Sixth - Eighth Grade

Chapin's Humanities program integrates traditional English and Social Studies classes and revolves around each grade level's essential question. 

Essential Questions

6th Grade: How does culture impact individuals and societies?

7th Grade: In what ways is power gained, kept and resisted?

8th Grade: What does "all people are created equal" mean?

The Humanities program allows us to draw content from history, current events, civics, and culture and fuse it with the study of literature, close reading, annotation, grammar, vocabulary, and writing instruction. Our focus on discussion-based learning allows students to connect historical and social facts with the works of literature they read while building arguments to answer the essential questions

Chapin’s mathematics program is based on the premise that all students need to learn, master, and apply mathematical concepts. It recognizes that mathematics plays an important role in developing the ability to organize and analyze information; to think critically; to generalize and apply concepts; and to solve problems. Chapin’s mathematics program seeks to equip students with the skills necessary to meet personal ambitions and career goals in an ever-changing, information-based, and technologically rich global society. To that end, Chapin teaches both computation and concepts, by emphasizing their application in problem solving contexts.

Goals for Grades 6-8:

• Develop competent mathematicians and independent, problem solvers
• Introduce students to a variety of algorithms
• Provide students with opportunities to practice and master basic computational skills in real world contexts
• Integrate mathematics into other subject areas
• Encourage the development and utilization of analytical skills
• Encourage the progression from concrete concepts to an understanding of underlying abstract principles and properties
• Expose students to the integration and synthesis of divergent concepts
• Develop a conceptual understanding that encourages generalizations
• Encourage a variety of approaches and flexibility to problem solving
• Foster the ability to organize thought processes and formulate solutions to increasingly complex problems
• Foster metacognitive skills
• Foster the ability to communicate both orally and in written form thought processes and solutions
• Use subject specific vocabulary

In a world filled with scientific achievements and rapid technological developments, science and scientific thinking play a vital role in the lives of students. Students need to be fully aware of and skilled in science and its related fields in order to succeed in their further endeavors in education, careers, and everyday life. Additionally, scientific reasoning remains the backbone of critical thinking and analysis in many diverse areas of study besides science and applied science such as economics, sociology, and even in some forms of philosophy. A good science program should also create an interest and excitement in science itself leading to future contributions to the fields of science by some of the students. Finally, the study of science with its great scope should contribute to a student’s understanding of the diversity of all that exists and an appreciation of the balance and value of that diversity. To these ends, a program emphasizing scientific inquiry is at the core of the school’s science curriculum.

Goals for Science in Grades 6-8:

• Introduce the scientific method and experimental design while allowing students to effectively design and carry out investigations they design themselves
• Foster curiosity and inquiry, which help to facilitate the active engagement of students in the subject matter
• Stimulate an interest in and excitement about science, specifically the areas of earth science, life science, and physical science
• Expose students to technology and scientific equipment and to train them in the appropriate use of these
• Promote an awareness of new developments in science, technology, math, and other related fields

It is our philosophy that learning a world language can and should be an interesting and entertaining endeavor. Delving into the study of another language provides the learner with new insights into the people and customs of the countries in which the language is spoken. It also enables students to develop a clearer understanding of the English language. We believe that world language can be taught in a way that addresses a variety of learning styles, thus making the language learning experience accessible to all types of learners.

Goals for Spanish Students in Grade 6- 8

• Become critical thinkers and problem solvers with task-oriented Spanish lessons
• Collaborate in cooperative learning “teams”
• Become effective writers, speakers, and presenter in the language
• Creative investigators, researchers, and innovators on internet assignments
• Use language within and beyond the school setting
• Compare and appreciate the Spanish language and culture with the student’s native language
• Ask questions

Goals for Mandarin Students in Grade 6 - 8
Building upon the knowledge and skills gained in the preceding grades, Mandarin Grades 6 – 8 is a comprehensive, culminating three-year program. The goals found in the National Standards for World Language Learning provide a framework for course content, which is centered on the 5 C’s of world language education: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities.

• Understand and use the Chinese pronunciation and Chinese writing system
• Recognize and begin to write Chinese characters
• Describe and initiate useful expressions in Mandarin
• Gain cultural perspectives by using the Mandarin language and through experience with its products and practices