Academic Life

Middle School Overview

Middle School is a time of transformation, when students make enormous cognitive leaps in their ability to focus and absorb rich and complex information as they also change physically. Many enter the Middle School as children and emerge four years later as full adolescents. Social interactions are also in flux, as students give up patterns of relationship that have dominated childhood and find new ways to relate to others and to the larger world.

The Middle School curriculum will maximize opportunities for flexibility, incorporating both project work and independent efforts. Fifth graders have come from a structured classroom environment but will learn over the next four years to work more independently, so they will be ready to undertake the independent work and sustained concentration awaiting them in Upper School.

Middle School learning studio

Core skills

The core skills of reading, writing and mathematics continue to be emphasized. Writing assignments will become longer and more complex. By the end of Middle School, students will be able to write intelligent, cogent essays with proper spelling and grammar. Mathematics instruction will build on the fundamentals learned earlier and culminate in the study of algebra. Students who progress in mathematics much faster than the norm will be allowed to advance to higher levels. Science classes will focus on understanding basic scientific principles in the fields of earth science, physics and biology, with a strong experimental basis.

History and Language

The formal study of history will grow in depth and complexity. While the topics change by grade, over the four years students will be exposed to topics in classical civilizations, world history and American history. The school’s comprehensive global studies focus, the World Course, will interact with the history program in the Middle School and complement the study of geography.

All students at Avenues are expected to attain fluency in a second language. Study in a second language, either Spanish or Mandarin, will continue in an enhanced manner throughout the Middle School. Summer travel options will also begin for Middle School students who want to experience a different continent.

Arts and physical education

Music, art and drama are important aesthetic pursuits in the Middle School. Ensemble instrumental and vocal groups will be available, and the school will make every effort to accommodate students who wish to pursue private instrumental lessons.

Middle School is a time of such physical growth and maturation that it is especially important to provide a menu of rich opportunities for physical activity. Competitive sports begin in the Middle School years. Augmenting Avenues’ own full-size gymnasium and exercise facilities, the exceptional athletic facilities at Chelsea Piers will provide Avenues a unique opportunity to offer students a vast array of healthy, challenging sports options.

Life Skills

In addition to the need for physical activity, Middle School students require other support structures as they navigate the maturation of their bodies and minds. Classroom time will be devoted to age-appropriate issues of health and development, encouraging students to make healthy choices and adopt healthy personal habits.

Middle School is also a time when students are forming on-going beliefs about how to live and work in a community. As students grow in the Middle School, they will be given greater freedom and expected to bear increasing responsibility. Students will be encouraged in the classroom and in advisor groups to respect and support their classmates and fellow students.

Middle School is a time of great change and expanding vision. Avenues endeavors to harness the energy of this period and channel it into productive paths for growth and maturation. The Avenues Middle School will do this in partnership with parents and expects to create a vibrant, welcoming learning community.