Middle school education is vastly important to setting students up for success when they matriculate to high school. Our curriculum is designed to help students critically think, organize and articulate their thoughts in class-wide discussions, confront and overcome academic challenges, and make connections in cross-content curriculum. Our curriculum is divided into core subjects and electives. Core subjects are modeled after the high school core curriculum, focusing on Humanities, Math, and Science.
Our humanities courses comprise a mixture of English Language Arts, history, and literature. Students will acquire and retain foundational grammar skills, including but not limited to proficiency in writing mechanics and punctuation usage through writing assignments. Additionally, students will learn to read primary and secondary sources, decipher political cartoons, and make inferences based on documentary evidence. Students will also encounter a variety of literature, in the form of plays, short stories, speeches, and excerpts from nonfiction works. Finally, students will learn and master specific reading comprehension skills, including but not limited to identifying main ideas, themes, and tone; deciphering unfamiliar vocabulary through context; understanding the function of word choice and writing styles; and making logical inferences.
To continuously push students to their excellence, all NYC STEM Club math courses are accelerated by one grade level. Our math courses are aligned to common core standards and focus on helping students solidify foundational math skills and concepts, but we also focus on higher-level math concepts through the use of competitive math questions and logic-based games to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
