Older Years
5th & 6th Grade - 7th & 8th Grade
The older elementary and middle school years are an exciting time of discovery and
development. Students begin to identify their own voices, take responsibility for
attaining goals and learn to effectively articulate their ideas. The curriculum
is largely project-based; students often work collaboratively as they explore, build,
experiment, reason and discuss their work. Teachers help students build strategies
until skills are mastered, while encouraging them to question, read and evaluate
a variety of resources in order to understand multiple perspectives. Students are
asked to develop questions, make choices, form opinions and reflect on their work
to assess their own progress. In addition, though teachers work with a standard
set of overall goals in mind, students can often choose their own focus of content
within each structured assignment. Group decision-making, role-playing, brainstorming
and other forms of problem solving contribute to clear classroom expectations and
behavioral guidelines.
In grades five and six, students work in both mixed and single grade groups, allowing
for a greater range of learning partners and providing opportunities for students
to take on different roles within the group. Over the two-year cycle, teachers get
to know each student's strengths and interests well and can differentiate the instruction
accordingly. Classes break into half groups for much of the day, and students begin
to travel to different rooms for math, science and Spanish. Each spring, the 5/6
classes spend several days at the Farm School in Athol, Massachusetts.
Seventh and eighth grade, known as The Unit, is the culminating experience at Fayerweather
with a program designed to address the needs of young adolescents. Learning experiences
are dynamic and vigorous, addressing the developmental shift to the abstract through
an in-depth approach to exploring ideas, concepts, people and history. Students
begin their day in a homeroom and then mix and move through different
groupings and subject areas. Unit students hold many leadership roles at the school:
they run the recycling program, host several All School Meetings, are special friends
to the younger grades and take part in weekly community service projects around
the school. Each winter, Unit students can take part in a play, varying from Shakespeare
to other pertinent cultural themes. In May, the Unit spends a week in either New
York City or Washington, DC as part of the curriculum.
Unique to Fayerweather, 7th and 8th graders elect two student representatives to
serve as voting members of the Board of Directors. Students leave the Unit confident,
eager to make a difference in the world and prepared for the challenges of high
school.