MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS

English/Language Arts at Holy Nativity is a pre-AP curriculum. We use SpringBoard, the pre-AP program developed by The College Board for 6th, 7th and 8th grade English/Language Arts students. SpringBoard provides academic rigor and is a fully integrated Language Arts curriculum. Using these units of study, our students are taught the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in high school AP courses.

We supplement SpringBoard with additional vocabulary and grammar materials, as well as added novel studies. Novel selections, for example a book club unit on Holocaust fiction and nonfiction, are sometimes part of interdisciplinary units, complimenting social studies in preparation for our 8th graders visit to Washington DC’s Holocaust Museum. Our students also write for audiences outside of the school, often entering writing competitions when available. Our 8th graders entered the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Forgotten Patriot Essay Contest--which was required to be written entirely during class-- and were awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the contest.

English/ Language Arts also supports, by supplying books and conducting book talks, a daily 15 minute silent reading time across all of the middle school classrooms, scheduled immediately after lunch. Our silent reading, now in the third year, has happily exceeded all expectations in its popularity with the students.