Middle Years Curriculum

Middle Years Curriculum

Social Studies

  • Social Studies 6/7

    The social science program at High Meadows is meticulously crafted to introduce students to various branches of social science and foster an understanding of their impact on society. Over two years, 6th and 7th graders delve into a rotating curriculum, with units often integrating with English literature or science topics. The classroom environment encourages lively discussion and critical thinking through activities like role-plays and debates while emphasizing academic rigor and current events analysis.
    Geography is interwoven into units to deepen historical understanding, and students develop research skills through projects and presentations, culminating in a living history museum. Outside of class, students apply their learning through activities such as student government and community service.

  • Social Studies 8

    In 8th grade, the social science program at High Meadows focuses on introducing students to various branches of social science and fostering an understanding of their impact on society. The curriculum emphasizes academic rigor, encouraging students to engage in lively discussions, critical thinking, and analysis. Activities such as role-plays, debates, and current events analysis are integral to the learning process.
    Geography is integrated into units to deepen historical understanding, while students develop research skills through projects and presentations, culminating in a living history museum. Outside of class, students apply their learning through activities such as student government and community service.
    The program ensures a balance between American and world history, fostering an awareness of historical events within a broader context, and maintaining connections to practical experience and current events.

Department Faculty

Browse Middle Years Departments

Middle Years Academics

Our Middle Years curriculum is organized by essential questions that help students develop a better understanding of the connections between ideas and concepts within and between disciplines and between each year of the curriculum. They provide a framework for our overall curriculum approach. The current umbrella (over-arching) question for grades 6-8 is:

“How do disciplines of study help us understand our world?”

Each year we have a cross-disciplinary question as well. The 6th and 7th grade question rotates each year to account for the two-year curriculum sequence. Additionally, each core discipline connects topics of study to subject-appropriate, essential questions. Some disciplines use the same questions for both the 6th-grade and 7th-grade experiences. In Spanish and science, students engage in the same questions as these questions tend to be broader and often process-oriented.

Essential Questions

List of 3 items.

  • 6th and 7th Grade: Year A

    How do we become citizens of the world?

    English
    • How do writers communicate effectively?
    • How do our lives inform our writing?
    • How does literature help us understand the large world and human experience?

    Social Studies
    • How do societies balance the needs of the community with the needs of the individual?
    Spanish
    • How can we expand our knowledge of ourselves and others through language?
    • How can we put language together to create meaning?
    • How can we take language apart to create meaning?
    6/7 Mathematics
    • How do we use numbers and mathematical thinking to better understand our world?
    Prealgebra
    • How do we use mathematics to organize ourselves?
    Algebra
    • How do we use algebra to generalize arithmetic?
    • How do we use algebra to explain/model/represent natural phenomena?
    Science
    • How do we apply our knowledge of physical, chemical and biological systems to live in harmony on Earth?
    • How do we use cycles of scientific thinking to explain and gain a better understanding of the universe?

  • 6th and 7th Grade: Year B

    How do we become global critical thinkers?

    English
    • How do writers communicate effectively?
    • How do our lives inform our writing?
    • How does literature help us understand the larger world and human experience?
    Social Studies
    • How are societies created, organized and changed?
    Spanish
    • How can we expand our knowledge of ourselves and others through language?
    • How can we put language together to create meaning?
    • How can we take language apart to create meaning?
    6/7 Mathematics
    • How do we use numbers and mathematical thinking to better understand our world?
    Prealgebra
    • How do we use mathematics to organize ourselves?
    Algebra
    • How do we use algebra to generalize arithmetic?
    • How do we use algebra to explain/model/represent natural phenomena?
    Science
    • How do we apply our knowledge of physical, chemical and biological systems to live in harmony on Earth?
    • How do we use cycles of scientific thinking to explain and gain a better understanding of the universe?

  • 8th Grade

    What does it mean to be human?

    English
    • How do we use language to construct meaning and value?
    Social Studies
    • How are humans unique?
    • How do social scientists study human behavior?
    Spanish
    • How can we expand our knowledge of ourselves and others through language?
    • How can we put language together to create meaning?
    • How can we take language apart to create meaning?
    Science
    • How do we investigate and understand the biological, chemical, and physical universe?
    Algebra
    • How do we use algebra to generalize arithmetic?
    • How do we use algebra to explain/model/represent natural phenomena?
    • Honors HA and AHA
    • How do we use algebra to explain/model/represent natural phenomena?
    Capstone Project
    • As the culmination of student studies at High Meadows, 8th-grade students will complete an 8th-grade Capstone project. Students will conduct research on a topic of their choice under the direction of a faculty advisor who will help students formulate their research question, compose a project proposal, carry out their research, write their formal paper, and present their final projects in the spring.

    • A few middle schoolers built bridges for our school-wide Emphasis project on Rivers.

The High Meadows community celebrates and perpetuates each individual’s quest for knowledge and skill, sense of wonder, and connection to the natural environment. We empower each to be a compassionate, responsible, and active global citizen.
Age 3 through Grade 8 | Authorized IB PYP World School
1055 Willeo Road, Roswell, Georgia 30075 | (770) 993-2940 | info@highmeadows.org