Middle School

Benchmark’s Middle School (grades 6-8) helps students grow into self-regulated learners who know what they do well, what they need help to do, and how to get the help they need. Students are taught to reflect on their learning to increase their awareness and understanding of their personal approach to learning.

Middle School is a supportive learning community where we:

Create confident students through instruction in strategies and skills that they need to be successful learners, thinkers, and problem solvers.
Coach students to understand of their approach to learning—the strengths and challenges they bring to the classroom—and how to apply that knowledge to be successful in school and beyond.

Approach to Instruction

Our approach to instruction is deeply intentional, and leads to students being able to take ownership of their own learning. We apply these instructional methods throughout all content areas, creating a cohesive and holistic learning environment.

Our approach features:

Explicit instruction and gradual release of responsibility to the student
Discussion and collaboration
Metacognitive awareness through frequent reflections

growth builds each year

6th grade year: Explore

The 6th grade year is about exploring different skills and strategies for learning, with a lot of guidance from teachers, as well as exploring their role in a group, and their role in the community.

7th grade year: Experiment

In 7th grade, students experiment with individualizing their approach to learning and begin to narrow down which strategies are the most useful for them.

8th grade year: Implement

Our 8th graders are given more opportunities to implement what they have learned in order to be successful and self-regulated learners, thinkers, and problem solvers.

middle school students learn:

How to take notes
How to study for tests and quizzes
How to comprehend text
A process approach to writing
Ways to organize information
How to write a research paper
Ways to overcome challenges in executive function skills

The Middle School is designed around the research-proven Developmental Needs of Early Adolescents in an intentional and supportive manner, with an eye toward developing the whole child.

We feel so fortunate that our son is at Benchmark this year. Now he feels more confident, is learning and is finding success at school. We now feel like we have a different child - he is so much happier and so is everyone else in our house.Rebecca McAlpin, P’28

Curriculum

Language Arts

Language arts instruction in Middle School involves teaching students the strategies they will use to read grade-level texts. Students are encouraged to experiment with LearningAlly, a recorded books program, and various technology tools on their laptop computers. They are taught to orchestrate strategies they have learned and to implement the strategies with increasingly complex reading and writing assignments.

Students read a variety of novels and are directly taught to make sense of the reading at a deeper, more critical level. They are taught a process approach to writing, including brainstorming, drafting, editing, proofreading, and publishing. Language arts instruction also includes word study (decoding and vocabulary instruction) and fluency instruction in 6th and 7th grades.

Students learn strategies for overcoming executive function skills challenges and for orchestrating strategies that will allow them to perform at a level commensurate with their academic potential.

Math

Math instruction at Benchmark is highly adaptive and is intentionally designed to address students' individual needs, strengths, and interests in a way that fosters optimal growth for each student.

We want our students to recognize the important role mathematics plays in the world around them. We teach our students to see themselves as mathematical thinkers who can possess a deep understanding of concepts and make strong connections to real-world experiences. Hands-on learning helps students make sense of abstract concepts through exploration and self-discovery.

To help students apply their conceptual understanding and strengthen critical thinking skills, we encourage them to analyze problems, ask questions, engage in mathematical discussions, and find alternate solutions to problems. This active engagement in learning increases student motivation and engagement and helps students develop the confidence and competence to be successful mathematical thinkers and problem solvers.

Middle School math curriculum is adapted from the standards set by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and Common Core Standards and Practices. The five major domains (covered in increasing complexity through 6th and 7th grade) are: ratio and proportional relationships, the number system, expressions and equations, geometry, statistics, and probability. Pre-algebra and high school-level algebra are also offered for students according to readiness for the subject matter.

Social Studies

In Middle School social studies, we teach students to think like historians using historical inquiry. Students look at patterns, question, observe, investigate sources, analyze evidence, and make interpretations. We emphasize the process of learning. Students learn note-taking and note-organizing strategies, study skills and test-taking strategies, and a process for writing essay answers to questions posed by the teacher. History is connected to present day examples. Students work collaboratively to engage in historical inquiry.

Executive function skills are taught in tandem with content area study to help students organize their materials and thoughts, manage time, and think flexibly.

Science

Middle School science focuses on the skills used by scientists: questioning, observing, inferring, predicting, classifying, and making models. Students learn to use the scientific method as a way to organize their study of environmental science, matter and its properties, and force and motion.

An emphasis on executive function skills helps students learn control in those areas that present challenges for them. They perform many hands-on activities and learn to use scientific equipment safely and effectively.

Health

Middle School health classes focus on a central theme of decision making. Topics taught are looked at through the lenses of physical, mental, social, and emotional growth of adolescents and are taught in a spiral with increasing demands and sophistication as students move from sixth to eighth grades.

Units of instruction include digital citizenship and internet safety; nutrition and sleep; changes in adolescence; drugs, alcohol, and tobacco; and wellness topics including suicide awareness and prevention, developing empathy, stress reduction, and bullying.

Executive function skills are emphasized and are referred to throughout the Middle School years.

Affective Curriculum

In the Middle School, the focus increases toward recognizing personal responsibility within a larger community.

Students may have discussions within their classes in class meetings or in meetings with a whole grade level, or the whole middle school, to help them continue to develop skill in communicating with peers and adults and to become aware of the needs of others.

Continuing to explore their own learning styles, both individually and in groups, encourages greater self-direction and advocacy as children mature and prepare for high school.

The theme of empowering students to accept ownership for the physical and emotional safety of their learning community expands as we support them to recognize their roles in conflicts and potential resolutions.

Art

Art is a language, and our program allows students to find their own voices through the creation of visual works. Through thoughtful education on both the tools and techniques of visual art, students gain the technical skills and knowledge to create purposeful artistic expressions. The curriculum is intentionally flexible and projects are designed to support and encourage the curiosities and interests of each class.

Along with a weekly dedicated art class, students and teachers intentionally create projects that integrate visual art and other subject areas such as science, English language arts, and social studies to enrich students’ learning experiences.

Music

Middle school music is tailored to each class, balancing music history, playing and singing. Adolescence is a unique time for our students as they explore their identity and music is often an integral part of that development. Through our curriculum, we expose students to a wide range of musical genres and offer opportunities to play hand-held percussion instruments, drums, and ukulele.

Singing continues to be a strong component of the curriculum as well as a deeper dive into contemporary and classical composers and American music from blues to hip hop.

Our music program also features a deliberate focus on arts integration, an approach to teaching that connects music (and visual arts) to other subject areas to create deeper connections in both. Through thoughtful collaboration across disciplines, we complement topics taught in other classes with exposure to related songs and instrumentation. Our students benefit from background knowledge gained in language arts, social studies, and science to build a deeper understanding and learning in the practice of music.

We celebrate all forms of creativity and musical expression in the annual Virtual Talent Show.

Physical Education

Benchmark’s physical education program integrates every child into physical and athletic play to learn essential life skills, to promote physical well-being, and to have fun. Our program provides students with learning experiences that contribute to their physical and social development at age-appropriate levels, and exposes them to games and activities that can lead to the future leisure time activities. Some games and activities include soccer, basketball, volleyball, Newcomb, team handball, hockey, kickball, baseball, speedball, bombardment, and pickleball.

We also promote fair play and kindness while we expose students to the rules and principles of the major sports and activities that they will encounter in their future schools and within society.

Benchmark Quest: A Middle School Experience

Benchmark Quest is a learning experience using design thinking to address a real-world, personally meaningful problem. Students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.

The projects use the 6 steps of design thinking: wonder & connect, describe & clarify, imagine possibilities, share, design & create, reflect & revise, to guide students and help them develop the skills and mindsets to face the unknown challenges of the future, by providing an opportunity to employ the 4C’s: critical thinking, creative problem solving, collaboration, and communication.

Learn About Benchmark Quest

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