Students in 5th through 8th grades at St. Alphonsus learn in a dynamic and engaging environment designed to prepare them to be the leaders of tomorrow.  We use strong curriculum standards with technologies-based enhancements to engage their minds, cultivate critical thinking skills, and prepare them for real life. 

Our middle school program begins in 5th Grade, with an introduction to middle school.  These students are mostly in their classroom with one teacher, but begin to "switch" classes for math and other specials.  They also receive and participate in some of our middle school-only programs & traditions, like being able to wear red shirts as part of their uniforms, and being treated as middle school leaders.  

General Course Content

Language Arts

6th Grade Language Arts:

• Vocabulary & linguistics
• Tenets of academic writing, including demonstrative & personal essays
• Parts of speech & sentence type and structure
• Grammar & mechanics, including noun ID & usage, verb ID & usage, using active voice, adjective & adverb ID & usage, comparative & superlative forms, prepositional phrase ID & usage, sentence combining, capitalization, and various other concepts

7th Grade Language Arts:

• Vocabulary & linguistics
• Tenets of academic writing, including multi-page essays based on fairly complex pieces of literature
• Persuasive writing, including techniques such as ethos, pathos & logos
• In-text citations & contextual analysis writing
• Parts of speech review with an emphasis on usage
• Diagramming of sentences using form/function format
• Focus on consistent punctuation, capitalization, word choice, precision & diction

8th Grade Language Arts:

• Vocabulary & linguistics, including pre-SAT words
• Review of tenets of academic writing, including multi-page essays based on advanced literature
• Critical analysis essays, with emphasis on sustaining a thesis and in-text citations & MLA format
• Satire writing, with emphasis on different forms of verbal irony & how to encode messages in creative writing
• Parts of speech review with an emphasis on usage
• Diagramming of sentences using form/function format
• Focus on consistent punctuation, capitalization, word choice, precision & diction
• Focus on verbs:  mood, voice & tense
• Focus on verbals:  gerunds, participles & infinitives
• Focus on adjectivals & adverbials
• Focus on conjunctions, especially subordinating conjunctions & conjunctive advers
• Focus on editing for clarity

Literature

• Students are taught how to read according to the cognitive response model
• Reading Strategies, including inferencing, visualizing, and making connections
• Genre & novel studies
• Identification, analysis and evaluation of literary devices, including contextual analysis of genre, symbolism, & tone
• Claim/Evidence/Rational style of essay writing
• Comparative analysis
• All reading done in class is specifically tied to writing & speaking. In this way, our language arts & literature classes are two parts of a broader English class, with assessments designed to cover both language arts & literature standards

Mathematics

5th Grade Math:

• A breakdown is coming soon! 

6th Grade Math:

• Operations with fractions & decimals
• Writing & solving simple equations & inequalities
• Area of polygons, surface area, & volume of prisms
• Integers and the Coordinate Plane
• Statistics & data displays

7th Grade Math:

• Operations with integers & rational numbers
• Writing and solving complex equations & inequalities
• Ratios, proportions, & percents
• Angles, triangles, quadrilaterals, & circles
• Surface area and volume of prisms & pyramids
• Probability & statistics

8th Grade Math:

• Geometry - transformations, parallel lines & transversals, similarity, volume of cylinders, cones & spheres
• Graphing & writing linear equations & functions
• Solving systems of linear equations
• The Pythagorean Theorem
• Properties of exponents & roots
• Operations with scientific notation
• Data analysis & displays

Science

6th Grade Science:

Earth Science, including:

• Study of plate tectonics, minerals, and rocks
• History of the Earth
• Weather in the atmosphere

7th Grade Science:

Physical Science, including:

• Electricity & magnetism
• Atoms
  
• Periodic Table of Elements
• Chemical Reactions
• Forces & Motion

8th Grade Science:

Life Science, including:

• Human Body Systems
• Reproduction & growth
• Ecosystems
• Genes & heredity

Social Studies

6th Grade Social Studies:

World Civilizations with an emphasis on ancient civilizations, including:

• Kingdoms of the Nile
• Ancient India
• Ancient China
• Ancient Greece
• Ancient Rome
• early African civilizations
• the early Americas

The rise of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, early Christianity, and Islam

The Middle Ages & the Renaissance

7th Grade Social Studies:

World History, including:

• World War I
• World War II
• The Cold War
• End of the 20th Century

8th Grade Social Studies:

Government & Civics, including:

• The Constitution
• Federalism
• Congress
• The Presidency & the Executive Branch
• Civil Rights
• State & Local Governments

Religion

• Comprehension & analysis of the Creed
• Old Testament & the Covenants, New Testament & Jesus' life, and the History of the Church
• Encourages participation in the diverse ministries and social teachings of the Church
• Discussion of the role of Scripture and symbols of the Sacraments in Catholic life
• Encourages the ability to choose right from wrong and demonstrate moral understandings