Middle School | Grades 6-8 - Princeton Friends School

Curriculum Pre-K & Kindergarten Elementary | Grades 1 & 2 Elementary | Grades 3-5 Learning Support Program Beyond PFS

A PFS middle school education is stimulating and exciting, challenging and rigorous, yet also responsive in pace and assessment to individuals’ different learning needs and styles. PFS middle school students are immersed in language’s structure and conversational music; challenged on many levels to think out problems and interpretations on multiple levels and from many angles, whether in math, Problem of the Week, science, Central Study, or literature; and personally and individually invited to explore as deeply and broadly as each is able, through conversation with teachers, formal research, projects, experimentation, and independent study. Assessments of students’ work and performance, while present throughout the school, become increasingly visible as students gradually develop a deep and independent sense of themselves as learners. As oldest students in a thoroughly mixed-age environment, 6th through 8th graders are offered opportunities to be older partners of youngest children, to be class leaders and role models in every aspect of school life, to sit as Head of Meeting at Settling In, and to design and run activities for the whole school community, such as our Halloween festivities and Lunar New Year celebration.

Beyond the leadership opportunities offered to the entire group of 6th through 8th graders, we recognize that the 8th grade experience represents an important transition between Princeton Friends School and whatever high school a student chooses to attend. In light of this, a number of academic and extracurricular activities are scheduled into the 8th grader’s calendar year. Eighth graders spend the second half of the fall term preparing annotated portfolios of their work, including samples of their writing in various genres, reproductions of pieces of their art, and examples of their work in math, science, Central Study, and world language. These portfolios, designed to be shown at independent school admissions interviews, represent a wonderful culmination of students’ Princeton Friends School career, whether or not they are applying to independent high schools. These portfolios are showcased at an evening reception for parents and faculty in early December. Finally, 8th graders spend the final weeks of the school year preparing their departing remarks for their Moving On celebration in early June. Year after year, the entire community gathers on a Saturday afternoon to hear the individual voices of our graduating students as they reflect on who they have become and what they will take with them as a result of their Princeton Friends School education.

With this broad reach of social and intellectual paths for exploration and self-discovery, students make themselves ready to become successful high school students, leaders, and community members in a gentle, yet inspiring, way.

Beyond PFS

CORE CURRICULUM

MATHEMATICS

Daily math classes at PFS are lively and supportive communities in which students work collaboratively with one another to further everyone’s confidence and the development of critical computational, cognitive, and communication skills. The mathematics curriculum at Princeton Friends School aims to give students an appreciation for the beauty, history, and value of mathematics. Within the course of a Princeton Friends School education, students learn numeration, operations, geometry, measurement, statistics, algebra, and applications, as they gain the ability to use each method with mastery and insight. Mathematics instruction is differentiated. Teachers not only deliver whole-group instruction on basic concepts and skills, but also draw from many resources to provide students with open-ended assignments that provide challenges at many levels simultaneously. In the higher grades, manipulatives and our Problem of the Week program supplement standard texts such as Scott Foresman/Addison Wesley’s, McGraw-Hill’s Mathematics, and the University of Chicago’s Algebra and Advanced Algebra. Geometry and Algebra II are occasionally offered for those students whose math skills have carried them along at a faster pace in their earlier years.

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Language in all of its manifestations lies at the heart of the Princeton Friends School curriculum. Throughout every day at school and across the grade levels, reading, writing, listening, and speaking are fully integrated across the subject areas and woven into every child’s daily activity. Most important, across the language arts curriculum, individual voice is honored as students are offered choice in their independent reading and literature selections, in the topics and genres they pursue in writing workshop, and in the stories they choose to learn during Storytelling Week. It is this voice that Princeton Friends School students carry with them as they journey out into the world.

WRITING

Students participate in writing workshop three or four times per week. Here they are introduced to all aspects of the writing process, from generating topics of personal relevance and organizing their ideas through various pre-writing exercises, to working a piece through multiple revisions to a final edited and “published” copy. A critical tool for third through eighth graders is the writer’s notebook, a journal in which students collect reflections, impressions, and images from their own lives, respond to prompts issued by teachers, cull and develop seed ideas that emerge from their free writing, and develop material for more structured writing projects. Teacher-directed mini lessons at the beginning of each class introduce students to the writing process and the craft of writing itself, including strategies for identifying and brainstorming a topic, steps in the process of carrying a piece through several drafts, techniques for peer conferences, and elements of effective writing. At the conclusion of each writing assignment, students present their work in a variety of ways, including reading it aloud to an intimate or all-school audience, publishing and archiving it both digitally and in hard copy, and – if they are so inclined – sending it out into the world for broader review or competition.

CENTRAL STUDY

Central Study is the changing interdisciplinary theme that unites the PFS curriculum each year. This theme lies at the heart of our academic program, and is introduced in age-appropriate ways to every student in PreK through 8th grade. Chosen by the faculty each year, the theme aims to present the world to students through a particular lens, so that geography, history, science, literature, art, math, music classes and more become an integrated picture of human experience.

SOCIAL STUDIES

In addition to their work in Central Study, 6th through 8th graders participate in one class per week that, regardless of the year’s theme, focuses on U.S. history and current events. Over the course of three years, students gain a familiarity with basic United States geography, history, and government.

SIXTH AND SEVENTH GRADE SCIENCE

Our Princeton Friends School science program puts a world of scientific inquiry, discovery, and delight into lessons that are relevant – and inspiring! In the 3rd through 8th grades, students meet three periods per week for science – two of those periods scheduled back-to-back to allow for extended laboratory experiences. In general, lab periods involve an activity, model, or experiment to engage students in the “doing” of science, while the third class involves more content-oriented instruction designed to illuminate the topic currently under investigation.

EIGHTH GRADE SCIENCE

Our Princeton Friends School science program puts a world of scientific inquiry, discovery, and delight into lessons that are relevant – and inspiring! In the 3rd through 8th grades, students meet three periods per week for science – two of those periods scheduled back-to-back to allow for extended laboratory experiences. In general, lab periods involve an activity, model, or experiment to engage students in the “doing” of science, while the third class involves more content-oriented instruction designed to illuminate the topic currently under investigation.

WORLD LANGUAGES

Princeton Friends School is committed to educating its students for global citizenship, and world language study is integral to that mission. Studying the language and culture of other countries gives PFS students a broad understanding, appreciation, and acceptance of the world and of the differences that exist among peoples and nations. Early exposure to world languages, combined with ongoing and explicit opportunities for students to experience the rich ethnic and cultural diversity of our immediate school community, encourages them to engage with the world in powerful ways. Since the early years of our school, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish have been the two languages offered, starting in pre-kindergarten.

SPECIALS

MUSIC

Vocal music is woven deeply into the fabric of life at Princeton Friends School. On Friday mornings and at all major school events, we use music to bring the community together, drawing our many individual voices into one voice. The songs that provide a sense of continuity and connectedness within our community tell stories, integrate with our Central Study or history units, engage our sense of humor, and carry enduring messages that connect with the school’s Quaker underpinnings.

VISUAL ARTS

Deep engagement with the visual arts is a critically important aspect of the Princeton Friends School experience. Including studio art for all grades, graphic design for 7th and 8th grade students, and a variety of arts elective classes offered for 3rd-8th grades, the PFS art program engages students’ natural curiosity and imagination, offering time, space, and resources for individual exploration.

PROBLEM OF THE WEEK

Problem of the Week (POW) problems are fun to do, and each one illustrates an important concept in math or an important moment in math history. Pascal's Triangle is a typical example, as it begins with just adding whole numbers, and its repetitive nature and rapid growth often fascinate younger students. Yet this same problem offers older students an opportunity to work on binomial coefficients, combinations, and advanced topics in number theory.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

At Princeton Friends School, we believe in play of all kinds. In the Beginning School through 2nd grade, children spend a great deal of time outdoors at the playground, on the swing set, and in the woods. Through unstructured playtime, supervised and guided by their teachers, they develop skills in running, climbing, swinging, and ball play.

TAKING CARE

As critical as Princeton Friends School’s academic program is in preparing our students for success in their lives, even more important is the school’s commitment to instilling in children a strong and positive sense of who they are as individuals and social beings. The Taking Care program encompasses four intertwining threads: Knowing Oneself, Knowing One Another, Care of Oneself, and Care of Others.

VISUAL LITERACY

During their 7th and 8th grade years at PFS, students receive an introduction and solid grounding in the theory and practice of visual literacy.

The point is not merely to challenge students - after all, harder is not necessarily better - but to invite them to think deeply about issues that matter and help them understand ideas from the inside out."
-Alfie Kohn,
"Progressive Education:
Why It's Hard to Beat
but Also Hard to Find"