Second Year Curriculum

This language arts class will provide second year students with a chance to stretch their writing skills. Students will have continued opportunities to use the writing process (pre-writing, drafting, editing, rewriting) to improve their short fiction, poetry, research and expository skills. The Write On curriculum will complement the Mythic Worlds curriculum with the use of myths, fairy tales, and fantasy writing as a means of exploring different cultures and different means of communicating with the written word. Students will do several independent reading projects as well as two group-reading projects. In the fall, we will do a novel study and use the text as a jumping off point for exploring the idea of fantasy worlds. In the spring, we will tackle a short story unit. Throughout the year we will work on vocabulary acquisition, varying sentence structure, comma placement, and other basic writing skills.

In Math 6, we will be taking ideas and concepts learned in First Year Math to the next level of abstraction. The major topics to be covered in Math 6 include a brief review of multiplication and division of whole numbers, and in-depth look at fractions including mixed numbers, decimals, percentages and conversions between fractions, decimals, and percentages. Other topics will include negative and positive numbers, the coordinate system, exponents, and geometry formulas. Math 6 students will find that the math curriculum will be both traditional (very numerical) and non-traditional (not so numerical). We will, at times, be very number oriented and at times stray from numbers to explore ideas that will give us a well-rounded perspective on math. In Math 6 our activities will be as diverse as our curriculum. Students will be active listeners, note takers, project makers, number crunchers, question askers, opinion formers, idea writers, information gatherers, homework “doers” and occasional quiz and test takers. Success will directly reflect the participation and effort the student invests in the course.

Pre-Algebra will begin with a reflection of where we’ve come from in our past-math-lives which will include a review of fractions, decimals, percentages, signed numbers, and exponents. Then, hold on tight as we move to deepen our understanding of mathematics as we journey toward the land of Algebra. We will start with making sure we’ve got our ducks in a row (order of operations), continue on to experience formulas and plug-it-in, plug-it-in and head out to surf the coordinate plane with graphing and geometry. We will also spend some time with the Jacobs text including some hands-on math and also stretching our brains around our problem-solving skills and mathematical / logical reasoning. Sound boring? Wrong!! We’re gonna rock-n-roll!

This class will explore the stories and wisdom of past cultures. We will focus on the similar – and sometimes strikingly dissimilar – values held by different cultures. Some of the topics we will examine will include creation myths, the relationship between humans and animals, and the rites of passage of children into adulthood. We will focus on the myths of ancient Egypt, Native Americans, and others, as we examine what truths and beliefs we still share with our past. Attention will be given to improving research skills. Students will learn how to select research material from the classroom, the Internet, the library, and home. We will focus on how to read for meaning, how to analyze and respond to information both in writing and discussion, and how to organize information into short research papers and projects.

Conflicts happen when there are differences in needs, values, opinions and motivations. Being involved in conflicts is a natural part of human life. It’s what one does with conflict that counts! We will examine solutions to inner, interpersonal, and group conflicts through discussion of historical examples, performance of role-playing games, and reflection on our own gifts and values. This class is designed to equip students with strategies for resolving conflicts and for de-escalating potential situations that might result in conflict.

Our science course will develop the skills of understanding the world through the lens of science. We will study the scientific method by doing class and individual experiments. In addition, students will research the life of a scientist and write a report on her/him.

¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás? This rotation class gives us the chance to practice Spanish conversation in lots of different ways, explore Hispanic culture, celebrate the Hispanic heritage month and día de los muertos. We'll focus on “survival Spanish” that we can use on a field trip to a tienda (Mexican store) and for ordering a meal.