Mathematics

The 6^th grade curriculum covers a variety of topics including: number operations and relationships, measurement, probability and statistics, geometry, and algebraic relationships. The 7^th grade curriculum builds off of the 6^th grade curriculum and starts to put more of an emphasis on the pre-algebra concepts. The 8^th grade curriculum builds off of the 6^th and 7^th but has a strong focus on algebraic relationships.

All of the grade levels are working again this year on the Mission: Math Facts. Students work to meet the math fact goals set by K4 all the way through to their grade level. Our Mission: Math Facts board outside of the school office shows the progress of each student.

Religion

Religion CurriculumThe religion program at OLQP follows the Milwaukee Archdiocesan standards for education. The focus of 6th grade is the Old Testament, 7th grade is the New Testament, and 8th grade is Church history.

Science

Earth Science is covered during a student’s 5^th grade year at OLQP. 6^th and 7^thgrades tackle Physical Science. 6^th grade covers topics including matter, motion and forces, and work and machines. In 7^th grade, students continue with Physical Science, covering atoms, chemical interactions, electricity, waves, sound, and light. In 8^th grade, the students focus on Life Science. They learn about the characteristics of living things, cells, animals, plants, ecosystems, and the human body. All grades continue to work with the scientific method and further develop their observation and inquiry skill

Social Studies

Teacher: Mrs. Stacy Chesick (5th, 6th, 7th, & 8th Grade) The Social Studies curriculum emphasizes connecting past events with what’s going on in the world today. Grade 5 learns about Ancient Civilizations including Ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece. The fifth grade is also required to know the state capitals, the location of U.S states on a map as well as the oceans and continents.Grade 6 studies United States History up to the Civil War. In additions to knowing the state capitals, the location of U.S states on a map and oceans and continents the sixth grade has a state project due in the first semester.Grade 7 spends the first semester on economics focusing on being financially responsible producers and consumers. The remaining part of the year the class studies United States history from the Civil War to the present as well as the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen and the roles of the branches of the United States government. Some projects we focus on are current events, debating political issues, the Wisconsin Stock Market Game, and completing a number of short research projects on important historical events and people.Grade 8 studies World Geography (the first half of the year) using the five themes of geography and completes their time at OLQP reviewing economic concepts such as credit, filling out job applications, and balancing a check book. Throughout the year we focus on current events, debate different topics, and complete a number of research projects including a country project. Washington DC TripBoth the Seventh and Eighth Grade classes have the opportunity to go to Washington D.C in March. This is an every other year trip and the students have many occasions to raise the money needed through fundraisers. Both the students who go and the students who choose to stay in school are required to do a project on DC.Links for Current Students
The following links are from the students textbooks. They offer extra information on what the class is learning as well as games and practice quizzes.Sixth and Seventh grade Social Studies – PHSchool.com
Eighth grade Social Studies – geography.glencoe.com These additional links are for geography website focusing on maps and general information.Middle School Geography SitesQuizzes on different places in the world (includes U.S map quiz)
http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/

Language Arts & Literature

Teachers: Mrs. Monika Crawford – Grade 6Mrs. Stacy Chesick – Grade 7Miss Bobbi Radonski – Grade 8We teach reading and writing as a block (95 minutes) which allows us to be flexible in our teaching.We teach Literature by genre and require each class to read a number of novels. Our goal is to create life-long readers out of our students. Not only do they read the necessary text but they are also required to read 100 minutes a week on their own, complete a reading log and test on the books they read using the Accelerated Reading program. Each child’s required AR points are based on their Star Reading tests and past performance. Our literature program also involves vocabulary study and analysis of what they read. We model our reading classes using the Daily Five and Café ‘classroom systems by “The Sisters”, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser.Our Language Arts program follows the Step-up-to-Writing method (by Maureen E. Auman) as well as 6-traits plus 1. We focus on organization, mechanics, and the use of voice in all of our writing. The middle school students also keep a writing portfolio which is passed on to their next year’s teacher.

Below are the Archdiocesan Curriculum for the Middle School:

Grade 6

Grade 7

Grade 8