Our Program
Middle School
Middle School Art meets twice a week for all three grades. Students are exposed to two dimensional and three dimensional concepts through a wide range of projects in a broad variety of media. All projects are intended to be accessible to all students and challenging to the most capable. All students are encouraged to improve while also understanding that everyone is capable of making art. Additional art time is available through elective Fine Arts classes.
A Quaker school provides the perfect atmosphere for students to ask the big questions about life, and middle school is the perfect age for them to discover who they are and how they want to interact with the world. The Middle School English program is designed to foster critical thinking and reading, to help students develop as writers, and to lead them to greater self-awareness.
The Middle School Library collection is over 10,000 items strong, with materials selected to support the School’s curricula, as well as for individual enjoyment. Books (including e-Books), magazines, audio and video items comprise the collection. The School’s Digital Library allows students access to hundreds of newspaper, journal and magazine titles, as well as multimedia (audio, visual, photographic, etc.) resources, and gives students the ability to browse items in the collections of all three libraries on campus.
The Library’s Computer Lab contains equipment, hardware and software necessary for students to create a variety of media in support of the curricula. Digital still and video cameras, audio recording, video editing, graphics and photo manipulation software are all available. The Library staff works closely with the Technology Educator to provide an environment where students can explore a variety of creative means of expressing their ideas.
The Library is open to students before school, during morning break, at lunch, and after school. The Library Staff is available from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm to assist the community with resources, questions and reader’s advisory.
Problem solving is the basic skill in mathematics; it is more than knowing what to do and getting the right answer. Problem solving is being willing to tackle a problem even when the way to do it is unclear, persevering until one finds a reasonable solution. Therefore, the philosophy of the Middle School Mathematics Curriculum is to provide a systematic framework that teaches both the basic tools of mathematics and also the process by which to imaginatively apply these tools to solve real world problems.
The teaching techniques and materials used are designed to serve as a strong motivation to influence the students’ feelings for and success with mathematics. Computers and calculators are used throughout the Middle School curriculum. They are seen as tools to help in solving math problems. We use computers for exploring geometric shapes and designs, for developing statistical graphing skills, and for modeling information with vertex and edge networks. Calculators are used from 6th grade on, and they are considered necessary tools for everyday class work, just like a pencil.
Music is an integral part of the curriculum at Friends Middle School. Given our philosophy of educating the whole child and creating life-long learners, Middle School students take general music twice a week in all three grades, where they continue to work on singing, music literacy, focused listening, and critical thinking skills. The classes are active, and assessment is made in a variety of ways, keeping in mind the different strengths of the individual student. To further enhance their musical skills, all students have an opportunity to join the chorus, band and string orchestra. Most students choose to participate in at least one musical group. In-day rehearsals are an important part of the academic curriculum.
The Middle School Physical Education Curriculum is designed so that students are exposed to a wide variety of lessons that involve cooperative activities, lifetime fitness skills, team sports and Dance. By the end of each unit, students will have a general understanding of the various health and skill related fitness components, as well as learning cooperative skills through partner and group activities.
The middle school science department strives to inspire, excite, and motivate our students to be curious about the world around them. Our courses are designed to relate science to the real world so that students can see connections in their everyday lives. In science class, students are actively involved in laboratory explorations, such as investigating life with microscopes, discovering "explosive" characteristics of gases, and identifying global patterns of volcanoes and earthquakes.
The Middle School Social Studies Curriculum focuses on inter-cultural studies, world geography, and United States history. Research, writing, and verbal skills in the Social Sciences are refined over the three years. The unfolding goal is for students to appreciate the diversity of human interaction over time and space on our planet.
Study of a world language is an important component of a liberal education, providing avenues for self-expression and self-fulfillment. It is hoped that after three years in the Middle School, students appreciate the diversity of the world’s cultures and understand how different people live and communicate. The courses are designed to encourage rapid acquisition of the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) necessary for meaningful communication in both written and spoken French, Russian, or Spanish.
Friends School of Baltimore Since 1784 | 5114 North Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21210 | 410.649.3200
