Grades 6-8
As students progress into the upper school (Grades 6-8), the skills learned in earlier grades build the foundation for higher level work—empowering our students to find their voice in both speech and writing, critical thinking and reasoning skills, and becoming engaged and respectful global citizens.
In addition to their core academic courses—English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies—students integrate art into their learning through our own art curriculum, as well as through outside partnerships with local organizations like Step into Art with the Harvard University Museums, drama with local director and playwright Jacqui Parker, and music with the Handel and Haydn Society. Likewise, the upper school curriculum is supplemented with robotics and project-based learning in the school’s makerspace.
Cross-grade Learning and Field Trips
Because learning takes place both inside the individual classrooms and across subjects and grades, students also take part in programs that bring together multiple grade levels to share their learning. Annually, students participate in field trips that supplement the classroom curriculum in multiple subjects and develop projects for community events like a whole school science fair, as well as an end-of-year Art Show and Talent Show.
Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) at Mother Caroline Academy comes in many forms, from the classroom and our after-school activities to events with families and the greater community. For example,
- In a multidisciplinary unit on the human body systems, students can be found diving deep into patient case studies to determine a possible cause of disease in a sick individual by studying MRI scans, vital signs, and symptoms in order to find a possible solution for the patient while working in groups.
- On a Saturday afternoon, members of the after-school STEAM program busily work in the art room to design a 9-hole miniature golf course from recycled materials for a school event honoring a longtime board member.
- A novel study includes supplemental reading and research into a current event in the world of science, technology, or public policy and forms the basis for a student debate.
