Middle School Program

(ages 11-14, grades 6-8)

The MSD Middle School is thoughtfully designed to meet the developmental needs of students in sixth, seventh and eighth grade. It is a continuum of the MSD school philosophy that is rooted in Montessori philosophy with an eye toward best practices. We foster intellectual curiosity through lessons that are relevant, diverse, authentic to real-world experience, and guided toward student ambitions and passions. Students’ social-emotional needs are also at the forefront of our program and are well cared for throughout the Middle School experience.

What makes our middle school so un-middle-school-ish?

It’s engaging and experiential. We have designed every facet of our curriculum to be challenging, collaborative, reflective, and student-centered.
It’s rigorous in all the right ways. Our strong, core academics are highly integrated with other subject matter areas including the arts and sports – keeping middle-school brains (and attention spans) fully engaged.
It’s so much bigger than just us. We put global education at the forefront and constantly find ways to inspire this age group to be prepared and excited about doing amazing things in the community and beyond.
We understand middle school students’ unique needs. Kids in these grades are full of enthusiasm and energy, and they’re also coping with a world of changes in themselves, their peers, and their studies. We put a smart, compassionate emphasis on social-emotional growth and help support these fantastic kids every step of the way. Click here to read more about “Social Emotional Support During the Middle School Years.”
The community is also our classroom. Our students take part in innovative projects, and real-life opportunities beyond our campus walls.
We are anything but “standard” but we absolutely exceed “standardized” requirements. Our middle school includes a dynamic, experiential, solid core curriculum benchmarked against state and independent Montessori school standards. We are committed to making sure our students master these standards and have the tools necessary for success in high school, college and beyond. We are constantly looking at the best schools nationally and locally to determine how we implement best practices in our middle school curriculum.

When you’re ready to speak to someone in Admissions and schedule a tour, be sure to fill out an Inquiry Form. We can’t wait to meet you!

MIDDLE SCHOOL CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

Dr. Montessori defined four stages of development and labeled them as the “Four Planes of Development,” noting that within these stages, the development is intense at the beginning, consolidates, and then tapers to the next. Middle School students are starting the “Third Plane of Development” that lasts from ages 12-18 years and is a plane of intense creation focused on the “Creation of the Social Self.” Other characteristics of this developmental period include:

Critical thinking and re-evaluation
Transition both physically and mentally
Beginning to try to find a place in this world
Construction of social and moral values
Solidified cultural development
Emotional independence – “I can stand on my own”
Self-concern and self-assessment

The MSD middle school curriculum is designed to meet the developmental needs of the adolescent, including physical, emotional, social, and cognitive needs and is benchmarked against state and independent school academic standards and the goal is valorization of the student, that is, helping the adolescent become a strong and capable person. This is accomplished when adolescents have appropriate responsibilities and expectations, are able to experience the joy that comes from successfully meeting challenges, and have the resilience that results from learning from poor decisions. The student outcome strived for is joy, selflessness, optimism, confidence, dignity, self-discipline, initiative, independence, helpfulness, good judgment, and ability to work with others.

Core Curriculum Areas

The curriculum in the middle school is organized around broad themes that are designed to serve as points of integration of the curriculum and based on Colorado State Standards. In some areas, notably history, science, and language arts, students will study the same content area, in multi-age groupings that rotates over a three-year cycle of study. However, the follow-up lessons and expectations will be appropriately designed to match the students’ developmental levels and provide opportunities for a student to pursue a personal interest through further research and investigation.

ADDITIONAL CURRICULUM

In addition to academic content areas, the Middle School curriculum includes:

Specials classes in Spanish, Physical Education, and Music & Theater. *Library Science skills are integrated with Language Arts in Middle School.
Occupations & Concentrations class offerings that are often student-driven and capture and speak to our kids’ interests such as: Urban Farm, Vertical Farm, Videography, Newsletter, Conversational Spanish, Poetry, Comic Book Creation, Robotics, Civics, Mythology, Home Economics, Mindfulness, and Ukulele Building.
Elective classes that may include: Micro-Economy, Production Crafts, Sustainability and Green Design, Climbing Wall, Ultimate Disk, Field Hockey, Art for Social Justice, Mural Painting, Ceramics, Songwriting and Music Production, Technical Theater and Set Design, Guitar, and Glee Club.
A weekly Socratic Seminar to seek a deeper understanding about the ideas in a text and to build skills in the areas of reading, listening, reflection, critical thinking, and discussion.
Two, weeklong “Intersessions” to provide an intensive, integrated themed experience, with service-learning/do-good and “hands on” components.
An emphasis is placed on the development of organizational and time management skills.
Overnight trips such as visiting Camp Cheley in Estes Park to participate in ropes courses, hiking, service work, and team building activities. An annual Eighth-grade trip to Boston, Massachusetts that is integrated with the History, Humanities, and Language Arts curriculum.
Do good initiatives on campus such as reading buddies, classroom and administrative assistants, Facilities and event helpers, as well as in the greater community such as making blankets for Project Linus, collecting and distributing items for homeless youth, and making lunches for The Gathering Place.
Eighth-grade Capstone Projects to prepare these students for high school and to demonstrate their mastery of the MSD mission and Middle School values at the conclusion of Eighth-grade.

“Our son is currently in 8th grade and has been at MSD since he was three… We will be forever grateful to the teachers and staff for their dedication and devotion to our son’s education and development… The middle school program has given our son an unparalleled foundation academically and socially to move forward to the next phase of his education and life’s journey.”

MIDDLE SCHOOLER

“My academic experience at MSD helped lay the foundation of information that I would be building upon for the next six years and beyond. I also really appreciated the hands-on learning style of MSD, which continues to be a strong method of learning for me.”

MSD ALUM

“My experience at MSD prepared me to think of new ways to solve problems, be mindful of our environmental problems and come up with solutions to these problems, how to do a project start to finish, how to look at problems at new and different angles, and how to think creatively. Also, it prepared me a lot in history/social studies, environmental sciences, and mathematics.”

MSD ALUM

“MSD instilled in me a kind of curiosity about the world, and to think creatively and globally.”

MSD ALUM