7th Grade

Grammar & Composition

Meets 5 days per week/50 minutes per day

Seventh grade grammar and composition is a course designed to provide students with extensive opportunities to master grammar and composition skills. Throughout this course, students receive intense daily instruction and practice opportunities in areas of grammar, punctuation, capitalization, mechanics, spelling, sentence structure, and vocabulary. By providing students with carefully constructed writing activities, opportunities for students to discover, apply and display new knowledge is fostered in a challenging, yet safe, exciting, and positive learning environment.

Civics in Action

Part of the legacy of the tragic events of 9/11 has been a concerted movement across our nation to reintroduce the teaching of civics throughout the network of our middles schools.  While the idea is admirable, the result has been greeted by students with something less that universal enthusiasm, as they assume, (and all too frequently they are correct in their assumption,) that  it will mean their subjection to  a daily installment of  dry reading from a textbook infused with the virtues of patriotism and the duties of American citizenship.  It is our goal in Civics in Action to dispel this idea directly from our first class, and to demonstrate that the true nature of civics is anything but dull!  Civics is responsibility, but that is only half of its definition.  Its complete definition is the study of the rights and responsibilities of citizens.  And that includes middle school students at Hale Academy!!  Students will quickly learn that our nation’s founders who gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 to write our Constitution were not doing so to produce a document that would spell out for Americans the rights our federal government was granting to us; it was just the opposite.  They were gathering to let the federal government know what limited rights we, as citizens, were willing to grant our federal government. Citizenship, and therefore our study of civics, is anything but passive.  It demands our active involvement.  We will use a foundation text, Glencoe Publishing’s Civic’s Today, that was chosen for both its readability, and for its endorsement by the Florida Law-Related Education Association.  FLREA very much supports the idea of active student involvement in the community, and offers a series of exciting statewide competitions and other activities, including debates, moot court, and mock trials to spark that involvement.

Our study will cover eight major themes: foundations of American citizenship, to include an in-depth analysis of the U.S. Constitution, the three main branches of our federal government, political parties and interest groups, state and local government, our legal system, primarily as it is applied to the individual, our national economy, again in terms of its impact on the individual, our free enterprise system, and our country’s position relative to the rest of the world, from both an economic and a moral perspective.

Students enrolled in Civics in Action will also participate weekly in year-long service learning opportunities in the community to introduce them to the importance of volunteerism— not just as a responsibility, but also as a privilege of citizenship.  Our study will be heavily supplemented by guest speakers, field trips, and supplemental readings, all designed to awaken students’ involvement in the civic life of their community, on a local, state, national, and international level.

Pre-Algebra

Pre-Algebra is a course that will strengthen a student’s basic math skills and develop his or her Algebra skills in order to prepare them for Algebra 1 and Geometry.  Students work with decimals, fractions, percentages and understand their relationship to each other.  Students learn slope, equations for a line, functions and systems of equations and inequalities.  Students also learn reasoning skills that will assist them with word problems, Algebra I and geometry.

Advanced Spanish

Meets 5 days per week/50 minutes per day

The focus of the Spanish curriculum in the seventh grade is to develop and refine students’ ability to communicate in Spanish, both orally and in written form. Students strengthen and expand previously-acquired vocabulary, improve their listening, reading and speaking skills, and develop writing techniques. Furthermore, students acquire a basic understanding of the Hispanic culture.

Life Science

Meets 5 days per week/50 minutes per day

Life Science is a branch of science that studies living things and their relationships with their environment.  During the course students will study cells, organization of living things, heredity, evolution, and ecosystems.  Students will develop a better understanding of the natural world that will lead them to success in future sciences such as biology and anatomy.

ETIQUETTE/LIFE SKILLS

Meets 5 days per week/50 minutes per day

Etiquette is an important aspect in being professionally prepared for community functions, international travels and college.  Hale Academy students are versed in how to prepare themselves for success with skills sets on body language and appearance, introductions and proper handshake, listening and conversation skills, theatre, and concert etiquette.  Our students actively participate in interview etiquette, electronic/cell phone use, host/guest responsibilities, dining etiquette both domestic and international arenas.  During this class students will participate in a variety of activities and functions to enhance the learning experience.  Life skills training focuses on academic survival techniques such as organization, note taking, and outline writing of main ideas and supporting points.  Practical life skills in preparation for college life will be part of the curriculum. Some of the skills demonstrated and practiced will be, managing a budget, debit cards and checks, how to fill out an application, basic cooking skills, recipe modifications by doubling or dividing measurements, planning a menu, finding the best buy, calculating sale percentages and basic sewing skills. All activities will be interactive and student centered providing a well rounded foundation in a fun and creative environment.