Middle School
Nurturing connection through creative academic explorations
the waldorf difference
Green Meadow’s middle school academic curriculum engages the budding capacities and immense curiosity of the young teenager. Through practical interdisciplinary experiences, age appropriate challenges, and meaningful social interactions, students thrive academically and emotionally.
Every day, students take part in immersive, explorative inquiry, broadening and deepening their understanding of the world while engaging their capacities to create, participate, listen, observe, and think practically.
our school community
A Place to Grow and Become
At Green Meadow, each child is recognized as a unique individual. Our teachers are there to provide warm and insightful guidance, and to discover and nurture each child’s potential.
Green Meadow cultivates a sense of community, offering students and families a safe place to grow and learn together, to work through challenges, and to foster essential social skills.
the experience
The Morning Lesson
Each day at Green Meadow begins with “morning lesson”, where an academic subject is studied intensively for three to four weeks. These morning lesson blocks will rotate over the course of the year. Studying a subject in blocks allows students the opportunity to gain a detailed understanding of the subject through a combination of college-style lecture, discussion, and hands-on work.
a unique private school
Middle School Curriculum
In Middle School, the curriculum broadens and deepens the progressive flow of knowledge, skills, and creativity begun in the earlier grades. As the learners mature, so does the nature of their work.
Challenging Academics
Coursework in middle school builds self-confidence and competence through independent projects. These final elementary grades emphasize knowledge of the modern world, its physical and social aspects. The demands of future study are in focus. Stepping up from eighth grade, students are more than ready to take on the challenges of high school. Middle school morning lessons include:
- Anatomy
- Physiology
- Physics of Light
- Astronomy
- Chemistry
- Geology
- Business Math
- Platonic Solids
- Perspective Drawing
- Revolutions
- Ancient Empires
- History of the Middle Ages: the Rise of Islam and Christianity
Language Arts
In Grades 6 – 8, students are writing research papers and essays. By 8th grade, they are discussing books such as The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass and A Tale of Two Cities.
Mathematics
In middle school, students become comfortable with the fundamental language of algebra before entering High School. Our holistic approach extends to the math curriculum in many ways as math helps explain the world around us, an our teachers keep this connection alive for our students. Math in the middle school includes:
- Fractions, decimals and percentages in practical situations
- Business Math
- Theorems
- Algebra
- Geometry
The Sciences
Formal studies in the sciences in middle school include:
- Astronomy
- Geology
- Human Physiology
- Human Anatomy
- Organic Chemistry
- Physics of heat, light, and sound
- Electricity and Magnetism
- Meteorology
Geography, Culture, and History
World history begins in 5th grade, when students learn about the Golden Age of Greece, the Persian Empire, and the meteoric rise of Alexander. These studies continue with the empire of Rome and its contemporaries in Africa and Asia, the Medieval period, the Renaissance and the Age of Exploration, and finally, in 8th grade, the Age of Revolutions and modern history.
The study of geography continues in 8th grade with the geography of Africa or Oceania, until students have studied all of the earth’s surface by the end of middle school.
A Well-Rounded Education
Students also develop strong, coordinated bodies and spatial awareness in movement classes like Games and Eurythmy. They learn to knit, crochet, felt, and sew in weekly Handwork classes. They will carve bowls, make wooden toys, and explore the medium of clay in middle school Practical Arts classes. All students sing and learn various instruments in Music and Orchestra classes, and also take up a string instrument beginning in 3rd grade orchestra. They may later branch out into any band or orchestral instrument in 5th grade.
Curricular Trips
Beginning in 3rd grade, each class goes on an overnight trip each year. They enjoy camping trips, where they canoe, hike, raft, stargaze, and use survival skills. Classes in the upper grades often take field trips to Boston; Washington, DC; and Philadelphia, focusing on the rich history of these cities. Teachers have the freedom to schedule trips that enrich the social fabric of the class, such as 8th and 1st graders ice skating together at Bear Mountain, or trips that deepen a class’s study of the curriculum, such as trips to observe and draw the Hudson River in a study of local geography. We are privileged to take advantage of our close proximity to New York City: classes can tour the New York Botanical Gardens, hear Gregorian chants at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, visit museums, and much more.
The Arts
Alongside this rich academic curriculum, the students draw, paint, memorize poetry, and perform plays. Each class performs a play every year, culminating with a full-length play in the 8th grade. Recent plays/musicals have included “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “West Side Story,” and “The Lion King”. By the time a student has reached 8th grade, they will have acted in many roles and helped with set design, lighting, and costuming.
Middle-school students are adept at playing their individual musical instruments. Orchestra, band, and chorus undertake more complex compositions and perform both at school and in other venues. In their artwork, painting includes both watercolors and other media.
World Languages
In addition to the creative learning taking place in the academic subject areas, subject classes, taught by a core of talented teachers, round out the curriculum. Students take classes in Spanish and German from 1st through 8th grades and continue their study in High School, where a majority also choose to go on an international exchange.
Technology
In technology, media literacy and responsibility, computer programing and coding begin the expanding use of digital equipment that continues through twelfth grade.
Beyond the Classroom
Ready to Join Our Community?
Green Meadow is transforming education, and we want your family to join us in our mission.
