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Middle School History Curriculum
Cheverus Catholic School’s Middle School history curriculum covers the topics listed in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.
Fifth grade students engage in a broad survey of the history of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. They examine early American nations, and the rise and contributions of the Aztec, Incan, and Mayan civilizations. Students will focus on the many Native American cultures of North America.
In grade six, students explore ancient civilizations across the globe. The curriculum includes inquiry, research and comparison of the social customs, religions, government and economic systems, and technology of ancient India, China, Greece, and Rome.
Seventh grade students will review and analyze the historical origins of the United States from colonial settlement, and the Revolutionary and Constitutional Eras. Students through the use of primary and secondary sources will research the political and economic factors that contributed to colonial America and the American Revolution. Students will concentrate on the establishment of political parties, westward expansion, and the key issues leading up to the Civil War.
Eighth grade students will examine the political, economic, and cultural development of the United States from the Civil War to present. Students will concentrate on key individuals, leaders and events. They will follow the movements toward equal rights and the rise of the United States as a world power. Students will use a multitude of resources to build upon previous studies of history and construct a solid foundation for high school level courses.
The social studies curriculum in both history and geography makes use of a variety of resources: articles, worksheets, primary and secondary sources, and technology such as ipads, Smartboards, and our Technology Classroom. Student use E-texts made available through DiscoveryEd.
Geography Curriculum Grades 5-8
The Geography Curriculum helps students become aware of the relationships between people and their environments, discover how human cultures integrate with the environment, understand where places and things are found, why they exist, and how they develop and change overtime.
Grade 5:
This curriculum begins with the Five Themes of Geography. Students will then be able connect human activity and its link to environmental problems. Students will examine the importance of various energy sources and how the environment and cultures affect these. Students will learn how to look at the world as geographers do and how they look at patterns in the world and solve problems. As geographers, students will investigate the United States and Canada using these skills.
Grade 6 uses the skills learned in grade 5 to investigate several countries including Latin America, Europe, Russia, North Africa, Southwest Asia, and Sub Saharan Africa. They will become better able to use their map skills, interpretation of data and short video clips on the topic. Students will create Boards that are available on the Techbook to demonstrate their knowledge of a lesson topic.
Grade 7 continues the process of world knowledge in Geography by focusing on the countries of Asia, Australia, Oceana. and Antarctica. Students will begin to do independent research on specific topics from these locations.
Grade 8 will focus on Globalization and Trade, Conflicts and Peace, and Citizenships of the World. Students will produce a yearlong research presentation prior to graduation, on a topic of their choosing, that will demonstrate their knowledge in the field of geography.
The goals of the Geography Curriculum are:- To empower students to question, identify, and solve geographic problems.
- To give students the knowledge to use geographic information to make decisions to help solve community and world problems.
- To connect students to the world’s problems, events, and decisions that are made throughout the world and how they affect the world populations.
ELA Curriculum
Grade 5:
Texts: Grammar: Houghton Mifflin English Literature: Holts Elements of Literature Writing: The Collins Writing Program Vocabulary: Sadlier’s Vocabulary Workshop
English: The emphasis in grade five is on grammar including the identification, interrelation, and correct use of the various parts of speech. Student will demonstrate a mastery of sentence forms: declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory, as well as the appropriate punctuation.
Reading: Students will read for comprehension. Students will be quizzed and tested regularly for comprehension. Using the literature text, students will read stories that focus on literary and reading skills as well as the expansion of vocabulary. Decoding, that is deducing the meaning of new words from context, is a skill students will practice, in addition to memorizing the meaning of new words.
Writing: The ability to identify topic sentences, concluding sentences, main ideas, and supporting ideas are essential to writing a well-constructed paragraph. Students will practice this skill as part of the writing program in order to be able to write coherent and logical paragraphs and short essays, whether persuasive, opinion, or narrative. In addition, students will read and discuss different forms of poetry, as well as write their own poems.
Grade 6:
English: Grade six continues to stress the correct usage of the various parts of speech. The study of verbs now will include learning about transitive and intransitive verbs, as well as perfect verb tenses. Students will have mastered forms of nouns including: common, proper, plural, possessive, and collective nouns.
Literature: In their literature anthology, students will read various types of literature inclusive of: short stories, fairy tales, myths, folk tales, and poems. They will demonstrate their understanding of the many genres through written quizzes and oral recitation in class.
Writing: The students will expand upon their writing of a single paragraph by learning to write more than one paragraph. Paragraphs should easily flow from one idea to the next, while still maintaining topic sentences, concluding sentences, and pertinent details.
Grade 7:
English: While grade seven will continue to review the different parts of speech, the emphasis will be on verbs. Students will now study indirect objects, progressive verb forms, and active/passive voice. They will be expected to incorporate what they have learned in their own writing.
Literature: Students will focus on plot, characterization, and theme in their reading of many literature stories this year. They will do this through a variety of pieces such as: short stories, teleplays, and poems. Assessment will be comprised of both written quizzes and oral class response.
Writing: Seventh graders will bolster their writing to include multiparagraph essays. The topics covered will take into consideration their past knowledge of composing persuasive, opinion, and compare/contrast paragraphs. All grammar, spelling, and punctuation will be expected to be accurate.
Grade 8:
English: It is anticipated that eighth graders will have mastery in parts of speech including: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns. They will be introduced to different types of clauses and compound/complex sentence structure.
Literature: Eighth graders will be exposed to a multitude of genres of writing involving plays, narratives, biographies, autobiographies, and informational text. Oral discussions and written quizzes will follow each selection’s reading.
Writing: Students in grade eight will build upon their writing of essays, and the year will culminate with a personal narrative to be written after their trip to Washington, D.C. All essential conventions of grammar described in the Collins Writing Program will be incorporated in their grade.
Middle School Math Curriculum
Grade 5 and Grade 6 Overview:
Fifth and Sixth grade mathematics primary focus is to develop fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of fractions and decimals. It also continues to develop student knowledge in the Metric and Customary measurement systems as well as Geometry and Data Analysis.
Goals- Students will demonstrate proficiency in number operations of whole numbers.
- Students will master operations of fractions and decimals.
- Students will build upon and acquire more knowledge of Geometry, Measurement and Data Analysis
Grade 7 and Grade 8 Overview:
Seventh and Eighth grade mathematics primary focus is to develop fluency in pre-algebraic concepts and functions. The curriculum strengthens mathematical foundations and problem solving skills in order to succeed in solving algebraic expressions, equations, inequalities and linear functions.
Goals- Students will master foundational concepts and skills of Pre-Algebra.
- All Students will be prepared for Algebra I in high school.
- Some students will successfully meet the requirements of a Grade 9 Algebra I class, thereby placing out of Algebra I and instead enroll in Geometry freshman year of high school.
6-8 Science Curriculum and Goals
The Cheverus Catholic science curriculum follows the Massachusetts Frameworks and the Next Generation Science Standards.
All classes 5-8 cover topics in life science, physical science and earth science, engineering and technology.
- 5th grade science focuses on connections and relationships
- 6th grade is structures and functions
- 7th is systems and cycles
- 8th grade focuses on cause and effect
The goal of the Cheverus Catholic science program is to provide a strong science knowledge foundation that will prepare students for academic success in high school. This is achieved through content mastery, project work, group work, laboratory experiments, hands on activities, and engineering design.