The Middle School Language Arts program is integrated across the academic curriculum with a particular link to the sciences and social sciences (S3).  Students continue their development of individual skills and the crafting of language through vocabulary and word study; the reading process with a focus on comprehension and self-monitoring strategies; and reading applications with informational, technical, persuasive, and literary text.  Students explore their understanding of the writing process – prewriting, drafting, editing, conferencing, revising and publishing – and learn a variety of writing applications, conventions, and research techniques.  They develop oral and visual communication through unique individual and group projects and deliver informational and persuasive presentations.

S3 is the driving force in our Middle School curriculum.  The program continues to develop and refine research and inquiry skills learned in the Elementary cultural lessons while emphasizing individual research and modern history.  The S3 curriculum is an integrated study of geography, history, social studies, and science for Seventh- and Eighth-Graders.  Because adolescents learn best when given real-world, personal, hands-on learning opportunities, S3 studies are taught through impressionistic lessons, primary and secondary source readings, independent research, experiments, and class discussions.  The curriculum follows a two-year cycle with Year A focusing on earth science and physics through the lens of history of astronomy, US Westward Expansion, the US Industrial Revolution, and the global sustainability/green movement; Year B focuses on earth science and biology through the lens of ancient Mesopotamia, ancient Rome, the US Civil War, US Reconstruction, the US Civil Rights Movement, and global peace movements.