Art 7: Who are we as a community of learners and members of the WMA Middle School? Our Grade 7 students consider these questions and explore the use of images and symbols in art throughout history and in different communities.
French 1B: Students continue their acquisition of vocabulary and learn the four essential skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Lots of games are used to make learning fun and to help with memorization. An exciting project this year is the Dream House project.
Health 7: Character (good character in the community) from honesty to developing confidence and compassion, students understand the importance of how to treat other people and a sense of self-worth.
Math 7: Thinking through math underlies everything we do: reading the problems to determine the process; seeing the concepts come together through technology and hands-on projects; determining the “why” and the “how” with the help of peers. It is through these processes that we bring Algebraic concepts to life, and support the learning process across the board.
Music 7: Music students learn about pitch, rhythm and musical teamwork as they choose music and prepare for the spring concert.
PE 7: Whether we engage in team sports, individual sports, lifetime skills, or partner and group building activities, the students have an opportunity to be physically active, work as part of a team and learn new skills all year long.
Science 7: Student scientists think individually while working in collaboration with others, actively learning about and engaging in scientific processes, methods and research. The emphasis is on an active classroom, where our scientists conduct hands-on investigations including individual clinical trials on human dexterity, the impact of the human community on native food webs, and the process of natural selection.
Spanish 1B: Building on the foundation of basic sentence structure and vocabulary, students will tackle hand-on projects and expand their written Spanish. Reading, writing and speaking Spanish will be explored through cultural celebrations and interactive games.
English 7: Students will spend the year returning to two essential questions that form a thread throughout the curriculum:
- What determines character?
- What is revealed by character?
With these two questions in mind students and teacher will engage literature through traditional and non-traditional approaches, with options for choice reading. Novels, poetry and short stories form the core of their reading, but students will tackle a screen play and works of creative non-fiction as well. The process of reflection on and analysis of these texts cover both verbal and written expression, including debate, socratic discussion, comparison and analysis essays and in-the-style-of exercises.
World Cultures 7: Between ever-shifting political winds as well as trade and immigration issues continually filling the headlines, it is more essential than ever for young people to understand their places in societies, as well as realties to the north and south of U.S. borders. This course traces the origins and evolution of the American nation through its history, religious threads and governmental institutions while stopping to focus on civic structure, opportunities and need for civic engagement. National realties in Canada, Mexico and Latin America will be considered, as are U.S. relations across the hemisphere. Major religions such as different threads of Christianity as well as value systems of indigenous peoples such as Incas and Aztecs will be explored in the context of their societies. Pearson myWorld Interactive World Geography and Huston Smith’s The Illustrated World’s Religions: A Guide to our Wisdom Traditions will be the course’s texts, yet students will also explore a wide variety of rich supplemental writings texts and other media, while primary source documents and PowerPoints are among the other resources that will aid in understandings. Outlining, note-making - not just note-taking - and writing based on critical thinking prompts are some of the skills that will be developed this year as will active viewing of film and news clips. Graded discussions, quizzes, tests and presentations involving technology will help students to demonstrate their learning in a variety of formats.
Working from a baseline established in Grade 6, Grade 7 students continue to build their knowledge of their selected country for the "Crossing Borders" project, a research-driven exploration of a country selected by the student. "Crossing Borders" in World Cultures 7 is a more focused approach to their nation’s history and culture, and explores a significant historical event in detail. Students will once again create a visual display containing an interactive element, while also crafting a structured expository presentation, all to be shared with our Crossing Borders guests.