Canyon Grove’s Middle School classes are designed to stimulate thinking and develop a strong skill base for the students. Based on student interaction and engagement, these courses will strengthen critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, and productive collaboration, all skills needed in the 21st-century job market. They will also build accountability and self-governance to encourage consistency, dependability, and follow-through. These classes are all recorded so students who miss the class can view it at a later date.  Recordings are only shared with enrolled students.   

Mentor

Mr. Semendoff is one of our Middle School mentors. His role is to guide and support the students as they move from an elementary model to a high school model. Our program is about more than just the individual courses your student will take. In education, scaffolding means to gradually move students toward greater independence in the learning process. Like scaffolding in a construction environment, temporary support is put in place through supportive strategies which are then incrementally removed as they are no longer needed, shifting more responsibility for their own learning process over to the student. Our structured curriculum and the relationship with their mentor is intended to gradually build the skills needed for this transition from scaffolding to independence.

Humanities

The process of writing does not just utilize a pen or a keyboard. Productive writing comes from having something worth sharing and this process includes reading, thinking, discussing… and then writing, more discussion, and ultimately revising and improving your writing. Therefore, learning to write is best accomplished within a group setting, not in a vacuum. Ideally, language arts skills are best learned with familiar and engaging content and in the context of stories.  

Our grade-level humanities courses integrate language arts skills with a study of history. In this way, students have an opportunity to quicken their intellect, make connections both past and present, and learn the power of their voice as they present their thoughts and ideas. This course is designed as a Socratic or a “Collaborative” seminar. Everyone participates as an equal contributor, but they must use facts and reason to discuss ideas by using questions based upon a text they have all read. Students will study the coursework through Google Classroom in preparation for a weekly discussion with their classmates via Google Meet. 

Math

Our math class goes beyond just learning math… it helps students build a great relationship with math. Math builds critical thinking and problem-solving skills in a way that no other subject can. While some students may love math and feel confident in their skills, others may not see any purpose for learning math at all. Our goal is to create a positive math mindset while students build the skills they need to be successful in math. There are two options for our math classes, guided instruction and self-paced.

Guided Instruction

Our engaging Middle School teacher, Mr. Semendoff, will guide the students through our math program using Google Meet several times a week. In addition, students will practice their math skills through Imagine Learning. This is an exciting program that offers excellent math instruction, motivation, relevance, and personalized tutoring as needed. 

Self-Paced

Students also have the option of an adaptive, self-paced math course (that does not include the CGA Google Meet sessions). Self-paced students have access to our amazing math course and Imagine Learning. Imagine Learning builds conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills and provides access to support from a live teacher as needed. This program builds confidence in students’ math ability and builds a deep understanding of math, connecting their problem-solving skills to day-to-day life and going beyond computation to true math comprehension. 

Other Resources

Middle School students also have access to subjects beyond Humanities and Math:

• Students can join our Speech and Debate team.
• Students can sign up for Middle School Innovations & Discovery.
• We offer wonderful online resources such as StoryBird for writing or BrainPOP for video creation, coding… and more!
• Resource Library has a plethora of resources available for you to checkout and use at home. Online access to our resource library allows you to browse and reserve materials online from the comfort of your own home! You can log in to the library interface at https://canyongrove.goalexandria.com/?lang=en&site=QUAI. If you need the login, contact your mentor or the front desk for assistance.