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Authentic, Meaningful Learning
The entry into adolescence is a time of great change, excitement, and challenge.
Students at this age put tremendous physical, emotional, and cognitive energy
into all that they do. This is a time for discovering and exploring interests
and passions as well as for developing a growing independence and sense of self.
School, therefore, must be a place where students are involved in learning that
they perceive to be meaningful. If invested in their learning, they will rise to
challenges, try out multiple perspectives or points of view, and strive for excellence.
At Belmont Day School, the curricular program for the middle school rests on the
balanced foundation of the lower school curriculum and similarly joins traditional
skill acquisition with creative hands-on project assignments that are authentic and
meaningful. Integrated units that combine science and social studies, literature,
and the arts abound in the middle school.
Each grade in the middle school finds time weekly for meetings in the kiva, a
space designed by our teachers with the needs of middle school students clearly in
mind. In addition to class meetings, the kiva is used for poetry readings, drama
presentations, panel discussions, debates, and study hall. It serves as a symbol
of our challenging and engaging middle school program, in which working together
in community enables each student to achieve individually.
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