8TH GRADE CURRICULUM

The Second Step Middle School Program focuses on skills and concepts that are designed to help students both in and out of school. These include:
 
Mindsets and Goals: Students learn about ways to grow their brains and get smarter, along with research-based strategies for achieving goals and handling difficult situations.
 
Values and Friendships: Students learn to identify their personal values and use those values to make good decisions and build strong, positive relationships.
 
Thoughts, Emotions, and Decisions: Students learn the positive role emotions play in their lives, how to handle unhelpful thoughts and strong emotions, and specific strategies for calming down.
 
Serious Peer Conflicts: Students learn how to identify and avoid serious conflicts, resolve conflicts that can't be avoided, think about other people's perspectives, and help stop bullying and harassment at school.
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Program: Scope and Sequence - English 
             

WORKING TOGETHER

​We understand educating our children requires a partnership. Students need support at home and from the community to succeed in school and life. Each student is unique and learning styles are different. We believe the diversity of our school community, which in simplest terms means the ways in which people are different, enhances the district’s ability to implement our goals. Education involves acknowledging and valuing what is comfortable and known and leading students to an understanding and appreciation of what is new and different. Encountering different perspectives, ideas, ways of thinking, and understandings is an essential part of this process. Through their experience with such differences students develop the ability to think critically, to make informed judgments, to imagine, to understand, and to grow. Helping students understand their connection to the world and to each other will enable them not only to achieve their highest potentials, but also to serve as strong and effective leaders. This principle is at the heart of our mission to foster unlimited possibilities.