Middle School Curriculum
As Middle School students continue to transition from Lower School into a more independent environment, they are greeted by a developmentally appropriate change in daily schedule, more teachers and subject areas, and a variety of unique elective offerings for the first time, and yet, they still receive a balanced amount of guidance from their educators. Middle School is a special time in a student’s life where they find themselves in a socially safe environment designed to assist their robust exploration, discovery, and creative expression in their classes. Students are encouraged to use their voices to directly impact their experience at school, including the proposal of elective topics year after year. Middle School students continue building the foundational PBL skills they learned in Lower School and expand their thinking through STEAM initiatives and elective courses with Clariden’s well known “Presentations of Learning” as a culmination to each course. Students also have a variety of co–curricular options to choose from in the arts, athletics, and academic competitions.
In their day-to-day life on campus, Middle School students learn to:
- develop their autonomy and responsibility
- overcome failure and build healthy responses to varying challenges that present themselves
- collaborate with their teachers and classmates
- hone their presentation skills
- think critically
- develop good study habits
- explore multiple perspectives
- engage in field studies, including domestic travel
Examples of Elective Offerings and Co–Curricular Activities:
- Basketball
- Cross Country
- Debate
- Drama Club
- Game Theory
- Harry Potter
- Odyssey of the Mind
- Manufacturing
- Public Art and Architecture
- Research Skills
- Robotics
- Rocketry and Rocketry Competition
- Sewing
- Stock Market
- Storytelling
- Theater, Musical Theater, Dance
- Visual Arts
- Visual Literacy
- Yearbook