World Cultures
The Middle School Social Studies program is designed to develop the learning skills and critical thinking ability students required to find success in high school, college and beyond.  8th graders will develop these skills through teacher guided, student led inquiry into the world they live in. 

Students will begin by investigating the concept of American Identity.  This will be accomplished by discovering the origin and genesis of our nation and the institutions (namely government) that maintain it.  Students will then look to the rest of the world.  During the second quarter students will learn about China, past and present, and its ongoing problems with distinct ethnic and cultural regions, in particular Tibet.  The research paper will also take place during second quarter.  During the third quarter students will become experts on a particular country/region in the greater Middle East.  The culmination of this unit will be group created road maps for success in the region they have studied.  Students will be required to display how their understanding of the unique cultural, religious and political history of the country has been taken into account in their plan for success.  

Finally, students will finish the year through a Holocaust curriculum built on the Facing History and Ourselves; Holocaust and Human Behavior model.  This is an extremely powerful curriculum that goes much deeper than merely learning the history of World War II.  This is a curriculum that asks students to investigate choices; why did people make the choices they made?  How did the choices of the individual affect the whole?  What makes democratic institutions succeed?  It will ask students to reflect not only on the choices made during this terrible period in world history, but also about the choices they make now, in their everyday lives.  It is a fitting end to a year spent first trying to understand our unique sense of identity and political make-up, and then looking outward and developing a deeper perspective on regions of the world dominated by tension and violence today.