Middle School
Welcome to Shroder Middle School
Transitioning from elementary to middle school is a MAJOR time in every student's life. The Shroder Middle School Educational Team is dedicated to facilitating this growth process by providing effective instruction needed to help students develop critical thinking skills in a caring, supportive environment. Our philosophy is about educating the whole student, which in turn gives them the tools to ultimately become productive, successful citizens. We encourage you to read our manual, "Packin' Up — A Guide to Middle School Transition" with your students. This guide gives a clear understanding of academic and behavioral expectations, school policies, and procedures of the Shroder M.S. community.
Course Guide
Our High School Course Guide includes more details about the opportunities and resources available to our high school students. Students and their families are encouraged to use the High School Course Guide to plan their educational pathway. The guide includes course descriptions, information about early college credit and alternative credit programs, and more. Graduation requirements, grade reporting, report cards and other policies and procedures are also included in the guide.
Curriculum Map — Grade 7
Math: Pre-Algebra — Marsha Booker
This 7th grade course is designed to provide students with the necessary skills to be successful in Algebra. A major emphasis throughout the year is the application of proportional reasoning. Students will begin to acquire an algebraic and graphical understanding of functions. They will write, solve, and graph linear equations while modeling slopes as a rate of change. Students will also use functions as well as symbolic reasoning to represent and connect ideas in geometry, probability and elementary statistics. There is an expectation to clearly communicate and explain methods of problem solving and the interpretation of results both verbally and visually.
- Continue and extend fluency and knowledge of number systems including irrational numbers
- Apply proportional reasoning to ratios, unit rates, equations, and constant of proportionality
- Learn basic algebraic rules to manipulate and solve algebraic equations and inequalities
- Make predictions and estimate probabilities based on a experiments and data sets
- Investigate properties of geometric figures including similarity, area, and volume
- Analyze properties of shapes and develop formulas for distance and the Pythagorean Theorem
- Explore proportionality through the application of slope and solve systems of equations
- Investigate and apply the properties of powers, roots, and scientific notation.
Math Encore
English/Language Arts — Frank Hull
Quarter 1: Personal Challenges - How does adversity shape a person’s identity?
This unit introduces the year-long focus on “choices,” using a variety of genres to investigate this theme. Students will examine texts that present characters who, for personal or cultural reasons, have made choices about the way they live their lives. Students will analyze fiction and nonfiction texts and create and present original works that express the concept of choice; working toward a narrative writing piece answering the Culminating Question: How does adversity shape a person’s identity?
Quarter 2: Human Nature — One’s relationships and choices reflect development.
People choose to do something, buy something, or think a certain way for many reasons. Often, it’s because they have seen something in the media promoting it. In this unit, students will analyze a key text and related texts including print, visual, and film texts that are common in the media and advertising. Students will also investigate how advertising influences the lives of youth by critically reading and viewing informational text and film. Students will analyze the components of argumentation by reading argumentative essays, news articles, and speeches and then writing an argumentative piece answering the Culminating Question: How do one’s relationships and choices influence his or her development?
Quarter 3: Independence — When faced with adversity, some individuals are more successful than others.
How do the choices you make now shape your future self? In this unit, students will explore how decisions can have far-reaching consequences that determine their character, values, and contribution to society. Students will read a key text that focuses on a character’s realization of personal history and how that continues to affect relationships with friends, teammates, family, and school. Students will analyze the choices made by different literary characters and write an explanatory essay focused on the Culminating Question: What causes some individuals to become successful while others fail when faced with adversity?
Quarter 4: Responsibility — There is a correlation between personal independence and social responsibility.
In this unit, students explore a range of contemporary and classic poems, monologues, and dialogues to refine their understanding of how writers use language for effect. Students learn how to take their understanding of the written word and express meaning through vocal and visual delivery. Students will discover that writers make choices about their use of language based on their intended effect, just like a performer or presenter makes choices about oral and physical delivery. Students will practice reading and analyzing poetry as well as portraying various characters in group and individual performances. The unit will finish with a narrative writing piece focused on the Culminating Question: What is the relationship between personal independence and social responsibility?
Literacy for Life — Pam Wilder
Social Studies — Candace James
The seventh grade year is an integrated study of world history, beginning with ancient Greece and continuing through global exploration. All four social studies strands are used to illustrate how historic events are shaped by geographic, social, cultural, economic and political factors. Students develop their understanding of how ideas and events from the past have shaped the world today
- Unit 1: Introduction to Social Studies
- Unit 2: Greece and Rome
- Unit 3: Greece and Rome, Part II
- Unit 4: Feudalism and Transitions (Europe)
- Unit 5: Feudalism and Transitions (Asia)
- Unit 6: Islamic Civilization
- Unit 7: Renaissance
- Unit 8: Renaissance, Part II
- Unit 9: Reformation
- Unit 10: The First Global Age (Empires in Africa)
- Unit 11: The First Global Age (Trans-Saharan Slave Trade)
- Unit 12: Exploration Part I
- Unit 13: Exploration Part II
- Unit 14: The Columbian Exchange
Science — Stacey Morgenroth-Lapham
- Build deep understanding of content and apply learning through Project Based Learning.
- Craft responses based on evidence including: demonstrating understanding, and explaining, reasoning or justifying a position.
- Use appropriate technology in academic and real-world settings to describe and illustrate science concepts using models, simulations or other multimedia applications.
- Engage in inquiry-based processes to solve problems by creating solutions under real-world constraints through technology and engineering design.
- Participate in a cooperative learning project in an online learning community.
- Evaluate digital resources to determine the credibility of the author and publisher, as well as timeliness and accuracy of content.
- Unit 1: Lab safety and Science Inquiry and Application
- Unit 2: Cycles and Patterns of Earth and the Moon: The Hydrologic Cycle
- Unit 3: Cycles and Patterns of Earth and the Moon: The Sun and Thermal Energy Transfer
- Unit 4: Cycles and Patterns of Earth and the Moon: The Moon’s Effect on Earth Systems
- Unit 5: Cycles of Matter and Flow of Energy: Biomes and Their Processes
- Unit 6: Species and Reproduction: Diversity of Species
- Unit 7: Species and Reproduction: Reproduction and Genetic Transfers
GE Triple E Project
Student pairs experience the iterative engineering design process as they design, build, test and improve catching devices to prevent a "naked" egg from breaking when dropped from increasing heights. To support their design work, they learn about material properties, energy types and conservation of energy. Acting as engineering teams, during the activity and competition, they are responsible for design and construction planning within project constraints, including making engineering modifications for improvement. They carefully consider material choices to balance potentially competing requirements (such as impact-absorbing and low-cost) in the design of their prototypes. They also experience a real-world transfer of energy as the elevated egg's gravitational potential energy turns into kinetic energy as it falls and further dissipates into other forms upon impact.
Electives
Art, Band, Music Theory and Health