Academics Middle School

For the 2024-25 school year, all 6th graders will engage with AVID through our schoolwide model. Through their Crew, Supervised Study and Academic classes, students will develop self-confidence and communication skills in working with peers and adults. Students will be exposed to reading strategies that will assist them in building vocabulary and understanding a variety of texts and will also focus on pre-writing techniques, summary writing, and structural components of note-taking. Students will increase college and career awareness through guest-speaker presentations, field-work opportunities, and research.
 

The 7th grade AVID Elective course builds upon the foundational components of the AVID philosophy. Students will refine short- and long-term goals and, as a result, begin to understand the value in taking charge of their actions. They will start working on intrapersonal and interpersonal skills as well as formal and informal speech. Students will complete self-evaluations and peer evaluations related to reading, writing, organization, and speaking. In broadening their writing practice, students will begin considering audience, purpose, and form in their writing. Students will take an active role in their learning, understanding the roles of all members in assignments and collaborative lessons. They will expand their knowledge base regarding note-taking in relation to studying and test preparation. Students will be exposed to various field work, guest speakers, and research to increase their knowledge of college and career options.
 

The 8th grade AVID Elective course is the year of preparation for high school. Students will regularly exhibit and utilize the skills and strategies learned in the 6th and 7th grade AVID courses. They will refine previous goals, focusing on their transition to high school as part of a college-preparatory path. Their writing will focus on completing all steps of the writing process and varying style, word choice, vocabulary, structure, and voice. Major writing assignments include persuasive, expository, descriptive, and timed writing. Students will transition from active learners to leaders. Other areas of focus include increasing the use of technology and building upon test-preparation and test-taking knowledge. Students will broaden their experience with analyzing text and utilizing appropriate reading strategies in various settings. They will become more involved in guest-speaker presentations and field work, particularly as they relate to preparation and prior knowledge. Students will also participate in college-preparatory testing and build connections with the high school they will attend. 

All 6th graders take a rotation of 4 classes which explore the possible pathways:  Energy and the Environment, Design & Modeling, Science Enrichment, and CS Makers & Innovators. Giving students the opportunity to explore the variety of pathway options allows students to become familiar with the many possibilities within the STEM fields. Students get a “sample” in each of these classes and can begin to hone in on their passions as STEM students. The choice in electives may change each year. Each rotation lasts 9 weeks. 

Building off the previous 6th grade wheel, the 7th grade wheel provides even more opportunities for exploration and growth within the STEM pathways. Students will take a rotation of the following 4 classes: Technology 7, Medical Detectives, Automation & Robotics, and Magic of Electrons. These classes course content may change each year and like 6th grade, each rotation lasts 9 weeks. 

In sixth grade student focus on laying a strong foundation in writing and reading.

In 7th-grade Language Arts students refine their reading and writing skills by diving into learning expeditions that require higher-level reading and writing skills. At the same time, students are asked to be critical thinkers and strong communicators.
 

In English Language Arts, students will develop and strengthen their verbal communication, writing, and reading skills through learning expeditions that focus on journalism, the legal system, and unique forms of storytelling. ELA will include a focus on collaborative projects, including creating newspapers and participating in a mock court trial, as well as individual writing work. In addition to news articles and short nonfiction pieces, students will read independent choice novels and participate in book clubs. 

Students will solve problems involving the four operations with rational numbers, create and manipulate algebraic expressions, write and solve inequalities, analyze and solve proportions, explain and use formulas to find area and volume of geometric solids, apply scale factors to geometric figures and scale drawings, and investigate and use probability models.
 

This course focuses on having students present the proof or process towards the solution. Students will analyze, evaluate and solve linear equations, investigate patterns of association in bivariate data, graph and solve systems of linear equations, apply properties of angle relationships, understand and apply the Pythagorean theorem, explain and apply properties of integers. We will also explore geometry with surface area and volume of geometric shapes. 
 

The Algebra/Geometry/Statistics I course is the first in a three-course sequence.  The first course focuses on the Algebra concepts, solving linear functions, modeling with linear functions, solving systems of equations, using arithmetic and geometric sequences to develop linear and exponential functions, as well as graphing functions.  Geometry concepts include congruence, construction and proof using lines, angles, triangles and other two-dimensional figures.  Statistics concepts include basic measures of central tendencies spread, and position. All 8th grade students take AGS 1 or higher at BASE. Math placement is based on performance in the previous course in the sequence or scores on the BSD math placement test available to students in the Spring prior to the school year. BASE does not give placement tests.
 

During the 2024-25 school year, 8th grade students may elect Math Workshop as an elective choice or students may be required to take Math Workshop, per teacher & counselor recommendation. Math Workshop allows students to receive additional support for AGSI or allows students who want to explore math more deeply to work on math in addition to their regular math class.

This is a foundational lab-based integrated science course. Using the processes of scientific inquiry, engineering design, and critical thinking, and team-based collaboration, students will discover and apply patterns in such topics as cells, human body systems, weather and energy, heredity, and human impacts on the environment.

This is a foundational lab-based integrated science course. Using scientific inquiry, engineering design, critical thinking, and team-based collaboration, students will discover and apply patterns in such topics such as chemistry and the structure of matter, energy transfer, earth sciences, and ecology. 

This is a lab-based integrated science course. Using scientific inquiry, engineering design, critical thinking, and team-based collaboration, students will discover and apply patterns to develop explanations on topics such as forces and laws of motion; geological time and changes to Earth over time; natural selection and evolution; and gravity, the electromagnetic spectrum, and reasons for the cyclical observable patterns in the Sun-Earth-Moon system. The year culminates in a student developed project entitled, “What Action Will You Take on Sustainability?” This project provides students an opportunity to choose a topic that has interested them at any time during middle school and in which they have a passionate interest, they examine related issues that threaten sustainability, ultimately developing an action plan for change that begins with their own actions.

In sixth grade students focus on learning about different cultures and societies.

In this course, we look through the lenses of Movement, Regions, Location, HumanEnvironment Interaction, and Place. We develop our skills to analyze maps, graphs, charts, and data. Most importantly, we have fun answering questions of who, what, where, when, why and how. Ancient Civilizations – How did humans take the leap from predominantly nomadic hunter-gatherers to people that both put-down roots and extend branches to all corners of the globe? Who am I? Who were they? Who are we? This course helps answer these questions in a year-long study of ancient civilizations.

Students will study the history, government, and economics of the United States between 1765 and the Civil War. Major events studied include the American Revolution, the development of democracy, the Constitution, and the Civil War. Students will be exposed to many opportunities to analyze sources, take notes, write, think critically, consider civic engagement, and read & interpret information displayed in maps, charts, graphs, etc.