engineers. Our middle school science program is:  

• Phenomenon Based - centered around exploring phenomena or solving problems 
• Driven by Student Questions - storyline based on students’ questions and ideas 
• Grounded in Evidence - incremental building and revision of ideas based on evidence 
• Collaborative - WE, the class and the teacher, figure out ideas together 
• Equitable - builds a classroom culture that values ideas and learning of all students

Health
Students will gain knowledge and skills to increase their ability to make positive decisions and maintain healthy relationships. Students will be introduced to the balance of physical, mental, and social/emotional health and how to take care of themselves, support others, and enrich the health of the community.  

Physical Education
Students are required to take two quarters of physical education during the year.  They may choose additional time through their elective choices at schools where this choice is available.

Students will:

• Apply basic offensive/defensive strategies when playing various racket and court sports and field games.
• Perform fundamental and complex movement skills and adapt and apply safe practices and procedures when playing various sports.
• Work cooperatively to achieve group goals in competitive and noncompetitive activities.
• Select appropriate exercise methods to achieve fitness goals, monitoring performance and progress.
• Understand the role of nutrition in weight control and disease prevention.
• Analyze how media and social eating habits influence personal food choices.
• Perform movement combinations in rhythmic activities such as dance, gymnastics, and aerobics.
• Learn and demonstrate CPR principles and skills.

6th grade students can select to take Band or Intro to Engineering, Design, and Robotics.

DIGITAL and FINE ARTS

Art I (7th)
All year
Students will use multiple art techniques and materials to support various projects.  Students will gain an understanding of basic elements of arts. (Course Fees apply)

Band 1 - Beginning (6th)
All year
Students learn to read music, improvise, compose, analyze and evaluate music, as well as study music history and relationships between music and other disciplines. (Course Fees apply)   

Concert Band 2 & Symphonic Band 3 (7th/8th)
All year
Students must have a minimum of one year of experience with their instrument and work on a more advanced level, learning advanced theoretical and technical skills through performance. (Course Fees apply)   

Digital Arts (8th)
All year
Graphic Arts explores how the elements of art and principles of design apply to a variety of digital based arts such as photography, videography, and graphic design.

TECHNOLOGY

Intro to Engineering, Design, and Robotics (6th)
All Year
Intro to Engineering, Design, and Robotics is designed as an easy entry point into the basic engineering design process used in industry for younger students or inexperienced students. The Students will begin learning safe operation and handling for the tools used to design and create. They will learn techniques and methods for a variety of building materials, for computer aided design software, for robotics engineering, and for computer programming. The object of the course is to show the students the fundamental connection between STEM’s basic principles and the four main engineering fields. (Fees may apply)

Engineering, Design, and Robotics 1 (7th/8th)
All Year
Engineering, Design, and Robotics 1 is designed as an entry point for 7th or 8th grade students who are interested in learning how STEM’s principles connect to the four main engineering fields and the engineering design process. This class extends the basic learning from Intro to Engineering, Design, and Robotics. It is structured to teach students safe operation and handling of simple tools, including some power tools. They will learn the fundamentals of materials management, computer aided design, robotics engineering, and computer programming. (Fees may apply)

Engineering, Design, and Robotics 2 (7th/8th)
All Year
Engineering, Design, and Robotics 2 is designed to advance the student’s understanding of the engineering design process used in industry.  The students will build upon the engineering fundamentals previously learned about the techniques and methods to engineer solutions to a variety of problems. The student’s will need to demonstrate their knowledge of safety procedures as they begin working on larger projects with more complicated tools and materials with less direct guidance. (Fees may apply)

Music Exploration (7th/8th) 
Music Exploration will provide students with the opportunity to experience music from various perspectives ranging from reading music, to writing music, listening to and understanding music, as well as performing music.  No prior knowledge of music is required for this course.  Music is all around us, yet so many of us only listen to music and never explore it further yet wish we had.  Students will leave this course with enough basic knowledge to pursue music outside of the classroom should they so choose. Topics of study may include music performance on common instruments such as guitar and piano, music appreciation, music careers, musical styles, cultures and time periods. 

OTHER

Leadership (7th/8th)
All year
This class will involve training in effective leadership techniques and give students the opportunity to recognize and enhance their leadership potential through group process, decision making, goal setting and problem solving.  Students may also be involved in running pep assemblies, making posters for sports and other activities and generally promoting school spirit. 

Spanish I (8th)
All Year
Through listening, speaking, reading and writing exercises, students will learn to speak, read, and write Spanish. Along with focusing on the usage of correct grammar, emphasis will be placed on the many different cultures where Spanish is spoken today. Students will earn High School credit.

Teacher Assistant (7th/8th)
All year
Students who wish to assist at their school are screened and selected by the staff.

Multilingual Learners (6th/7th/8th)
Multilingual Learners (MLL) participate fully in the Monroe School District curriculum through language and academic support from highly-qualified MLL teachers.