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.   Sign up for classes.  

Mentor

Mr. Curtis is our Middle School mentor. 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. Curtis, 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. 

Sign up for classes.

Other Resources

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

• Students can sign up for our Innovative Learning Center (ILC), a weekly in-person experience on our campus in Pleasant Grove.  ILC includes a more middle school suitable version of CGA innovations classes such as Space center, Smartlab & Farm.
• Students can join our Speech and Debate team.
• Students can sign up for Outdoor Adventures.  (A more age appropriate version of Discovery)
• We offer wonderful online resources such as Storybird for writing or Brainpop for video creation, coding… and more!
• You can request other items through our Wishlist (Curriculum Request Form) and they will be reviewed. If approved, they will be available in October at the soonest.
• 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.
• Williamsburg Learning courses are also available.

 Speech and Debate

We are very excited to announce that Canyon Grove Academy has decided to start a speech and debate program for our middle school students in partnership with the Wasatch Independent Debate League. It usually costs $400-$500 per year to have a student compete in the Wasatch Independent Debate League, but we are providing this as part of our program for our middle school students! We would love to have your students sign up for the class. Here is what you need to know-

Class Details

Class Description: Beginning Speech and Debate

Day and Time: Wednesdays, 1-3 pm beginning at the start of the school year

Teacher: Emma Engstrom

Duration: Full school year

Cost: Free for Canyon Grove Students

Estimated Homework Time: Two hours per week.

Age Requirements: Students who are twelve years old at the beginning of the school year can interview for admittance. Students who are thirteen years old or older are allowed to register without an interview.

Class Limit: The class is limited to twenty students, so if you are interested sign up promptly.

How to sign up: Use this link- https://forms.gle/rkL9sYMPZMTbyHAb6

What commitments are associated with the class?:

• Attend class weekly

• Complete approximately two hours of homework weekly

• Students compete in a minimum of four tournaments per year (full day Saturday events)

• A parent judges at one tournament per student in the class per year (also full day Saturday events)

Who to contact with questions or to schedule an interview: Emma Engstrom, engstrome48@gmail.com, 385-288-0478

Why speech and debate?

Speech and debate is the best subject to focus on and develop two core skills- critical thinking, and verbal communication. Both of these skills are incredibly important to everyday life, and are also highly sought after by employers. Speech and debate develops these skills by getting kids speaking, debating, constructing and deconstructing arguments, and giving feedback to others every single class. Throughout the course of the class students will learn Impromptu Speaking, Oratory, Student Congress, Extemporaneous, Presidential Debate, and Lincoln Douglas Debate. Along the way students will have the opportunity to develop important skills and habits including identifying the structure of arguments, filtering out bias in one’s own and others arguments, evaluating the strength of positions from a variety of viewpoints, organizing and wording arguments and speeches, being able to speak off the cuff, researching skills, and speaking with confidence. We are so excited for our students to be able to learn these skills.

If you want a more in depth exploration of speech and debate as a core skill, you can take a look at this document here.

About the Wasatch Independent Debate League

The Wasatch Independent Debate League has been bringing speech and debate classes and competitions to middle and high school students on the Wasatch Front since 2008. It hosts robust speech and debate competitions with divisions for beginners as well as advanced competitors. The Wasatch Independent Debate League also provides classes which seek to provide students with experiences which will help them

1. Develop a set of perspectives that allow students to become comfortable taking risks, learn from failure and success, and prepare to be growth oriented adults.

2. Develop two core skills that are key to student success in life, namely critical thinking and verbal communication/argument.

3. Develop a set of perspectives that will allow them to be good citizens including a nuanced way of looking at the world, understanding that there is room for disagreement among reasonable people, and that argument is important to society but is only valuable if those involved can maintain respect for each other.

4. Gain confidence that they have ideas worth expressing and an ability to impact the world.

5. Experience a community that provides support for the first four outcomes as well as a healthy social environment.

You can learn more about the Wasatch Independent Debate League here.