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Welcome to middle school at St. Michael's Country Day. Our mission is to respond to the changing individual and group learning needs of the emerging adolescent as they transition from our lower school. Students are no longer fully self-contained in a classroom with one core teacher. While the middle school is primarily departmentalized - students having a different teacher for each subject - we ease their pathway to middle school in fifth grade by providing them with the comfort and security of a home base and homeroom teacher who provides instruction in English, math, and history. Each day in fifth grade begins with a one or two period English session with their teacher.
As in lower school, we want them to be remain active participants in the learning process throughout middle school. Our goal is to develop independent learners and thinkers who are well prepared for each succeeding level of middle school and, ultimately, secondary school. Teachers strive to make connections amongst varying curriculum areas and to the student's ever-changing world. Study skills and organization are key elements of instruction at every grade level as we prepare them to become organized self-starters and managers of their educational lives. Social development is a crucial aspect of any educational program for ten to fourteen year olds, making cooperative learning and group activities an integral parts of teachers' strategies to help our middle schoolers learn to communicate and work effectively with one another.
Advisors also play an important role in our middle school. Each child is assigned an advisor on a yearly basis who functions as the key adult presence and counsel for the students as they navigate the academic, social, and other important issues of life in middle school. Advisors also serve a vital role in reporting and communicating regularly with parents.
For an inside view of life in the middle school, check out the Sub-Web. Here you will find homework postings, middle school news items, and student projects. |
Student Life 
