The Inly Middle School program takes a unique approach to teaching the adolescent. At its core is the Montessori view of the student as a self-directed, active learner, and the teacher as an engaged facilitator.

Our comprehensive Middle School academic program focuses on the humanities (literature, language, critical and creative writing, American and world history, cultural studies, geography, current events) and features a complete math and science curriculum as well as Spanish, art, music, physical fitness, technology, and library skills.

The Middle School humanities curriculum employs the seminar format, based on the Socratic method, for in-depth exploration into the realms of literature, language, creative writing, history, geography and current events.

To this end, the Middle School day combines regularly scheduled class time, along with opportunities for students to collaborate in small groups and to work independently during self-directed work time. The academic year is divided into five academic cycles and one three-week immersion cycle. Each cycle includes interdisciplinary projects designed to connect concepts and deepen understanding across discrete academic subject areas. A strong emphasis on math and writing skills is reinforced in each discipline, and a differentiated learning approach ensures that each student is challenged.

During self-directed work time, students can work closely with teachers and peers to absorb classroom content at a deep level. They are also charged with honing less tangible skills that, ultimately, allow them to succeed in a wide variety of secondary schools.

This section of the curriculum covers literature, writing and vocabulary.

Literature
Reading is a core element of the Inly middle school curriculum. Students read assigned literature selections throughout the year, which are discussed in literature discussion group twice per week. Practice with written response in the form of short answer, reflection and formal essay, is an important component of our literature curriculum. In addition, students are required to read and write a review of one additional novel of their choice each cycle.

Novels that we will study in literature this year include: City of Embers, Of Mice and Men, Catch a Tiger by the Toe, John F. Kennedy, His Life and Legacy, The Outsiders, and To Kill A Mockingbird.

Writing
There is a heavy emphasis placed on writing in the Inly middle school curriculum. Writing skills are introduced in a writing class that meets in small groups two times per week. The 10 elements of writing introduced in writing class are then practiced and reinforced in appropriate academic disciplines throughout the year. The 10 elements of writing central to our curriculum are:

1. Writing complete sentences and topic sentences
2. Cohesive paragraph construction
3. Personal essays
4. Five-paragraph essays
5. Business writing (resume, cover letter, thank you note)
6. Note taking
7. Outlining
8. Report writing
9. Lab report/observations
10. Poetry

Vocabulary
We believe authentic learning to be of primary value for all learning styles. Therefore, whenever possible, our vocabulary curriculum comes from class discussion, as well as from independent and academic reading. Additionally, we supplement these sources with an ongoing independent study of vocabulary. Students self-assess, set work goals, and work independently throughout the week to master new vocabulary. Eighth grade students who are preparing for the SSAT may choose to use SSAT vocabulary preparation material in the fall.

The central goals of the mathematics program are to introduce the students to the power of mathematical abstraction and to provide opportunities for them to develop their skills in solving real world problems through the creation and use of mathematical models. Many of the concepts that we will develop will arise out of their work in science, and others will arise in response to problems in other arenas. In all cases, however, mathematical abstractions will follow concrete experiences.

Algebra and Geometry

Elementary algebra and geometry are studied over the course of two years. In the first year, topics of study include:

• number theory,
• the distributive property,
• elementary techniques of solving equations,
• solution of word problems,
• graphing techniques, and
• an introduction to linear functions.

In the second year, these topics are developed further and we introduce:

• the quadratic,
• exponential, and
• rational and square root functions.

The depth of each child’s investigation of these functions will depend upon his/her interest in and facility for grasping mathematical ideas but, after a function has been introduced, it will be developed and extended throughout the year.

The graphing calculator is a tool central to our daily work; it creates opportunities for students to investigate relationships in order to discover patterns that would otherwise escape all but the most insightful students.

The Middle School science program is a discovery-based program which integrates mathematics, reading, writing and, when possible, the social sciences. The central goal of the science program is to help each student develop an appreciation for the formal process of scientific inquiry. Experiments are constructed and performed by the students, and their detailed analyses are kept in a portfolio. Emphasis is placed upon observation, measurement, organization of data, and scientific inference.

Our science curriculum follows a two-year cycle that focuses one year upon Physical Science, and the next upon Earth Science and Life Science. This year, we will be exploring topics in Physical Science including energy transfer via waves, motion, forces and work, and characteristic properties of substances.
 

The Middle School humanities curriculum employs the seminar format, based on the Socratic method, for in-depth exploration into the realms of literature, language, creative writing, history, geography and current events.

Our history curriculum cycles between modern American history and world history. This year we will be studying post-World War II American history, covering the period from 1945–present. Along with analyzing the events of these times, we will be exploring:

• the role media has played in shaping events, and our understanding of them
• the changes that have occurred and continue to occur around the role and structure of the family
• the rights and responsibilities of the citizen in a democracy
• current events, especially as it pertains to the presidential campaigns.

History class formally meets twice per week and is often the topic of small group discussions during independent time. We use a textbook, The History of Us by Joy Hakim, supplemented with primary documents and other appropriate reference materials.
 

Every Inly Middle School student takes Spanish. The Spanish program is designed to enable students to speak and write their basic thoughts and questions in a second language. The curriculum utilizes a combination of speaking, writing, and activities that are often based on music, art or Total Physical Response. Students learn to express themselves in a second language environment that promotes confidence and creativity.

Middle School Focus:

• Creative writing and speaking
• Vocabulary
• Reading activities
• Interactive games
• Journals

The curriculum is integrated, interactive and, whenever possible, experiential. Experiences like running a business, open ocean rowing, and internships provide the context for students to apply their academic and social learning in authentic and memorable ways.

Middle School Committees
There are four active committees at Inly middle school that students participate in and operate throughout the year. Any money raised through activities associated with these efforts is used to fund community service, experiential learning, and an eighth grade class gift.

Pizza Business
Students in middle school operate a pizza business serving the Inly school community. This business is integrated into the math and life skills curricula as students learn about taking orders and making change as well as the accounting, inventory, budgeting, and management skills required to operate a successful business.

Events Planning
Students in this committee take the lead in planning the middle school events that happen throughout the year. These events include, among others, the 9/11 remembrance, the haunted house, the variety show, and the coffee houses. Members of this committee work on expanding creativity, graphic design, time management, leadership and managing group dynamics in a work process.

Green Committee
Students in this work group take the lead in creating and running environmental activities such as school-wide recycling, the design and care of an organic garden, and the creation of an environmental learning program that can be shared with students and parents in the broader Inly School community.

Communications Committee
The communications committee is tasked with creating and coordinating various forms of intra-school communication including articles, event advertisements, photo slide shows and movies. In addition, this committee creates and maintains a middle school database to manage the active learning business fund.

Experiential Learning, Off-Site

Fixed Seat/Open Water Rowing Program, Hull Lifesaving Museum

The Hull Lifesaving Museum, the museum of Boston Harbor Heritage, preserves the region's lifesaving tradition and maritime culture through collections, exhibits, experiential and interpretive education, research and service to others. The museum’s open water rowing programs in Boston Harbor educate young people about themselves while developing a constituency that takes stewardship for its maritime history. The deeds, traditions, and ethics of nineteenth century coastal lifesavers—skills, courage, and caring—are the foundation of the museum's exhibits and programs, and its underlying commitment to working to impact society, and individual lives, for the better.

Rowing/Camping, Hull Lifesaving Museum

Each year, the fall trip is a rowing/camping trip on one of the Boston Harbor Islands, facilitated by the Hull Lifesaving Museum. This year, we will be camping on Peddocks Island. From there, weather permitting, we will row to and explore surrounding islands.

Internships/Project Weeks

All eighth grade students have the opportunity to experience two internships during the year. Traditionally, internships last at least 25 hours during a four to five day period. The first internship week is in October, and the second internship week is scheduled in April.

During the fall internship week, seventh grade students stay on campus and participate in project week. This gives seventh grade students the opportunity to explore different potential interests, while at the same time allowing them to learn more about the process of writing a resume and cover letter and securing an internship for the spring internship week.

Youth Visits the United Nations (YVUN)

This will be the third year that Inly middle school students have attended the YVUN conference held in New York City. This year, ten of our eighth grade students will join with other YVUN participants from Montessori schools throughout the country to learn how the United Nations operates through its principal organs and agencies. YVUN participants meet with UN and other international leaders to experience and discuss the work of the United Nations, and to learn what they can do to become better-informed and more productive global citizens.

Montessori Model United Nations

The MMUN program is a three-day simulation program in which student delegates represent selected member nations of the United Nations and participate in writing, presenting and debating original resolutions that deal with current world problems, issues, and political situations at the United Nations in New York City. Student delegates also participate in global education, social action programs and serve as mentors of the program.

While high school and university students worldwide participate in the Model United Nations Program, the Montessori Model United Nations Program was launched in 2007 for upper elementary and middle school Montessori students. Since it is the sensitive period for reason, justice and morality, it made sense to us to offer the Model UN to this younger aged student. Fifty-five Montessori schools from the US, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with 400 student delegations participated in 2007.

Swedish Exchange with The Alvkullen School

For the past four years we have communicated with a Montessori middle school in Gothesburg, Sweden, The Alvkullen School. To date, we have had five visits from Alvkullen students and/or teachers, and this will be the second year that_______

Dr. Montessori recognized adolescence to be an age of great social development, an age of critical thinking and re-evaluation, and a period of self-concern and self-assessment. Personal reflection, goal setting, and journaling are integral parts of our life skills curriculum.

The Inly life skills curriculum follows a two-year rotation. This year, to integrate with our discussions of American history, we will explore as our central theme the rights and responsibilities of an individual in a society. We will be reading the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey and doing group and individual work in the accompanying workbook on a regular basis throughout the year.

Our exploration of the individual’s relationship to society will also be further explored as the students construct and run their class government, create and assign classroom responsibilities, manage the middle school pizza business, volunteer time outside of the school day in the active learning business fund, and assume leadership roles within the broader Inly School community.

The Inly visual arts program seeks to foster creativity, problem solving, and self-expression as it relates to each child's level of development from toddler to middle school. Art lessons use a variety of auditory, kinesthetic, and visual components. Students are encouraged to experience the art process as each concept is presented utilizing a variety of 2-D and 3-D materials to help them truly absorb and understand the lesson's objectives. Lessons include drawing, painting, sculpture, collage making, and print making.

Students will recognize and understand concepts of line/shape/form:
• how a connection of point becomes a line,
• how a 2-D shape becomes a 3-D shape-as in sculpture,
• how a closed line of points becomes a line-showing movement, edges, and
• expressing feelings.

Students will recognize and understand concepts of color:
• color terms and definitions: hue, value, shade, chroma, primary, secondary, and intermediate colors,
• monochromatic/complementary colors, and
• color wheel: the colors and sequences.

Students will recognize and understand concepts of texture:
• surface variations-implied or actual markings,
• sense varying texture by touch and sight,
• describe textures with words, and
• create a variety of textures.

Students will recognize and understand basic patterns of organization:
• repetition/pattern,
• sequence, and
• universal basic structures: radial, spiral, dendritic/branching, orbital, gradient, mosaic, modular chain, grid, waves closure, symmetry, and rhythm.

Students will recognize whole-to-part relationships:
• process of reduction of whole to parts,
• process of construction of parts to a whole,
• grouping by similarities and differences, and
• spatial awareness-positive and negative space.

Students will recognize and understand the processes of change:
• sequential process,
• abstraction,
• relationships between objects and symbols before and after change occurs,
• transformation, and
• cycles of nature and time.
 

The music curriculum combines individual and group work with work designed to appeal to a variety of learning styles. This directly relates to our philosophy of enhancing the Montessori philosophy with other innovative methods. The music curriculum also offers significant opportunities to build community through our numerous performances, field trips, and assemblies.

• Continued use of all rhythmic combinations and the use of polyrhythms
• Focus on performance and analysis of popular music
• Study of the role of music in students' lives
• Examination of theater and film scores

The ultimate goal of the Inly movement arts program is to assist all children along the path to lifetime physical fitness, which aligns with our holistic mission. The benefits of this journey are many: health, longevity, positive body image, improved overall self-esteem, and increased energy and concentration in all areas. All students from toddler to middle school participate regularly in movement arts classes and activities.

Movement arts at Inly embraces the philosophy of the school as a whole. The program, at each level, is responsive to the needs and interests of the children, and the ultimate goal is the joyful discovery of movement and its benefits, both physical and psychological.

Inly movement arts seeks to benefit ALL children, not just those with particular interest or talent in this area. Volumes have been written about the connection between body image and overall self-esteem, as well as the dangers of introducing children to competitive sports at an early age. Care is taken to keep the emphasis on fitness and fun, as opposed to individual superiority of skills.

Middle School
• Strength conditioning, increased endurance and flexibility
• Relaxation techniques and stress management through movement
• In-depth movement analysis
• Creative self-expression and positive self-image through dance and movement appreciation
• Advanced movement and manipulative skills through games and sports activities

All Inly sports curriculum units include stretching, running, basic movements, and games. Students participate in skill building games focusing on developing team building, learning individual strengths and areas for development, self-discipline, coordination, balance, endurance, sportsmanship, overall fitness and skill building for specific sports.

Students are introduced to a variety of games and exercise, throwing and catching, relay races, obstacle courses, and drills. They also learn the fundamentals of soccer, basketball, baseball, and flag football building to the ability to scrimmage and play short games.

The Library and Technology curriculum for Middle School continues to build on skills developed in Upper Elementary, especially as they relate to interpretation of material and evaluation of sources.

Emphasis on planning and process:

• Task definition
• Information seeking strategies
• Location and access
• Use of information
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

Exit standards:

• Advanced use of software tools through regular use: word processing, drawing, presentation, database, spreadsheet, digital image manipulation, and mixed media
• Students will work with the director of technology with the goal of each graduating student having an electronic portfolio of their work on disc.