Math: Algebra; mathematical thinking/theory; geometry proofs
Language Arts: Creative writing; grammatical mechanics; critical thinking through literature
Science: Physics: mechanics; physiology: circulatory, respiratory and nervous systems; helio-centric astronomy; introduction to chemistry
History & Social Studies: End of Middle Ages; Age of exploration; the Renaissance; projects and oral reports
Geography: Geography of North and South America
Handwork: Hand sewing, embroidery
Woodworking: Initiation and Precision: May include bowl, metal-working, tool- making, symbol
Foreign Language: Continuing Spanish with reading and writing, grammatical study and language structure, cultures of American continent,
Los Conquistadores
Visual & Performing Arts: May include calligraphy; clay modeling; perspective drawing; principles of drawing (negative space, texture, etc.); painting; Art History; soapstone carving
Movement/Physical Education/Games: team games and team building, trust building games, complex strategy
The seventh grade child, standing on the brink of puberty, finds his/her reflection in the dominant curricular theme of the year, the Renaissance. The
transition from medieval to early modern thinking that this period traces represents a change in consciousness from viewing the world as a symbolic representation of the spiritual world, to empirical testing of the world through sense experiences. Exact measurement and factual accuracy became central to thought and culture. Individualism found its expression in artistic and intellectual achievements. The European continent was overtaken by great intellectual and political upheavals, as the old world gave way to a striving for a new world, both geographically and philosophically.
These conditions find their parallel in the early adolescent who begins to fully experience the dramatic metabolic and emotional upheavals of puberty. Just as Europe looked out from its ancient past, so in adolescence the child needs to look out from his/her own inner condition to counter the self-absorption so detrimental to this age. Consequently, the history and geography curricula are concerned with a very short period of time, 1400 – 1700, which gave rise to three great constellations: the cultural Renaissance, the spiritual Reformation, and the economic Age of Discovery.
In European geography, attention shifts from economic to cultural geography, becoming a vehicle for anthropological studies.
In the Language Arts, the child will continue to develop and strengthen listening, speaking, and writing skills using the biographical stories from the Age of Exploration, the Italian Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution. Expository and creative writing skills will be further expanded. Drawing upon the emerging feeling-life of the seventh grade child, s/he will learn to develop themes and form sentences out of the “inner character” of desire, wonder, and surprise.
The basic concepts of algebra and plane geometry are the predominant subjects of the mathematics curriculum in the seventh grade. The general application and transformation of formulae and equations in practical life situations form a central part of the main lesson math block. Conscious work with geometric proofs continues, building up through triangles and parallelograms to deductive proofs of the Pythagorean theorem using shear, reflection, and rotation.
The Perspective Drawing unit draws from the study of both history and mathematics. The child learns how the Renaissance artists used geometry principles to develop the laws of perspective, and practices the application of these laws in original drawings. In the sciences, work continues with physics. In mechanics, simple machines are introduced: the lever, inclined plane, wedge, wheel and axle, pulley and screw. The concepts of effort and resistance are presented, and in their calculation the child is reinforced in his/her understanding of ratio. Work in optics, heat, electricity, and
magnetism is extended, with an emphasis on the practical application of these phenomena.
Observation of outer nature now leads the child back again to a study of the human being. The seventh grade curriculum includes physiology units on the circulatory, respiratory, and nervous systems. Work with chemistry also begins in the seventh grade, developing out of the familiar process of combustion. The students are made familiar with elementary ideas of chemistry and how it does not exist in isolation but relates to industrial and economic life. Accurately executed descriptions and drawings are an integral part of this unit.
Music instruction is continued at a more advanced level with recorder, choral singing, and instrumental ensemble.
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