Grade 7
RELIGION
The Middle School Religion Program educates the students to “learn the Catholic Faith and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ”. Students grow spiritually, academically and socially. They attain the foundation to lead a life of faith, service, and integrity. All Middle School students follow the Liturgical calendar and enter into the prayer life of the Catholic Church. Holy Days of Obligation and other special saint days are celebrated on a monthly basis, as the school community gathers for Mass at St. Pius X Church. During Advent, and at other times through the year, students participate in school-wide prayer service. On a daily basis, students pray in the chapel before each Religion class. Formal prayers are learned and prayed during the school year. Students in grades 6-8 are required to complete thirty hours of community service each school year. All students learn the virtues and are encouraged to practice them on a daily basis.
Students in Grade 7 use the textbook published by Sadlier, We Live Our Faith as Disciples of Jesus. This program centers on Jesus’ life, his teachings, and the sacraments he instituted. It presents Jesus’ call to each person to become his disciple and the ways in which his teachings, his sacraments, and his Church nourish people for discipleship. Grade seven students focus on the New Testament, the Creed and Divine Revelation, Jesus in the Gospels. Through Church teaching, they learn about Sacraments and Liturgy, Catholic social doctrine and vocations.
LANGUAGE ARTS & LITERATURE
The Grade 7 Language Arts/Literature curriculum continues to integrate the language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Concentration on vocabulary study, grammar usage, and understanding the importance of clarity of written content form a comprehensive literacy program. The literacy program includes reading from a variety of genres: novels, short stories, poetry, plays, and nonfiction text.
The Grade 7 Literature curriculum incorporates the Prentice Hall textbook to introduce students to authors, such as Mark Twain, O. Henry, Edgar Allen Poe, Maya Angelou, Charles Dickens, Anne Frank, Ray Bradbury, and John Steinbeck. Students are encouraged to choose from a wide selection of trade books and authors which interest them, hopefully, inspiring a lifetime of reading enjoyment. Field trips to live theater, classroom reader’s theater, an introduction to Shakespeare, and reading classics such as Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Anne Frank, A Diary of Young Girl are anticipated classroom experiences.
Writing is an integral component of our daily middle school curriculum. Students utilize the writing process (planning, drafting, editing, revising and publishing) throughout the day. They explore various writing styles and modes. There are opportunities to develop their writing skills in all subjects, as well as using our tech lab for research, report writing and creative writing. Students are encouraged to participate in outside writing workshops and annual writing contests.
MATHEMATICS
Pre-Algebra: The Pre-Algebra course, based on the diocesan and state standards, is a transition from the arithmetic of elementary school to the algebra of high school, or a transition from the concrete to the abstract study of mathematics. It builds the foundation necessary for success in the study of Algebra I, emphasizing conceptual understanding and computational fluency. This course encourages higher-level thinking skills and will assist students in developing skills and processes to be applied using a variety of techniques to solve problems.
Curriculum: Integers; expressions & equations; inequalities; rational numbers; ratio, proportions & percent; data analysis & statistics; 2-dimensional geometry & measurement; 3-dimensional geometry; probability; patterns, relations & functions; polynomials.
SCIENCE
In the Grade 7 Science course, the curriculum is rotated each year to study both physical and life sciences. In physical science, students will learn about chemical building blocks, the periodic table and force/motion. In life science, they build upon the study of heredity and DNA. Students continue explorations in the science lab and work in group settings. Students engage in lab projects such as extracting DNA from strawberries, and cooperatively building structures able to support a defined weight using uncooked spaghetti and a marshmallow. It is an imperative skill for students to be able to work cooperatively and respectfully together, as scientists must be able to communicate ideas and learn from peers in order to be successful.
SOCIAL STUDIES
In the Grade 7 Social Studies course, students will begin their study of American History with a review of 15th and 16th Century European exploration of North America. They examine the earliest settlements and the political, economic and social development of the English Colonies in the 17th and 18th Centuries. This examination includes ideas and events which led to the American Revolution and the formation of a national government and the U.S. Constitution. Students study the basic framework and concepts of American democracy and government.
They examine westward expansion, the creation of political parties, and economic and social change which led to the Civil War and Reconstruction. The America, History of Our Nation’s Beginnings through 1877 textbook and a variety of other resources (field trips, articles, primary source materials, historical fiction, plays and educational videos), will be used to enrich students’ experience and understanding of the development of our nation.
Students will continue to work on and develop in the following areas: note taking, research, peer collaboration, strategies to gain understanding from nonfiction material, and creating oral, written and visual presentations. They will learn the importance of and differences between primary and secondary sources, and how they assist with the understanding of our nation’s history.
SPANISH
Vocabulary: description of personalities; classroom furniture and items; food and beverages; health and feelings; leisure activities; celebrations; house, rooms and chores; shopping; recycling; technology
Structures: review of form and agreement of adjectives; present tense of SER, ESTAR, IR a with infinitive and other irregular verb; stem changing verbs; present progressive tense; affirmative familiar commands; preterit of AR verbs, HACER and DAR; direct and indirect object pronouns
Culture: compare and contrast celebration of holidays, homes, schools, sports and leisure activities, shopping and city centers, environmental issues, use of technology.