Grade Six through Grade Eight
Holy Family Middle School is housed in a separate building to best address the unique character of the students in grades six through eight. To foster responsibility and personal growth, the students are assigned individual lockers, follow a departmentalized schedule, and assume the leadership roles for the school. To facilitate a sense of community, middle school students share the cafeteria and some instructional areas with the kindergarten through grade five students.
Religion
Middle school students journey toward a deeper understanding of their faith and traditions in an interactive way. The classroom extends into the larger community as the students participate in a wide range of service projects. They grow to further recognize and develop their call to reach out to all of God’s children. Sixth graders study Hebrew Scriptures as the roots of their faith. The theme for seventh grade includes a study of the life, values, and teachings of Jesus, and stresses the incorporation of these into their daily lives as Christians. Eighth grade students are instructed in the church’s history. Character, morality, and social issues are discussed in order for the students to realize their role as Christians living in today’s world.
Language Arts
Language Arts is taught in a block format for students in grades six through eight. Under the umbrella of Language Arts and in conjunction with the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards, all components of literacy are addressed. Assessment and instructional strategies are geared for a heterogeneous grouping of students, and respect for the needs of all individuals is encouraged literature based textbook and a writing and grammar text are used in the middle school. Additionally, trade books and literary magazines complement the curriculum and add variety to instruction. Daily journal writing assists the students in making vital connections between the printed word and their own life experiences. To further engage and motivate the students, WordMasters Challenge, a vocabulary based contest using analogies to test student mastery of words, is administered to grades seven and eight, and opportunities to participate in essay writing contests are provided.
Science
The middle school science curriculum is based on New Jersey, national and diocesan standards. Each grade level addresses the fundamental understanding of life, earth, physical, and environmental sciences. The students are exposed to a variety of hands-on lab based skills with a heavy emphasis on their critical thinking and writing abilities. Lectures and long-term research assignments are also included. Computer technology and guest speakers further enhance the student’s learning experience and understanding of the different concepts. An assortment of analytical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making skills are integrated into the text materials to broaden the student’s knowledge.
Social Studies
The sixth grade social studies program focuses on ancient world history while the seventh and eighth grades focus on the study of American history. Working closely with the curriculum, the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades are also involved with discussing current and world events, exploring the themes of geography, reviewing “Today in History”, analyzing political and editorial cartoons, and participating in the Asbury Park Press Student Voice Contest.. Students are assigned term projects that require various skills, i.e. research papers, oral reports, reenactments, role-playing, Power Point presentations, artwork, and music.
Math
The sixth grade math course is designed to make students skillful, confident problem solvers who can work with numbers and operations with proficiency and ease. Such positive math experiences will help students achieve an understanding of math’s relatedness and thus acquire a math sense that will assist them as they encounter real world math challenges throughout their lives. The seventh grade and eighth grade courses are designed to help students achieve success by using step-by-step examples that will make even the most difficult math concepts and methods easier to understand. The number and variety of problems, ranging from basic to challenging, will give the students the practice they will need to develop their math skills. In both the pre-algebra and algebra courses, the students are given a strong foundation in algebra while preparing them for the future study of geometry, probability, and data analysis. Again, difficult concepts and methods are made understandable by providing systematic examples. Lessons incorporate a wide variety of exercises ranging from basic problems to develop and practice skills to challenging exercises that involve logical reasoning and problem solving.
Technology
The technology program for grades six through eight covers a wide range of skills, topics, and experiences. Students use a variety of programs, such as Microsoft Word, Power Point, and Excel, to complete tasks. Computers are used to create spreadsheets, graphs, Word documents, and presentations. In addition, the Internet plays an important role through which the students can research and obtain information about various topics. The middle school students use the technology lab to complete individual research projects that help to incorporate word processing, spreadsheets, graphs, and the many resources the lab has to offer.