Middle School
Our middle school students spend much class time developing their reading comprehension and writing skills which in turn means continuing to advance their studies of grammar and vocabulary. Readers workshop and independent choice reading continues as the development of "love of reading" is still a main theme in middle school.
6th Grade focuses on:
Grammar: All capitalization rules; all punctuation rules; review nouns and pronouns
Writing: Descriptive with no linking verbs; Persuasive; Original myth; Autobiography; Biography; Weekly journaling
Literature: Elements of fiction with short stories including Jack London and Rudyard Kipling; Greek Mythology; Novel Studies: Where the Red Fern Grows, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and The Call of the Wild; Drama: The Phantom Tollbooth; independent choice
Vocabulary: Greek and Latin roots
7th Grade focuses on:
Grammar: Verbs and complements; adjectives and adverbs
Writing: Original fairy tale; Persuasive essay; Research paper; Weekly journaling
Literature: Review elements of fiction with short stories; Drama: Sherlock Holmes in "A Dying Detective" and A Christmas Carol; study of genres; realistic survival fiction book groups; independent choice
Vocabulary: Greek and Latin Roots
8th/9th Grade focuses on: (Our 8th grade students take English One for high school credit)
Grammar: Phrases and clauses; conjunctions; sentence structure; agreement
Writing: Research paper; Personal narrative; Weekly journaling; Literary analysis
Literature: Poetry; Shakespeare; The Odyssey; Animal Farm; historical fiction; independent choice
Vocabulary: Greek and Latin Roots; vocabulary collecting
Mathematics:

Our social studies lessons in 6th & 7th grade cover Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America and their social, political, and economical histories. Students are challenged to analyze similarities and differences among their societies. There is much emphasis on geography, countries and capital cities. Lessons are integrated into religion and language arts writing assignments. Current local, regional, national and global issues are integrated into daily instruction. During their 8th grade year, students focus back to American history, pre-constitution to today with discussion focusing on geography as our nation expanded, economics, social growth, communities, civilizations and government.


Religious studies focus on helping students become faith-filled Christians who keep their moral compasses always pointed towards Christ as they venture forth into their high school years and beyond. Our students study the Old Testament and New Testament scriptures and stories. Topics include: the historical events of salvation, the sacraments, the teachings of Jesus, the Stations of the Cross, the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, Mary as Mother of the Church, the Holy Spirit and the Saints of the Church. Our students participate in weekly Mass and many stewardship endeavors through the school year. In addition, our 8th grade students study Confirmation preparation lessons.