Seventh Grade – Middle School

GOALS & EXPECTATIONS

Middle school students are expected to be active participants in their education, as well as role models for younger students.

• Absences: Successful students have regular attendance. They make arrangements with a responsible classmate to get work when the other is absent. When absent, they turn in what they missed in a timely manner. They don’t wait to be asked for missing work. If a test is missed, they make arrangements to take it.
• Chrome Books: Successful middle school students use their devices in the appropriate way. They bring them to school daily fully charged.
• Class Participation: Successful students participate in class. They listen, answer questions, offer insights, stay on task, and ask questions if they don’t understand. They contribute to the learning environment rather than distracting from it.
• Due Dates: Successful students have their work completed neatly and on time. They realize that means having it with them when class starts. Seldom are they missing what they need. If they don’t have something for class, they turn it in the next day.
• Help: Successful students ask for help. They know that teachers come to school early and are available to them. They utilize any study guides or practice quizzes that are available.
• Homework: Successful students realize they always have homework and plan their day accordingly. They know that homework not only incudes writing—it’s reading and studying, too. They check the teachers’ class pages on Sycamore or Google Classroom for assignments as needed.
• Manners: Successful students are polite to fellow students and adults.
• Maturity: Successful students think for themselves. They are leaders.
• Organization: Successful students are organized. They record their homework and file documents where they belong.
• Quality: Successful students challenge themselves. They do not settle for less than their best work. They follow directions. Their work is neat and organized; complete and accurate.
• Respect: Successful students are respectful in both words and actions. They wait their turn, raise their hand, and listen when others are speaking. They respect school property and that of their classmates.
• Responsibility: Successful students take responsibility for their actions. They think before they act. They act as Christian role models.

RELIGION

Seventh grade students continue with their bible studies. The religion curriculum for 7^th grade includes an examination of New Testament to help them better understand the world in which Jesus lived and how Mary and the Apostles carried out his work.  The students will read and contrast the four Gospels and understand how they came to be written.  An overview of the Church’s social principle and how to apply them to our own lives will be given though service projects, walks, etc.

LANGUAGE ARTS

The goals of this course are to instill an appreciation for and exposure to varied literature, to read text closely, and to write as a means to communicate ideas.

MATH

 Seventh grade students explore the following pre-Algebra concepts: Positive and Negative numbers, Fractions/Decimals/Percents, One and Two-Step equations, Inequalities, Proportions, Statistics. Students use the online resource IXL to reinforce weekly standards.  There is a heavy emphasis on multiple choice questions and word problems to prepare them for Terra Nova in March and the High School Placement Test in eighth grade.

SCIENCE

Seventh grade science focuses on life science. In addition to learning specific content, emphasis will be placed on the development and application of science process skills through hands-on activities that are designed to maintain interest as well as encourage the self-discovery of scientific concepts and sharpen critical thinking skills. Subjects covered include:

• Safety in the science lab
• Scientific skills and methods of inquiry
• Engineering design process and STEM activities
• Structure and function of unicellular and multicellular organisms; cell processes
• Microscope usage
• Biological organization of organisms; how body systems interact
• Photosynthesis and its role in the flow of energy within ecosystems
• Ecosystems: interactions among organisms and their environment
• Genetics: inheritance and variation of traits; chromosome theory; structure of DNA
• Biological evolution and biodiversity; fossil records; comparison of embryological development; natural selection

SOCIAL STUDIES

The focus in 7^th grade Social Studies includes an in-depth of United States History from the Age of Exploration through the Civil War. This class focuses specifically on history as well as government, civics, and current events. Not only do students explore their own history, but they further develop skills as critical thinkers, writers, speakers, and listeners in the process. The goal each day is to learn new things and explore new ways of thinking and questioning. An array of research projects including Google Slide presentations, brochures, interviews, collage making, debates, and board games also contribute to the inquiry-based learning environment.

ART

Seventh graders will be pushed beyond their comfort zone sometimes to create art that is technical, detailed or even mechanical in some way. They learn a lot about function versus form, aesthetics, beauty and design versus emotion. They do quite a bit of drawing and measuring and everyone should know all of the elements of art and principles of design by the end of the year.

MUSIC

In 7^th grade students spend a lot of time creating music on the Chromebook. They use different platforms to create beats, mixes, tracks and videos. It is a very creative year ending with writing their own plays and performing them for the younger grades.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Students do cooperative games, and learn about incorporating fitness into their everyday life. They participate in sport units where they are more involved in leadership by having the option as acting as captains, and coaching other students. Sports include; basketball, floor hockey, flag football, volleyball, team handball, archery, and badminton. Students participate in tournaments and win championships at the end of each unit. Students also participate in an intramural sports as their elective class.  Each student is given points based on effort, participation, and sportsmanship.

SPANISH

Spanish is taught in an integrated way, incorporating the Spanish language and customs into several other core content subject areas. Literacy:  Greetings & Farewells, Subject Pronouns,  Ar, Er & IR verbs, Family members, To have, to be, to like & to go verbs,  Emotions, Locations, Classroom Expretions,   Reading comprehension, pronunciation. Religion: Our Father. Cultural: Spanish Speaking Countries,  Hispanic Heritage, Day of the Dead, Three king’s Day, Holy Week & Cinco de Mayo

TECHNOLOGY

Middle school students have “full-time” use of a Chromebook, and are taught how to use a variety of programs and apps, including Docs, Slides, Keep, Drive, Forms, and Sheets. In the Elective classes, the middle school students learn the history of computers and video games, as well as participate in coding lessons.

SPECIAL ACTIVITIES

• CHROMEBOOKS: Students are one-to-one with Chromebooks in all classes.
• FIELD TRIP: Locations such as Floyd’s Fork and Actors Theatre.
• CLASS TRIP: In Spring, 7^th graders take a class day trip to Indianapolis.
• STUDENT COUNCIL: Students are eligible to run for and be members of the Student Council.
• SERVERS: Students may be altar servers for school and weekend masses.
• AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS: Kentucky Youth Assembly (KYA), Yearbook, Quick Recall, Rosary Club, Book Bee, Robotics
• GRANDPARENT LUNCH: Grandparents come to eat lunch with their child.