At Menaul Middle School we educate students in Mind, Body, and Spirit. Middle School is an exciting time of transition in many ways, but it’s also a complicated one. Students need help navigating the many aspects of their passage from childhood into young adulthood. Our teachers embrace students’ strengths in order to create a safe space that models and reinforces respect, compassion, kindness, and other prosocial skills.
Menaul School has a holistic approach to education, where our students build a strong academic foundation as well as social-emotional skills. We want them to be good people as much as we want them to be good students.
Students Grow Academically Within a Culture of Kindness
At Menaul we foster our academic environment with the idea of high academic rigor and high support for our students. We want students to be pushed forward and challenged in academics. And we also want them to feel supported by the adults in their lives.
Low Teacher to Student Ratio
Menaul Middle School provides a school climate where students feel connected to their teachers and to one another. Menaul teachers know each student as individuals. Because of small class sizes and the encouragement to “be themselves but better”, students feel seen and are able to thrive.
Read About Middle School Learning Expeditions, Daily Exercise, and Learning Support
Menaul Middle School supplements classroom instruction with learning expeditions. Students investigate real-world topics across multiple subject areas. Learning Expeditions are immersive, week-long experiences that take students out of the “typical school day” structure. Students embark on a multi-disciplinary examination of a topic that includes service learning, field trips, and collaborative work.
Example Learning Expeditions:
- Mission to Mars
- If I Ran the Zoo
In November 2021, students embark on a learning expedition, titled simply: Nutrition. Topics include:
- Science and nutrition/ eating for your genetics
- Eating in color and playing with food
- Wellness
- Nutrition labels and science
The culminating project is to present a business concept and product as if on the entrepreneur show, Shark Tank.
Students are active at Menaul. At lunch, students run and play throughout our beautiful common area, whether playing football or kickball on the grass, playing on the basketball court or 4-square court. Running and playing is the perfect way for students to energize their brains. They attend afternoon classes refreshed and ready to learn.
All middle school students participate in PE at the end of the day. When students join a team sport, their practice takes place during the PE period. In a typical year, 99% of our middle school students participate in a team sport, with many taking part in multiple sports.
With small class sizes (15 or less), Menaul middle school students receive one-on-one attention during class time. Learning support is also built in to Learning Extension time midday, making it easy and non-stigmatizing for students to receive the one-on-one support time they need outside of regular class time. Students with IEPs or other diagnostic reports should provide these to the school. Once an appropriate plan is agreed upon, the faculty will implement the requested accommodations.
Each student has an advisor who tracks grades and makes sure students who need or want extra support know how to get it.
Specific interventions for dyslexia, ADHD, and other learning disorders, disabilities, and differences are provided by our liaison for Learning Support.
Take a Peek at Middle School Curriculum
Our sixth-grade core classes, Humanities and STEM, are taught in 90-minute blocks. This creates a softer introduction to middle school than most schools can offer. Student’s normally go from having 1 class in elementary school to having 7 in middle school. This is an overwhelming transition that the Menaul School avoids by having a Humanities Block and STEM block.
The 6th grade team creates an amazing learning experience for our new middle school students by creating connections within each subject area, this also gives students less transition time and over all less volume to manage.
Sixth grade students also receive ample support in our four different introduction classes! See below for details:
| Introduction to Band Participation in music is a wonderful way to encourage new development in exploration. In this class students are introduced to different instruments. Students choose an instrument to play second semester and participate in performances throughout the year! | Introduction to Religion In Introduction to Religion students are introduced to the Bible. Students read and discuss different passages and are encouraged to reflect on what resonates with them personally. | Introduction to Middle School A class where students learn the ins and outs of middle school. Students will learn study skills along with other social emotional skills that will be helpful when navigating middle school. |
Introduction to Technology
6th grade students learn how to use their iPad and navigate Canvas! Second semester, they are introduced to coding and robotics.
In seventh grade, Menaul School teachers focus heavily on study skills and growth mindset. This is a transition year in middle school where accountability matters a little more than it did in sixth grade. Teachers prepare students for 8th grade by holding them accountable, reinforcing study skills, and creating an environment that fosters critical thinking.
| Spanish 7 Introduction to Spanish will help our students acquire the fundamentals of pronunciation and grammar, practical vocabulary, useful phrases and the ability to understand, read, write and speak simple Spanish. | Religion 7 In 7th grade, students do a study of Ethics, and the theory of right and wrong. In this class students learn to think critically about ethical issues. |
In 8th grade, students should have mastered most of what it means to be a middle school student in both academic and leadership skills. Students should be able to think and work independently. We hope they leave Menaul Middle School with rigor and grit, to reason and work through complex assignments on their own. We lay a solid foundation for the love of learning through our curriculum.
| Religion 8 In 8th grade, students do a study of World Religion. Students take a look at the many world religions, their origins, and what roll they play in our modern world! | Spanish 8 Spanish 8 builds on the skills learned in 7th grade and focuses on conversational Spanish so students can converse and write short stories in Spanish! |
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