North Bethesda Middle School Course & Registration Information 2015 — 2016

Advanced English 6

The English curriculum features four thematically based units: Foundations, Adventures, Challenges and Barriers, and Artistic Choices. Each of the four units involves the study of language and literature in the context of change and possibility. This focus resembles the experience of 6^th graders who, newly arrived in middle school, find themselves in an environment defined by change. English 6 integrates all the processes and contents of the English/language arts. Students will continue to develop collateral language skills in writing, reading, listening, and speaking. The focus in writing highlights skills in the narrative, persuasive, informative, and procedural forms. Grammar and vocabulary will be taught and reinforced throughout the year. Grammar instruction will include the parts of speech, types of sentences, simple and compound sentences, subject/verb agreement, and pronoun agreement. Independent reading and analysis are essential lifetime skills; they are integrated as a part of the year-round program in which all 6^th grade students participate.
Digital Literacy 1 (6^th grade reading course)

The Digital Literacy 1 curriculum focuses on developing critical and creative thinking through reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing in a 21^st Century approach. Working through a problem-based process, students learn to define real world problems of interest, research the causes of those problems using real-time global texts and then create solutions to address the problems. Students will advance their understanding of comprehension, analysis and evaluation of text as well as vocabulary acquisition through reading complex informational and argumentative texts in a technology-rich medium. Students will collaborate regularly both through the research and the solution phases of their investigations. Students’ curiosity and motivation will engage the students in their investigations while learning and refining the processes that will enrich all other courses and prepare them for college and career projects.

Advanced English 7

The 7^th grade English curriculum features four thematically based units within the overarching theme of Forging New Connections: Identity, A Sense of Place, Perspectives and Expressions, and Imagination. Each unit is anchored by common tasks and novels selected to develop critical thinking skills and effective communication skills. Students will continue to develop language skills in writing, reading, listening, and speaking. The focus in writing highlights skills in the narrative, persuasive, informative and expressive forms. Grammar and vocabulary will be taught and reinforced throughout the year. Grammar instruction will include the parts of speech, subject/verb agreement, sentence structure, and pronoun agreement. Independent reading and analysis are essential lifetime skills; they are integrated as a part of the year-round program in which all 7^th grade students participate. In addition, students may earn a minimum of ten hours credit toward their student service learning graduation requirement.

Advanced English 8 Semester 1

Like its counterpart in ninth grade, this course puts writing at the center of teaching and learning. This course prepares students to communicate in a world that is changing so rapidly we may not even be able to imagine future means of communication. The course focuses on developing the skills students need to communicate effectively for a variety of purposes, audiences and media. The writing class is a workshop: Students write every day, keep a portfolio to track progress and set goals and explore ways to convey their own voice. They read as writers analyzing short texts, practicing the writers’ techniques and imitating the style and sentence structures of published authors. They study literature and language as an integral part of the writing and revision process. Students write to explore their own thinking, engage in reflection, and learn each day that they have control over improving their craft.

Advanced English 8 Semester 2
Semester 1 provides the transition between Semester 2 and Literature and Language 8. Just as students make choices in their own writing, they now consider more carefully the choices the authors make in the works they read. Students read short stories and narrative fiction to explore how authors shape their texts in deliberate ways to give life to their stories. This unit focuses on all the elements that go into crafting a good story – compelling characters, a well-chosen setting, complex relationships, colliding desires and ultimately, a resolution of conflict that allows the author to imply a truth about human nature or the human condition.

ESOL — English for Speakers of Other Languages

The ESOL middle school curriculum is designed to challenge students to think critically as they acquire and process the language of American English. The curriculum is designed to teach and reinforce the acquisition of all four-language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. The incorporation of both literary and expository text provides opportunities for extended language development with authentic materials. Teachers are expected to provide independent reading guidance to students for supplementary reading practice.
ESOL –Level 1 – 5 Curriculum

MCPS has adopted the Milestones program by Heinle-Cengage for all ESOL students. The content of this program is aligned with Maryland English Language Proficiency Standards as well as with key English Language Arts indicators. The curriculum has excellent cross-curricular connections. The program systematically develops academic vocabulary using the six-step vocabulary development program based on the work of educational theorist Robert Marzano. The program also provides opportunities for students to connect language to literacy as they apply their knowledge of both language skills and reading strategies when reading both literary and informational texts. The curriculum provides assessments that can be used to monitor both language acquisition and prepare students for the PARCC.

ESOL – Advanced Level 5 Curriculum

The standards-based ESOL curriculum (2008) is aligned with the Maryland State Department of Education Voluntary State Curriculum. This curriculum integrates Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and the four language skill areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing. The curriculum focuses on developing Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) for advanced ESOL students. The ESOL 5 curriculum emphasizes:

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  Reading and exposition
  
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  Academic vocabulary
  
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  Speaking to narrate, inform and persuade
  
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  Purposeful listening to speakers and presenters
  
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  Writing paragraphs and essays
  
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  Making inferences, drawing conclusions and evaluating text
  

ESOL 5 and its assessments serve as a system of monitoring both language acquisition and for purposes of preparing students for the PARCC.

Academic Language Course

The Academic Language (AL) course is designed to help beginning secondary English language learners be successful in academic content classes. The focus of the class is to develop the English language, academic vocabulary and critical thinking skills that are essential to learning content material. Students will develop vocabulary and learn language structures that pertain to a variety of academic topics in mathematics, science and social studies. Throughout the year, students will expand their academic language skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening through the content and skills in the subject areas of mathematics, science and social studies.

Mathematics
The goal of the Montgomery County Schools pre-K-12 mathematics program is for all students to achieve mathematical proficiency through mastery of mathematical skills, concepts, and processes. The end result is the ability to think and reason mathematically and use mathematics to solve problems in authentic context. The middle school mathematics curriculum is organized by course, not by grade level with the goal of preparing students for C2.0 Algebra 1 by grade eight.
Curriculum 2.0 Math 6

Course Description:

Curriculum 2.0 (C2.0) Math 6 extends students’ understanding of whole number and fraction concepts developed throughout the elementary grades. Instruction at this level will focus on four areas:

1) Connecting ratio and rate to whole number multiplication and division and using concepts of ratio and rate to solve problems

2) Completing understanding of division of fractions and extending the notion of number to the system of rational numbers, which includes negative numbers

3) Writing, interpreting and using expressions and equations

4) Developing understanding of statistical thinking.