Middle School

Trickster: Native American Tales; folktales from around the world; selections from Monkey King, The Thousand and One Nights; and The Odyssey; analytical and creative writing; a class play. 

Complex ancient societies: Egypt; the development of Judaism from Moses through Solomon; the rise and fall of the Persian Empire; Greek history through Alexander the Great; Indian history through the Mauryan Dynasty; Roman history through Augustus; Chinese history through the Han Dynasty. 

A continuation from Class V in the study of language and culture.

A collaboration with each English section to present a play dramatizing stories related to the VI English curriculum. 

Continued work on the basic skills of visual expression through projects relating to the mythology of the ancient and non-Western world. 

Studies in grammar and composition; public speaking; nature of language; introduction to philology through etymology and the relationship of English to other Indo-European languages. 

Transition from learning motor skills and movement concepts to learning sport-specific skills in increasingly complex game play and performance situations; continued focus on social-emotional learning as students are exposed to the demands of competition and higher expectations for decision making, collaboration and sportsmanship; dance and martial arts; monthly Red/White competitions.

Throughout the Middle School, lessons on nutrition, human sexuality, substance abuse prevention, safety and peer pressure are integrated into the advisory program. School counselors teach a stand-alone series of classes that follow age-appropriate national standards for health education. In addition, students have sessions with the organization Freedom from Chemical Dependency and take self-defense classes from Krav Maga trainers.

Review of fundamental operations with whole numbers, fractions and decimals; order of operations; negative numbers; ratios, rates and proportions; percentage, with practical applications; area and perimeter, volume and surface area; introduction to algebraic expressions and equations. 

Study of the structure, function and interdependence of the human body’s physiological systems; human health. 

Second part of a two-year sequence (see Class V); further practice in writing paragraphs, essays and creative pieces; researching and delivering an oral report; analyzing and reading complex texts. 

A continuation of program begun in Class V. 

Genre study including biographies, poetry and nonfiction; research skills integrated with history classes; instruction on and practice of media literacy skills through picture books. 

Mastery of Snap programming language through modeling exploration, trial-and-error problem-solving, generative and pixel art; design projects utilizing Glowforge laser cutters. 

Middle School Sports V-VIII is the introductory level of competitive sports at Brearley. Students have the opportunity to try different sports in a supportive, competitive environment. V/VI teams practice on Tuesdays and Fridays, 3:15-5:15 pm. VII/VIII teams practice on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3:15-5:30 pm.

Poetry, including by William Blake, Li-Young Lee, Quandra Prettyman and Elizabeth Bishop; grammar; Great Expectations; A Raisin in the Sun; formal introduction to poetic terms; analytical and creative writing.

World history from 200 through 1500 C. E., including the origins of Christianity and the fall of the Roman Empire; development of the Talmud and Rabbinical Judaism; the Byzantine Empire; the rise and spread of Islam in Asia to India and to sub-Saharan Africa on the Swahili Coast and in the Mali Empire; Hinduism and the spread of Buddhism to China; the Chinese Empire from Han to early Ming; China’s impact on Japan; the impacts of the Mongol conquests on Eurasia; the emergence of Europe from feudalism through the Renaissance.

Students continue with their modern language study. Class VII students who are new to the school or were in Language Practicum can start French.

Introduction to the language and culture through reading about daily life in a first-century Roman family combined with practice in declensions, conjugations and elementary grammar using the Suburani Latin series. 

Exploration of the elements of design through printmaking, focusing on complex pattern development inspired by diverse historical examples. Beginning this year and continuing through all subsequent Studio Art classes, students complete a self-guided museum assignment as part of the course’s requirements. 

Transition from learning motor skills and movement concepts to learning sport-specific skills in increasingly complex game play and performance situations; continued focus on social-emotional learning as students are exposed to the demands of competition and higher expectations for decision making, collaboration and sportsmanship; dance and martial arts; monthly Red/White competitions.

Throughout the Middle School, lessons on nutrition, human sexuality, substance abuse prevention, safety and peer pressure are integrated into the advisory program. School counselors teach a stand-alone series of classes that follow age-appropriate national standards for health education. In addition, students have sessions with the organization Freedom from Chemical Dependency and take self-defense classes from Krav Maga trainers.

As part of the School’s program to provide each student with appropriate individual support, from Class VI onward students are grouped into sections designed to support their learning. Students who benefit from direct guidance by the teacher to build skills and understanding are best served in a section called Principles, which provides more extensive scaffolding and greater opportunity for practice. Those whose skills are solid and who understand and apply new concepts readily are best served in a section called Extended, which explores the same mathematical content as the Principles class, but with increased abstraction and more complexity. Students in both sections have the opportunity to take Calculus in Class XII. 

Investigation of the nature of weather, climate change, forces, potential and kinetic energy, and Newton’s laws of motion, in the context of the laws of conservation of matter and energy. Specific topics in meteorology include heat energy, humidity, precipitation, air pressure, wind, air masses and fronts, and seasons. The course concludes with an exploration of motion and writing programs in the p5.js programming language to model the effect of multiple variables on the bounce of a ball.

For students who do not study a modern language and who benefit from further practice in the analysis of fiction and nonfiction texts, expository writing, and the research process. This is the first year of a two-year sequence. 

Music and Drama collaborate to produce an original work of musical theater in the spring term; the class also attends a dress rehearsal of the Metropolitan Opera. The study of music continues as it began in Class V, with the addition of percussion to the offerings in instrumental music.

Lessons on practical application of public speaking skills, including storytelling without filler language and presenting with confidence. 

Middle School Sports V-VIII is the introductory level of competitive sports at Brearley. Students have the opportunity to try different sports in a supportive, competitive environment. V/VI teams practice on Tuesdays and Fridays, 3:15-5:15 pm. VII/VIII teams practice on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3:15-5:30 pm.

Short stories by authors including Julia Alvarez, Toni Cade Bambara, James Baldwin, James Joyce and Edgar Allan Poe; grammar; Maud Martha; poetry; Twelfth Night; formal introduction to narrative structure; analytical and creative writing. 

Gglobal history from 1500 to the late nineteenth century. Topics focus on the emergence of globalization including the European conquest of the Americas; the Ottoman and Mughal Empires; Ming and Qing China; Tokugawa Japan; the American, French, Haitian and Latin American Revolutions; the Industrial Revolution; nineteenth-century European imperialism; and the Meiji Restoration in Japan. 

A continuation from Class VII in the study of language and culture.

Continued study of vocabulary and syntax—with attention to uses of the participle, indirect statement and subjunctive in subordinate clauses—using the Suburani Latin series. 

Drawing and work in color based on direct observation of the natural world. Techniques include drawing, painting, collage and mixed media. One museum study assignment is required.

Continuation of program begun in Class V, with the addition of one trimester of West African dance and spring electives designed by the students. 

Throughout the Middle School, lessons on nutrition, human sexuality, substance abuse prevention, safety and peer pressure are integrated into the advisory program. School counselors teach a stand-alone series of classes that follow age-appropriate national standards for health education. In addition, students have sessions with the organization Freedom from Chemical Dependency and take self-defense classes from Krav Maga trainers.

As part of the School’s program to provide each student with appropriate individual support, from Class VI onward students are grouped into sections designed to support their learning. Students who benefit from direct guidance by the teacher to build skills and understanding are best served in a section called Principles, which provides more extensive scaffolding and greater opportunity for practice. Those whose skills are solid and who understand and apply new concepts readily are best served in a section called Extended, which explores the same mathematical content as the Principles class, but with increased abstraction and more complexity. Students in both sections have the opportunity to take Calculus in Class XII. 

Second year of a two-year physical science program on matter, energy and the earth. Topics include an introduction to concepts of chemistry and geology and study of the conservation and sustainable use of the Earth’s resources. 

The second part of the sequence begun in Class VII; further practice in the analysis of texts, expository writing and the principles of effective research. 

Singing, solfège, theory fundamentals and group instrumental instruction in violin, viole, cello, woodwinds, horns and percussion. All students in Classes V–VIII have the opportunity to participate in extracurricular choral, jazz and orchestral ensembles, handbells and a recorder concert. Girls who study privately may perform in school-sponsored recitals.

Introduction to formal and extemporaneous skills of public speaking, culminating in the presentation of a two-minute speech. 

Middle School Sports V-VIII is the introductory level of competitive sports at Brearley. Students have the opportunity to try different sports in a supportive, competitive environment. V/VI teams practice on Tuesdays and Fridays, 3:15-5:15 pm. VII/VIII teams practice on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3:15-5:30 pm.