Middle School (6th-8th Grade) Class Descriptions 26-27

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Intro to Government: With the help of stories, games, and hands-on activities, this one-semester course introduces students to the basics of the United States government and the presidency. Students will learn about the three branches of government, how laws are made, the importance of the Constitution, and more! The class will also explore key U.S. presidents and their impact on the nation. 

Geography:  hands-on class, students explore the world and our country through maps, learning key geographical terms and concepts. Through games, activities, map projects, they will identify countries, continents, landforms, and bodies of water, while discovering how geography shapes the world around us.

Middle School General Science (Grades 6–8) uses General Science 1: Survey of Earth and Sky by Master Books to introduce students to foundational scientific concepts from a biblical worldview. In this engaging, hands-on course, students explore Earth science, weather, oceanography, astronomy, environmental science, and introductory chemistry while developing essential lab skills and critical thinking abilities. Weekly class time focuses on interactive instruction, experiments, demonstrations, and guided discussion to reinforce at-home reading and review work. Students will practice scientific observation, data collection, notebook organization, and clear communication of results, building both confidence and competence in science. This course provides a strong, age-appropriate foundation that prepares students for more advanced middle and high school lab sciences.  Course fee of $230 includes lab materials

We will begin understanding deeper meanings of poems. They will begin to experiment with composition of different types of poems. They will learn about rhyming, meter, metaphors, and meaning. Memorization and recitation will be rewarded. Homework will involve composition and memorization.

Class Description: In this introductory course of American Sign Language  students will learn topics including basic vocabulary, grammar, history, fingerspelling, numbers, terminology, and Deaf culture. Students will have fingerspelling, vocabulary/sentence comprehension quizzes, culture quizzes, and unit tests. There is a minimum of two required Deaf culture events worth 25% of the student's grade. The culture aspect is not only needed to meet the transcript requirement, it is a key ingredient to learning a foreign language! Suggested homework time estimated at one hour per day. Taking time to watch videos and/or study all the links per lesson. In order to count foreign languages towards high school transcript it is best to be 9th-12. However, 8th can count on a transcript if a student continues in ASL for more than one year.

This will be a Bible study focusing particularly on godly manhood in its various roles and responsibilities. We will incorporate samples of other books on manhood as we study what the Bible teaches about leadership in the home, work place, church, and community. The Bible study will utilize teaching, readings, and discussion times with weekly outside reading assignments for homework. 

Using Not Consumed curriculum - this course will cover health in a classroom setting and active conditioning movement in a PE  or physical conditioning style setting.  

 Mandy is currently on staff with Attic Productions in Fincastle as a director and in the past has worked with Roanoke Children's Theater directing for them.

Description: Students will explore all aspects of theatre production ranging from the performers on stage, backstage crew, props, costumes, set design and the audience experience. Some classes will focus on the purpose of each component, exploring them in a practical way. The goal will be to have performances with one larger one culminating in an end of the year presentation that family and friends can attend. All props and costumes will be provided. Students are required to bring a notebook, pen, pencil and highlighter. There will be occasional, minimal, homework.

In this class explores storytelling through dance. A variety of styles will be explored including jazz, contemporary, rhythm and dance/drama to bring the stories of Broadway to life! All abilities welcome. This class focuses on dance only, not song. A short recital will be performed at the end of semester 2.