Middle School (5-8)
The Hightower Middle School Program: Leading with love for grades 5 through 8
The Middle School at Branch is a supportive but challenging place, where young people feel safe to try harder, take risks, and test ideas. Amid classmates and teachers who love learning and each other, students delve deeply into an exciting, engaging STEAM-focused curriculum. We were excited to move into our new Hightower Middle School building in the Fall of 2022. Students in grades 5 through 8 thrive in their own building equipped with labs, a library, and state-of-the-art technical resources.
The Branch approach sharpens our students’ academic expertise even as it helps them better understand themselves and all they can contribute to the world. We teach peacemaking so students on the cusp of young adulthood learn to manage themselves in times of conflict, leading to greater understanding and personal insight. The Branch private Middle School experience is further enhanced by hands-on discoveries and a sense of stewardship found in our award-winning Outdoor Classroom, a variety of service-learning opportunities that improve lives in our community, and daily recess that allows students to re-set, reflect, and connect.
Our students come from across Houston and around the world, bringing diverse and varied experiences that expand all our perspectives. Academic and leadership opportunities and expert high school admissions counseling prepares our students for Houston’s best high schools.
We invite you to explore the curricular offerings of each grade level.
Fifth Grade
Math
The Branch Middle School Math program teaches students to think critically, problem solve, and apply their understanding of mathematics. Students become confident in their abilities as mathematicians. In addition to daily mathematical study, students are given the opportunity to apply their understanding of the concepts they learn in class through individual and group projects.
The fifth grade Everyday Mathematics 4 units focus on the procedures, concepts, and applications in three critical areas. Those areas are:
- Developing addition and subtraction fluency with fractions, and understanding multiplication and division of fractions.
- Developing fluency with decimal operations, and extending division to 2-digit divisors, integrating decimals into the place-value system, and understanding operations with decimals to hundredths.
- Developing an understanding of volume.
Lessons in fifth grade address the following standards:
- Operations and Algebraic Thinking
- Write and interpret numerical expressions.
- Analyze patterns and relationships.
- Number Operations in Base Ten
- Understand the place value system.
- Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths.
- Number and Operations – Fractions
- Use equivalent fractions as a strategy to add and subtract fractions.
- Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to multiply and divide fractions.
- Measurement and Data
- Convert like measurement units within a given measurement system.
- Represent and interpret data.
- Geometric measurement: Understand concepts of volume and relate volume to multiplication and to addition.
- Geometry
- Graph points on the coordinate plane to solve real-world and mathematical problems.
Language Arts
Our Language Arts Curriculum, CKLA (Core Knowledge Language Arts). is grounded in the science of reading. For grades 3-5, it integrates foundational skills students have learned while continuing to build rich content knowledge. Students focus on analysis and expression in reading and writing, becoming conversationalists, learning and applying the conventions of English grammar, punctuation and spelling through explicit instruction, reading a rich variety of texts, maximizing vocabulary acquisition and continuing to build background knowledge for strong comprehension. Writing in Grades 3-5 focuses on Opinion Writing, Narrative Writing and Informative Writing. Students move fluidly between reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language activities, with increasing emphasis on individual and small-group interaction with complex text to prepare students for middle school and beyond.
Fifth grade units include:
Personal Narratives
Early American Civilization
Poetry
Adventures of Don Quixote
The Renaissance
The Reformation
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Native Americans
Chemical Matter
General Science
The Branch School is committed to providing a well-rounded education through STEAM and inquiry-based learning. By using the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the STEMscopes curriculum, students receive a strong foundation in science education. The NGSS standards emphasize a holistic understanding of science by integrating the three dimensions of disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. This approach allows students to not only learn facts and gather knowledge but also weave together the main ideas, explore the ways science is done, and make connections between the concepts and how they are applied to the real world. This combination develops skills in critical thinking and solving problems. By using STEMscopes, elementary teachers can effectively guide students through this process using the 5E model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) to allow students to construct their own meaning as they question, experiment, analyze, and evaluate their observations. By fostering a supportive and engaging learning environment, The Branch School is not only preparing students for academic success but also helping them become curious, adaptable, and lifelong learners.
The fifth grade curriculum at The Branch School is comprehensive and well-structured, covering a range of important scientific concepts while also integrating crosscutting concepts that enhance students' understanding of the material. Fifth grade students continue to develop ideas and skills that allow them to explain more complex phenomena as they progress to middle school. The Fifth Grade Storyline is organized into four bundles:
- Interactions in Matter
- Matter Is Everywhere
- Properties of Matter
- Changes to Matter
- Mixtures
- Matter and Energy Flow in an Ecosystem
- Energy Transfer
- Matter and Energy in Plants
- Food Webs
- Matter Cycles
- Ecosystems
- Human Impact on the Earth’s Systems
- Earth’s Systems Interactions
- Water Sources
- Reducing Human Footprint
- Observing Our Sky
- Earth’s Rotation
- Observing the Stars
- Objects in the Sky
- Gravity
Social Studies - U.S. History
Our Middle School students, as citizens of a culturally diverse and democratic society, will gain the knowledge to be active and engaged students in public life.
In fifth grade Social Studies, students get a broad overview of American History from the Lost Colony of Roanoke to present day events. Students work both independently and collaboratively through projects. Students also create an interactive timeline of historical events throughout American history which includes primary sources.
- This civic competence rests on democratic values and requires students to use knowledge about one’s community, nation and world.
- Student citizens learn the inquiry process and employ skills of data collection and analysis, collaboration, and problem solving.
- Student citizens take initiative in making informed and reasoned decisions to promote individual character, initiative and peace.
Additional Subjects
- Collaborative Integrated Problem Solving - Sequoia
- Design and Technology
- Physical Education and Health
- Service Learning
- Spanish
Collaborative Integrated Problem Solving - Sequoia
Working with peers, using technology and project-based learning are among the qualities students note as essential to engagement. The Sequoia Project, a yearlong project involving fifth through eighth graders, integrates the subjects of science, technology, math, social studies, and language arts, and uses the 21st century skills of collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving. Students not only collaborate with each other, but with their teachers, administration, and most of all, with experts in the field. Each year, students use a fictitious island, Sequoia, which they developed, to problem solve real-world issues, such as the discovery of oil and how it will affect their country, designing and building homes in their country during a water shortage, and researching the country’s past through the discovery artifacts in an archeological dig.
Design and Technology
Middle School students learn best when they are actively engaged with the content. Lessons that include technology applications, provide teachers with ways to motivate students into becoming active, real-world learners. Computer-based strategies help students develop higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills. Participation in real-life applications included in technology-rich teaching environments promotes the ability to draw analogies, infer relationships, predict outcomes, and analyze data. In the Middle School, each student has their own laptop which they use daily. All Middle School students also bring a tablet or have access to a school tablet for use during the school day.Each grade level has focused technology skill lessons each week in technology class. All classrooms are equipped with interactive Promethean Boards for both teacher and student use.
Physical Education and Health
Students acquire the knowledge and skills for movement that provide the foundation for enjoyment, continued social development and access to a physically active, healthy lifestyle.
- Students learn group games in which they develop behaviors which exemplify individual character and the sportsmanship to resolve conflicts with peers, including responsibility, best effort, cooperation, and compassion.
- Students actively participate in physical activities that address each component of health-related fitness including: strength, endurance and flexibility.
- Students follow activity-specific safe practices, rules and procedures.
Service Learning
Middle School students have participated in various service projects for the benefit of fellow humans, animals and the environment.Projects last year were incorporated in Sequoia.This coming year, they will partner with Cathedral Urban Service Experience (C.U.S.E.) for weekends to serve in our urban community.
Spanish
Our Middle School students make deep connections to our global society through their exposure to the Spanish language. Spanish is incorporated in cross-curricular activities and practical life situations. Students also use the online Scholastic ¿Qué Tal? magazine and online supplementary program. Middle School students are provided with the tools to become successful foreign language learners. After completing seventh and eighth grade Spanish with a grade of B or better, students may gain high school credit for Spanish I and II.
Electives
- Art
- Fitness with Coach
- Outdoor Classroom
- Broadcast Journalism
- STEM
- The Art and Science of Cooking and Baking
- Theatre
- Theatre Tech
- Yearbook
Art
The Hightower Middle School Art Class is designed to address specific developmental stages and desires of creative and cognitive growth of art students in grades fifth through eighth over the duration of a school year. Throughout the year the students will enhance their skills in drawing, painting and 3D Art. The objectives of this course include: exercising and demonstrating the use and mastery of the elements of design, use of materials, tools and process from a variety of media (including printmaking, painting, sculpture, ceramics and photography), learning to handle materials effectively, creating original objects of art in a specific medium, selecting appropriate media relative to concepts and forms of art.
Fitness with Coach
Explore the three fit principles, flexibility, strength and endurance with Coach Cooks. Topics will include the importance of hydration, nutrition and sleep. Interval training will be the method of training. Interval training is simply alternating short burst (about 30 seconds) of intense activity with longer intervals (about 1-2 minutes) of less intense activity. The class will include:
- understanding the fitness principles
- performing individual fitness assessments
- discussing fitness topics
- establishing goals and creating goal sheets
Outdoor Classroom
This is a project-oriented, horticulture and nature studies exploration guided by two master gardeners with decades of horticulture experience. Among other things, units will include vegetable gardening, landscape plant propagation, native habitat gardening (e.g. butterfly host garden, Monarch waystation, prairie restoration), pond habitat exploration, birdwatching skills and practice, composting theory and experimentation, textile manufacture from plants (we grow cotton on campus) and sheep through ginning, carding, spinning and weaving processes. The class will keep journals that track growth, record observations, and provide the foundation for an ongoing campus calendar record of natural cycles and interesting events and creatures discovered on campus. The class will engage as much as possible with new HMS building project’s landscaping plans from screening vines to participating in the design of the retention pond and bioswale.
Broadcast Journalism
Broadcast Journalism is a student-led news production class. We will be producing a weekly news show for HMS. We will have many different jobs such as script writer/anchor, weather, floor manager, director, teleprompter, video editor, journalist, writing editor, and more. The news programs will focus on current world events, upcoming school assignments and events, PSA’s on rules or current issues, and weather.
STEM
Students will design a working model amusement park, including the theme, map, and rides such as Ferris wheels, roller coasters and water slides to explore the physics behind all the fun. Advanced students will create and build life-sized games for the Fall Carnival and playground. STEM and team building challenges will enhance problem solving skills. Hands-on building, Lego Mindstorm Robotics, and digitally designing in Tinkercad and Cospaces will combine technology and tinkering.
The Art and Science of Cooking and Baking
In this class, students will learn to make a variety of foods and snacks while also exploring the science of culinary skills. Most of all, we will enjoy eating our creations (hopefully, a few of our creations will make it home to share!) This class will include learning to properly weigh and measure liquid and dry ingredients. How certain ingredients effect or change a recipe. Which ingredients are interchangeable and how to increase or decrease the yield of a recipe. We will discuss and learn about allergens and how to adapt a recipe for certain dietary needs. We will also learn basic cookie and cupcake decorating skills and icing recipes.
Theatre
During this course students are instructed in creative expression through basic theater skills and theatrical performances. The focus of the class concentrates on the following: improvisations and scripted scenes based on personal experiences and heritage, imagination, literature, and history, developing basic acting skills, developing environments, rehearsals, cultural and historical information to support acting, analyzing, evaluating, and constructing meaning from acting, understanding the role of the theater, film, television, and electronic media. The course culminates in a school theatrical production.
Theatre Tech
This is a new elective class which evolved from the popularity and success of last year’s After-School Enrichment program. The class is designed to introduce students to the behind the scenes opportunities of the theatre. Students will touch upon topics and projects such as, but not exclusive to, set design and construction, sound design, properties construction and gathering, lighting design, costuming components and design, backstage crew, and stage management. Students will help with these components for the school’s spring production. Some will have opportunity to operate lighting, sound, and mic boards, while others may help with back stage crew, and front of house duties.
Yearbook
As the historians for the school, yearbook members accurately cover the school year, as well as create a contemporary publication that will be enjoyable and relevant to our community for years to come. Students will learn the requirements of publication: design, photography, writing, and project management.
Sixth Grade
- Math
- Language Arts
- Earth/Space Science
- Social Studies - World Cultures
- Additional Subjects
- Electives
Math
The Branch Middle School Math program teaches students to think critically, problem solve, and apply their understanding of mathematics. Students become confident in their abilities as mathematicians. In addition to daily mathematical study, students are given the opportunity to apply their understanding of the concepts they learn in class through individual and group projects.
In sixth grade, Everyday Mathematics 4 focuses on the procedures, concepts, and applications in four critical areas. Those areas are: connecting ratios and rate to whole number multiplication and division, completing the understanding of division of fractions and expanding to a system of rational numbers which includes negative numbers, writing, interpreting, and using expressions and equations, and developing an understanding of statistical thinking. Lessons in sixth grade cover the following standards:
- Ratios and Proportional Relationships
- Understanding ratio concepts and use ratio reasoning to solve problems.
- The Number System
- Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to divide fractions by fractions.
- Compute fluently with multi-digit numbers and find common factors and multiples.
- Apply and extend previous understandings of numbers to the system of rational numbers.
- Expressions and Equations
- Apply and extend previous understandings of arithmetic to algebraic expressions.
- Reason and solve one-variable equations and inequalities.
- Represent and analyze quantitative relationships between dependent and independent variables.
- Geometry
- Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving area, surface area, and volume.
- Statistics and Probability
- Develop understanding of statistical variability.
- Summarize and describe distributions.
Language Arts
Amplify ELA is a blended English language arts curriculum designed specifically to support students in grades 6–8 and prepare them for high school and beyond. With Amplify ELA, students learn to tackle any complex text and make observations, grapple with interesting ideas, and find relevance for themselves. Students are engaged through dynamic texts, lively classroom discussions, and meaningful digital experiences Each grade includes six units centered on literary or informational texts, delivered in several forms of media. In each grade there are two to three immersive learning experiences called Quests and a dedicated Story Writing unit.
Sixth Grade Units Include:
Dahl and Narrative
Mysteries and Investigations
The Greeks
Summer of Mariposas
The Titanic Collection
The Chocolate Collection
Beginner Story Writing Unit
Grammar Unit
Earth/Space Science
The Branch School is committed to providing a well-rounded education through STEAM and inquiry-based learning. By using the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the OpenSciEd curriculum, students receive a strong foundation in science education. The NGSS standards emphasize a holistic understanding of science by integrating the three dimensions of disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. This approach allows students to not only learn facts and gather knowledge but also weave together the main ideas, explore the ways science is done, and make connections between the concepts and how they are applied to the real world. The combination of NGSS standards,OpenSciEd's and other teacher-created curriculum, and PocketLab's sensors provides a powerful learning experience for middle school students. Students can explore scientific concepts by conducting experiments and investigations, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions based on their findings. This approach promotes active learning, critical thinking, and a deeper understanding of science concepts.
By integrating these resources, students have the opportunity to build on their skills and knowledge from earlier grades while also gaining a more comprehensive understanding of science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. The approach not only helps students explain various phenomena but also prepares them for more advanced scientific learning in high school and beyond.
In sixth grade Earth/Space Science, students’ performance expectations develop their understanding of three disciplinary core ideas in the earth and space sciences:
- Earth’s Place in the Universe
- The Universe and Its Stars
- Earth and the Solar System
- History of the Planet Earth
- Earth’s Systems
- The History of Planet Earth
- Earth’s Materials and Systems
- Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions
- The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes
- Earth and Human Activity
- Natural Resources
- Natural Hazards
- Human Impacts on Earth Systems
- Global Climate Change
Social Studies - World Cultures
Our Middle School students, as citizens of a culturally diverse and democratic society, will gain the knowledge to be active and engaged students in public life.
This course focuses on exploring various world cultures. Students understand the region’s geographical, cultural, natural resources, economic and government processes. These five themes of geography are woven throughout the course. The students are able to look at world events and their impact on countries, cultures, environments, and individuals.
- This civic competence rests on democratic values and requires students to use knowledge about one’s community, nation and world.
- Student citizens learn the inquiry process and employ skills of data collection and analysis, collaboration, and problem solving.
- Student citizens take initiative in making informed and reasoned decisions to promote individual character, initiative and peace.
Additional Subjects
- Collaborative Integrated Problem Solving - Sequoia
- Design and Technology
- Physical Education and Health
- Service Learning
- Spanish
Collaborative Integrated Problem Solving - Sequoia
Working with peers, using technology and project-based learning are among the qualities students note as essential to engagement. The Sequoia Project, a yearlong project involving fifth through eighth graders, integrates the subjects of science, technology, math, social studies, and language arts, and uses the 21st century skills of collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving. Students not only collaborate with each other, but with their teachers, administration, and most of all, with experts in the field. Each year, students use a fictitious island, Sequoia, which they developed, to problem solve real-world issues, such as the discovery of oil and how it will affect their country, designing and building homes in their country during a water shortage, and researching the country’s past through the discovery artifacts in an archeological dig.
Design and Technology
Middle School students learn best when they are actively engaged with the content. Lessons that include technology applications, provide teachers with ways to motivate students into becoming active, real-world learners. Computer-based strategies help students develop higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills. Participation in real-life applications included in technology-rich teaching environments promotes the ability to draw analogies, infer relationships, predict outcomes, and analyze data. In the Middle School, each student has their own laptop which they use daily. All Middle School students also bring a tablet or have access to a school tablet for use during the school day.Each grade level has focused technology skill lessons each week in technology class. All classrooms are equipped with interactive Promethean Boards for both teacher and student use.
Physical Education and Health
Students acquire the knowledge and skills for movement that provide the foundation for enjoyment, continued social development and access to a physically active, healthy lifestyle.
- Students learn group games in which they develop behaviors which exemplify individual character and the sportsmanship to resolve conflicts with peers, including responsibility, best effort, cooperation, and compassion.
- Students actively participate in physical activities that address each component of health-related fitness including: strength, endurance and flexibility.
- Students follow activity-specific safe practices, rules and procedures.
Service Learning
Middle School students have participated in various service projects for the benefit of fellow humans, animals and the environment.Projects last year were incorporated in Sequoia.This coming year, they will partner with Cathedral Urban Service Experience (C.U.S.E.) for weekends to serve in our urban community.
Spanish
Our Middle School students make deep connections to our global society through their exposure to the Spanish language. Spanish is incorporated in cross-curricular activities and practical life situations. Students also use the online Scholastic ¿Qué Tal? magazine and online supplementary program. Middle School students are provided with the tools to become successful foreign language learners. After completing seventh and eighth grade Spanish with a grade of B or better, students may gain high school credit for Spanish I and II.
Electives
- Art
- Band
- Broadcast Journalism
- Fitness with Coach
- Outdoor Classroom
- STEM
- The Art and Science of Cooking and Baking
- Theatre
- Theatre Tech
- Yearbook
Art
The Hightower Middle School Art Class is designed to address specific developmental stages and desires of creative and cognitive growth of art students in grades fifth through eighth over the duration of a school year. Throughout the year the students will enhance their skills in drawing, painting and 3D Art. The objectives of this course include: exercising and demonstrating the use and mastery of the elements of design, use of materials, tools and process from a variety of media (including printmaking, painting, sculpture, ceramics and photography), learning to handle materials effectively, creating original objects of art in a specific medium, selecting appropriate media relative to concepts and forms of art.
Band
Hightower Middle School (HMS) students can participate in a beginning band class. Students can choose between clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and trombone. Band will meet two days a week during the school day and may require a possible after-school time. Please note, students will need to supply their own instrument.
Broadcast Journalism
Broadcast Journalism is a student-led news production class. We will be producing a weekly news show for HMS. We will have many different jobs such as script writer/anchor, weather, floor manager, director, teleprompter, video editor, journalist, writing editor, and more. The news programs will focus on current world events, upcoming school assignments and events, PSA’s on rules or current issues, and weather.
Fitness with Coach
Explore the three fit principles, flexibility, strength and endurance with Coach Cooks. Topics will include the importance of hydration, nutrition and sleep. Interval training will be the method of training. Interval training is simply alternating short burst (about 30 seconds) of intense activity with longer intervals (about 1-2 minutes) of less intense activity. The class will include:
- understanding the fitness principles
- performing individual fitness assessments
- discussing fitness topics
- establishing goals and creating goal sheets
Outdoor Classroom
This is a project-oriented, horticulture and nature studies exploration guided by two master gardeners with decades of horticulture experience. Among other things, units will include vegetable gardening, landscape plant propagation, native habitat gardening (e.g. butterfly host garden, Monarch waystation, prairie restoration), pond habitat exploration, birdwatching skills and practice, composting theory and experimentation, textile manufacture from plants (we grow cotton on campus) and sheep through ginning, carding, spinning and weaving processes. The class will keep journals that track growth, record observations, and provide the foundation for an ongoing campus calendar record of natural cycles and interesting events and creatures discovered on campus. The class will engage as much as possible with new HMS building project’s landscaping plans from screening vines to participating in the design of the retention pond and bioswale.
STEM
Students will design a working model amusement park, including the theme, map, and rides such as Ferris wheels, roller coasters and water slides to explore the physics behind all the fun. Advanced students will create and build life-sized games for the Fall Carnival and playground. STEM and team building challenges will enhance problem solving skills. Hands-on building, Lego Mindstorm Robotics, and digitally designing in Tinkercad and Cospaces will combine technology and tinkering.
The Art and Science of Cooking and Baking
In this class, students will learn to make a variety of foods and snacks while also exploring the science of culinary skills. Most of all, we will enjoy eating our creations (hopefully, a few of our creations will make it home to share!) This class will include learning to properly weigh and measure liquid and dry ingredients. How certain ingredients effect or change a recipe. Which ingredients are interchangeable and how to increase or decrease the yield of a recipe. We will discuss and learn about allergens and how to adapt a recipe for certain dietary needs. We will also learn basic cookie and cupcake decorating skills and icing recipes.
Theatre
During this course students are instructed in creative expression through basic theater skills and theatrical performances. The focus of the class concentrates on the following: improvisations and scripted scenes based on personal experiences and heritage, imagination, literature, and history, developing basic acting skills, developing environments, rehearsals, cultural and historical information to support acting, analyzing, evaluating, and constructing meaning from acting, understanding the role of the theater, film, television, and electronic media. The course culminates in a school theatrical production.
Theatre Tech
This is a new elective class which evolved from the popularity and success of last year’s After-School Enrichment program. The class is designed to introduce students to the behind the scenes opportunities of the theatre. Students will touch upon topics and projects such as, but not exclusive to, set design and construction, sound design, properties construction and gathering, lighting design, costuming components and design, backstage crew, and stage management. Students will help with these components for the school’s spring production. Some will have opportunity to operate lighting, sound, and mic boards, while others may help with back stage crew, and front of house duties.
Yearbook
As the historians for the school, yearbook members accurately cover the school year, as well as create a contemporary publication that will be enjoyable and relevant to our community for years to come. Students will learn the requirements of publication: design, photography, writing, and project management.
Seventh Grade
- Math - Pre-Algebra
- Language Arts
- Life Science
- Social Studies - Ancient Civilizations
- Additional Subjects
- Electives
Math - Pre-Algebra
The Branch Middle School Math program teaches students to think critically, problem solve, and apply their understanding of mathematics. Students become confident in their abilities as mathematicians. In addition to daily mathematical study, students are given the opportunity to apply their understanding of the concepts they learn in class through individual and group projects.
In Pre-Algebra, students gain a foundation in algebra while preparing them for future courses in geometry, probability and data analysis. They study variables, expressions, integers and rational numbers, learn to solve multi-step equations and inequalities, work with percents, ratios, proportions, probability and linear functions. Students also study real numbers and right triangles as well as area, volume, angle relationships and transformations. Pre-Algebra is taught with a textbook by noted authors, Ron Larson and Laurie Boswell.
All students also engage in monthly projects based on the current unit of study that help them see real-life uses of the concepts they are learning.
Language Arts
Amplify ELA is a blended English language arts curriculum designed specifically to support students in grades 6–8 and prepare them for high school and beyond. With Amplify ELA, students learn to tackle any complex text and make observations, grapple with interesting ideas, and find relevance for themselves. Students are engaged through dynamic texts, lively classroom discussions, and meaningful digital experiences Each grade includes six units centered on literary or informational texts, delivered in several forms of media. In each grade there are two to three immersive learning experiences called Quests and a dedicated Story Writing unit.
Seventh Grade Units Include:
Red Scarf Girl
Character and Conflict
Brain Science
Poetry and Poe
The Frieda and Diego Collection
The Gold Rush Collection
Intermediate Story Writing Unit
Grammar Unit
Life Science
The Branch School is committed to providing a well-rounded education through STEAM and inquiry-based learning. By using the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the OpenSciEd curriculum, students receive a strong foundation in science education. The NGSS standards emphasize a holistic understanding of science by integrating the three dimensions of disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. This approach allows students to not only learn facts and gather knowledge but also weave together the main ideas, explore the ways science is done, and make connections between the concepts and how they are applied to the real world. The combination of NGSS standards,OpenSciEd's and other teacher-created curriculum, and PocketLab's sensors provides a powerful learning experience for middle school students. Students can explore scientific concepts by conducting experiments and investigations, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions based on their findings. This approach promotes active learning, critical thinking, and a deeper understanding of science concepts.
By integrating these resources, students have the opportunity to build on their skills and knowledge from earlier grades while also gaining a more comprehensive understanding of science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. The approach not only helps students explain various phenomena but also prepares them for more advanced scientific learning in high school and beyond.
In seventh grade Life Science, students’ performance expectations develop their understanding of four disciplinary core ideas in the life sciences:
- From Molecules to Organisms
- Structure and Function
- Growth and Development of Organisms
- Organization for Matter and Energy Flow
- Information Processing
- Energy in Chemical Processes and Everyday Life
- Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
- Cycle of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems
- Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
- Biodiversity and Humans
- Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
- Growth and Development of Organisms
- Inheritance of Traits
- Variation of Traits
- Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
- Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
- Natural Selection
- Adaptation
Social Studies - Ancient Civilizations
Our Middle School students, as citizens of a culturally diverse and democratic society, will gain the knowledge to be active and engaged students in public life.
Students are introduced to the beginnings of the human story. As they explore the great early civilizations of Egypt and the Near East, India, China, Greece, and Rome, students discover the secrets of these ancient cultures that continue to influence the modern world. Students work collaboratively on projects, and research information independently to create engaging experiences which help them better understand ancient civilizations.
- This civic competence rests on democratic values and requires students to use knowledge about one’s community, nation and world.
- Student citizens learn the inquiry process and employ skills of data collection and analysis, collaboration, and problem solving.
- Student citizens take initiative in making informed and reasoned decisions to promote individual character, initiative and peace.
Additional Subjects
- Collaborative Integrated Problem Solving - Sequoia
- Design and Technology
- Physical Education and Health
- Service Learning
- Spanish
Collaborative Integrated Problem Solving - Sequoia
Working with peers, using technology and project-based learning are among the qualities students note as essential to engagement. The Sequoia Project, a yearlong project involving fifth through eighth graders, integrates the subjects of science, technology, math, social studies, and language arts, and uses the 21st century skills of collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving. Students not only collaborate with each other, but with their teachers, administration, and most of all, with experts in the field. Each year, students use a fictitious island, Sequoia, which they developed, to problem solve real-world issues, such as the discovery of oil and how it will affect their country, designing and building homes in their country during a water shortage, and researching the country’s past through the discovery artifacts in an archeological dig.
Design and Technology
Middle School students learn best when they are actively engaged with the content. Lessons that include technology applications, provide teachers with ways to motivate students into becoming active, real-world learners. Computer-based strategies help students develop higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills. Participation in real-life applications included in technology-rich teaching environments promotes the ability to draw analogies, infer relationships, predict outcomes, and analyze data. In the Middle School, each student has their own laptop which they use daily. All Middle School students also bring a tablet or have access to a school tablet for use during the school day.Each grade level has focused technology skill lessons each week in technology class. All classrooms are equipped with interactive Promethean Boards for both teacher and student use.
Physical Education and Health
Students acquire the knowledge and skills for movement that provide the foundation for enjoyment, continued social development and access to a physically active, healthy lifestyle.
- Students learn group games in which they develop behaviors which exemplify individual character and the sportsmanship to resolve conflicts with peers, including responsibility, best effort, cooperation, and compassion.
- Students actively participate in physical activities that address each component of health-related fitness including: strength, endurance and flexibility.
- Students follow activity-specific safe practices, rules and procedures.
Service Learning
Middle School students have participated in various service projects for the benefit of fellow humans, animals and the environment.Projects last year were incorporated in Sequoia.This coming year, they will partner with Cathedral Urban Service Experience (C.U.S.E.) for weekends to serve in our urban community.
Spanish
Our Middle School students make deep connections to our global society through their exposure to the Spanish language. Spanish is incorporated in cross-curricular activities and practical life situations. Students also use the online Scholastic ¿Qué Tal? magazine and online supplementary program. Middle School students are provided with the tools to become successful foreign language learners. After completing seventh and eighth grade Spanish with a grade of B or better, students may gain high school credit for Spanish I and II.
Electives
- Art
- Band
- Broadcast Journalism
- Fitness with Coach
- Outdoor Classroom
- STEM
- The Art and Science of Cooking and Baking
- Theatre
- Theatre Tech
- Yearbook
Art
The Hightower Middle School Art Class is designed to address specific developmental stages and desires of creative and cognitive growth of art students in grades fifth through eighth over the duration of a school year. Throughout the year the students will enhance their skills in drawing, painting and 3D Art. The objectives of this course include: exercising and demonstrating the use and mastery of the elements of design, use of materials, tools and process from a variety of media (including printmaking, painting, sculpture, ceramics and photography), learning to handle materials effectively, creating original objects of art in a specific medium, selecting appropriate media relative to concepts and forms of art.
Band
Hightower Middle School (HMS) students can participate in a beginning band class. Students can choose between clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and trombone. Band will meet two days a week during the school day and may require a possible after-school time. Please note, students will need to supply their own instrument.
Broadcast Journalism
Broadcast Journalism is a student-led news production class. We will be producing a weekly news show for HMS. We will have many different jobs such as script writer/anchor, weather, floor manager, director, teleprompter, video editor, journalist, writing editor, and more. The news programs will focus on current world events, upcoming school assignments and events, PSA’s on rules or current issues, and weather.
Fitness with Coach
Explore the three fit principles, flexibility, strength and endurance with Coach Cooks. Topics will include the importance of hydration, nutrition and sleep. Interval training will be the method of training. Interval training is simply alternating short burst (about 30 seconds) of intense activity with longer intervals (about 1-2 minutes) of less intense activity. The class will include:
- understanding the fitness principles
- performing individual fitness assessments
- discussing fitness topics
- establishing goals and creating goal sheets
Outdoor Classroom
This is a project-oriented, horticulture and nature studies exploration guided by two master gardeners with decades of horticulture experience. Among other things, units will include vegetable gardening, landscape plant propagation, native habitat gardening (e.g. butterfly host garden, Monarch waystation, prairie restoration), pond habitat exploration, birdwatching skills and practice, composting theory and experimentation, textile manufacture from plants (we grow cotton on campus) and sheep through ginning, carding, spinning and weaving processes. The class will keep journals that track growth, record observations, and provide the foundation for an ongoing campus calendar record of natural cycles and interesting events and creatures discovered on campus. The class will engage as much as possible with new HMS building project’s landscaping plans from screening vines to participating in the design of the retention pond and bioswale.
STEM
Students will design a working model amusement park, including the theme, map, and rides such as Ferris wheels, roller coasters and water slides to explore the physics behind all the fun. Advanced students will create and build life-sized games for the Fall Carnival and playground. STEM and team building challenges will enhance problem solving skills. Hands-on building, Lego Mindstorm Robotics, and digitally designing in Tinkercad and Cospaces will combine technology and tinkering.
The Art and Science of Cooking and Baking
In this class, students will learn to make a variety of foods and snacks while also exploring the science of culinary skills. Most of all, we will enjoy eating our creations (hopefully, a few of our creations will make it home to share!) This class will include learning to properly weigh and measure liquid and dry ingredients. How certain ingredients effect or change a recipe. Which ingredients are interchangeable and how to increase or decrease the yield of a recipe. We will discuss and learn about allergens and how to adapt a recipe for certain dietary needs. We will also learn basic cookie and cupcake decorating skills and icing recipes.
Theatre
During this course students are instructed in creative expression through basic theater skills and theatrical performances. The focus of the class concentrates on the following: improvisations and scripted scenes based on personal experiences and heritage, imagination, literature, and history, developing basic acting skills, developing environments, rehearsals, cultural and historical information to support acting, analyzing, evaluating, and constructing meaning from acting, understanding the role of the theater, film, television, and electronic media. The course culminates in a school theatrical production.
Theatre Tech
This is a new elective class which evolved from the popularity and success of last year’s After-School Enrichment program. The class is designed to introduce students to the behind the scenes opportunities of the theatre. Students will touch upon topics and projects such as, but not exclusive to, set design and construction, sound design, properties construction and gathering, lighting design, costuming components and design, backstage crew, and stage management. Students will help with these components for the school’s spring production. Some will have opportunity to operate lighting, sound, and mic boards, while others may help with back stage crew, and front of house duties.
Yearbook
As the historians for the school, yearbook members accurately cover the school year, as well as create a contemporary publication that will be enjoyable and relevant to our community for years to come. Students will learn the requirements of publication: design, photography, writing, and project management.
Eighth Grade
- Math - Algebra 1
- Language Arts
- Physical Science
- Social Studies - U.S. History
- Additional Subjects
- Electives
Math - Algebra 1
The Branch Middle School Math program teaches students to think critically, problem solve, and apply their understanding of mathematics. Students become confident in their abilities as mathematicians. In addition to daily mathematical study, students are given the opportunity to apply their understanding of the concepts they learn in class through individual and group projects.
Algebra I is a high-school level course in which students may gain high school credit with a grade of B or better. In this course, students gain an understanding of families of functions with special emphasis on linear and quadratic functions. They learn to represent functions verbally, with equations, tables and graphs. They learn to model real-world problems using functions. Students also study probability and data analysis as well as geometry. Extended lessons also deal with exponential functions, polynomials and factoring. This program is taught with the Holt McDougal Larson textbook.
All students also engage in monthly projects based on the current unit of study that help them see real-life uses of the concepts they are learning.
Language Arts
Amplify ELA is a blended English language arts curriculum designed specifically to support students in grades 6–8 and prepare them for high school and beyond. With Amplify ELA, students learn to tackle any complex text and make observations, grapple with interesting ideas, and find relevance for themselves. Students are engaged through dynamic texts, lively classroom discussions, and meaningful digital experiences Each grade includes six units centered on literary or informational texts, delivered in several forms of media. In each grade there are two to three immersive learning experiences called Quests and a dedicated Story Writing unit.
Eighth Grade Units Include:
Perspectives and Narrative
Liberty and Equality
Science and Science Fiction
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Holocaust: Memory and Meaning
The Space Race Collection
Advanced Story Writing Unit
Grammar Unit
Physical Science
The Branch School is committed to providing a well-rounded education through STEAM and inquiry-based learning. By using the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the OpenSciEd curriculum, students receive a strong foundation in science education. The NGSS standards emphasize a holistic understanding of science by integrating the three dimensions of disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. This approach allows students to not only learn facts and gather knowledge but also weave together the main ideas, explore the ways science is done, and make connections between the concepts and how they are applied to the real world. The combination of NGSS standards,OpenSciEd's and other teacher-created curriculum, and PocketLab's sensors provides a powerful learning experience for middle school students. Students can explore scientific concepts by conducting experiments and investigations, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions based on their findings. This approach promotes active learning, critical thinking, and a deeper understanding of science concepts.
By integrating these resources, students have the opportunity to build on their skills and knowledge from earlier grades while also gaining a more comprehensive understanding of science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. The approach not only helps students explain various phenomena but also prepares them for more advanced scientific learning in high school and beyond.
In eighth grade Physical Science, students’ performance expectations develop their understanding of four disciplinary core ideas in chemistry and physics:
- Matter and Its Interactions
- Structures and Properties of Matter
- Chemical Reactions
- Definitions of Energy
- Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
- Forces and Motion
- Types of Interactions
- Energy
- Definitions of Energy
- Conservation of Energy
- Relationship Between Energy and Forces
- Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
- Wave Properties
- Electromagnetic Radiation
- Information Technologies and Instrumentation
Social Studies - U.S. History
Our Middle School students, as citizens of a culturally diverse and democratic society, will gain the knowledge to be active and engaged students in public life.
In eighth grade Social Studies, students cover the history of the United States from European colonization in North America in the 1500's through the Reconstruction Era in 1877. Students analyze why events happened, compare and contrast primary sources, and research areas of interest using driving questions to guide their learning. Students work collaboratively on projects through Google Drive, as well as create projects on their own.
- This civic competence rests on democratic values and requires students to use knowledge about one’s community, nation and world.
- Student citizens learn the inquiry process and employ skills of data collection and analysis, collaboration, and problem solving.
- Student citizens take initiative in making informed and reasoned decisions to promote individual character, initiative and peace.
Additional Subjects
- Collaborative Integrated Problem Solving - Sequoia
- Design and Technology
- Physical Education and Health
- Service Learning
- Spanish
Collaborative Integrated Problem Solving - Sequoia
Working with peers, using technology and project-based learning are among the qualities students note as essential to engagement. The Sequoia Project, a yearlong project involving fifth through eighth graders, integrates the subjects of science, technology, math, social studies, and language arts, and uses the 21st century skills of collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving. Students not only collaborate with each other, but with their teachers, administration, and most of all, with experts in the field. Each year, students use a fictitious island, Sequoia, which they developed, to problem solve real-world issues, such as the discovery of oil and how it will affect their country, designing and building homes in their country during a water shortage, and researching the country’s past through the discovery artifacts in an archeological dig.
Design and Technology
Middle School students learn best when they are actively engaged with the content. Lessons that include technology applications, provide teachers with ways to motivate students into becoming active, real-world learners. Computer-based strategies help students develop higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills. Participation in real-life applications included in technology-rich teaching environments promotes the ability to draw analogies, infer relationships, predict outcomes, and analyze data. In the Middle School, each student has their own laptop which they use daily. All Middle School students also bring a tablet or have access to a school tablet for use during the school day.Each grade level has focused technology skill lessons each week in technology class. All classrooms are equipped with interactive Promethean Boards for both teacher and student use.
Physical Education and Health
Students acquire the knowledge and skills for movement that provide the foundation for enjoyment, continued social development and access to a physically active, healthy lifestyle.
- Students learn group games in which they develop behaviors which exemplify individual character and the sportsmanship to resolve conflicts with peers, including responsibility, best effort, cooperation, and compassion.
- Students actively participate in physical activities that address each component of health-related fitness including: strength, endurance and flexibility.
- Students follow activity-specific safe practices, rules and procedures.
Service Learning
Middle School students have participated in various service projects for the benefit of fellow humans, animals and the environment.Projects last year were incorporated in Sequoia.This coming year, they will partner with Cathedral Urban Service Experience (C.U.S.E.) for weekends to serve in our urban community.
Spanish
Our Middle School students make deep connections to our global society through their exposure to the Spanish language. Spanish is incorporated in cross-curricular activities and practical life situations. Students also use the online Scholastic ¿Qué Tal? magazine and online supplementary program. Middle School students are provided with the tools to become successful foreign language learners. After completing seventh and eighth grade Spanish with a grade of B or better, students may gain high school credit for Spanish I and II.
Electives
- Art
- Band
- Broadcast Journalism
- Fitness with Coach
- Outdoor Classroom
- STEM
- The Art and Science of Cooking and Baking
- Theatre
- Theatre Tech
- Yearbook
Art
The Hightower Middle School Art Class is designed to address specific developmental stages and desires of creative and cognitive growth of art students in grades fifth through eighth over the duration of a school year. Throughout the year the students will enhance their skills in drawing, painting and 3D Art. The objectives of this course include: exercising and demonstrating the use and mastery of the elements of design, use of materials, tools and process from a variety of media (including printmaking, painting, sculpture, ceramics and photography), learning to handle materials effectively, creating original objects of art in a specific medium, selecting appropriate media relative to concepts and forms of art.
Band
Hightower Middle School (HMS) students can participate in a beginning band class. Students can choose between clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and trombone. Band will meet two days a week during the school day and may require a possible after-school time. Please note, students will need to supply their own instrument.
Broadcast Journalism
Broadcast Journalism is a student-led news production class. We will be producing a weekly news show for HMS. We will have many different jobs such as script writer/anchor, weather, floor manager, director, teleprompter, video editor, journalist, writing editor, and more. The news programs will focus on current world events, upcoming school assignments and events, PSA’s on rules or current issues, and weather.
Fitness with Coach
Explore the three fit principles, flexibility, strength and endurance with Coach Cooks. Topics will include the importance of hydration, nutrition and sleep. Interval training will be the method of training. Interval training is simply alternating short burst (about 30 seconds) of intense activity with longer intervals (about 1-2 minutes) of less intense activity. The class will include:
- understanding the fitness principles
- performing individual fitness assessments
- discussing fitness topics
- establishing goals and creating goal sheets
Outdoor Classroom
This is a project-oriented, horticulture and nature studies exploration guided by two master gardeners with decades of horticulture experience. Among other things, units will include vegetable gardening, landscape plant propagation, native habitat gardening (e.g. butterfly host garden, Monarch waystation, prairie restoration), pond habitat exploration, birdwatching skills and practice, composting theory and experimentation, textile manufacture from plants (we grow cotton on campus) and sheep through ginning, carding, spinning and weaving processes. The class will keep journals that track growth, record observations, and provide the foundation for an ongoing campus calendar record of natural cycles and interesting events and creatures discovered on campus. The class will engage as much as possible with new HMS building project’s landscaping plans from screening vines to participating in the design of the retention pond and bioswale.
STEM
Students will design a working model amusement park, including the theme, map, and rides such as Ferris wheels, roller coasters and water slides to explore the physics behind all the fun. Advanced students will create and build life-sized games for the Fall Carnival and playground. STEM and team building challenges will enhance problem solving skills. Hands-on building, Lego Mindstorm Robotics, and digitally designing in Tinkercad and Cospaces will combine technology and tinkering.
The Art and Science of Cooking and Baking
In this class, students will learn to make a variety of foods and snacks while also exploring the science of culinary skills. Most of all, we will enjoy eating our creations (hopefully, a few of our creations will make it home to share!) This class will include learning to properly weigh and measure liquid and dry ingredients. How certain ingredients effect or change a recipe. Which ingredients are interchangeable and how to increase or decrease the yield of a recipe. We will discuss and learn about allergens and how to adapt a recipe for certain dietary needs. We will also learn basic cookie and cupcake decorating skills and icing recipes.
Theatre
During this course students are instructed in creative expression through basic theater skills and theatrical performances. The focus of the class concentrates on the following: improvisations and scripted scenes based on personal experiences and heritage, imagination, literature, and history, developing basic acting skills, developing environments, rehearsals, cultural and historical information to support acting, analyzing, evaluating, and constructing meaning from acting, understanding the role of the theater, film, television, and electronic media. The course culminates in a school theatrical production.
Theatre Tech
This is a new elective class which evolved from the popularity and success of last year’s After-School Enrichment program. The class is designed to introduce students to the behind the scenes opportunities of the theatre. Students will touch upon topics and projects such as, but not exclusive to, set design and construction, sound design, properties construction and gathering, lighting design, costuming components and design, backstage crew, and stage management. Students will help with these components for the school’s spring production. Some will have opportunity to operate lighting, sound, and mic boards, while others may help with back stage crew, and front of house duties.
Yearbook
As the historians for the school, yearbook members accurately cover the school year, as well as create a contemporary publication that will be enjoyable and relevant to our community for years to come. Students will learn the requirements of publication: design, photography, writing, and project management.
This slideshow provides insight into the hands-on, real-world experience found in the Hightower Middle School.
leaf two
This brochure, Rooted in Love: Middle School at The Branch School, will share about the learning experience of our middle school students.