Middle School

WHERE THE BEST GET EVEN BETTER

It is our goal to start our Middle school children on the road toward feelings of success and achievement that come from commitment, ownership, and responsibility for their own educational progress.

New this year, our middle school is divided up into Lower Middle School 5th and 6th grades and Upper Middle School 7th and 8th grades.

Our Middle School experience capitalizes on our students’ increasing ability to think abstractly. GHA encourages our students to develop complex strategies for thinking about the world in which they live. We provide a structure in which students safely strive for independence and individual uniqueness. How do we do this?

• Every teacher is knowledgeable about the philosophy of the middle school.
• Every teacher places a high priority on building a school, team, and classroom climate that is conducive to learning.
• Every teacher recognizes that the middle school is different and unique from the elementary school and the high school and values working with this age group.
• Every teacher in the middle school understands the emotional and physical changes that are happening and are in tune with young adolescents, their needs and development and how they learn effectively.
• Every teacher uses a wide variety of instructional and differentiated strategies to foster curiosity, exploration, and creativity.
• Every teacher is committed to create a safe, supportive learning environment for ALL students.
• Every teacher helps prepare students to achieve and develop the self-confidence needed to handle the hurdles they will encounter in their lives beyond the classroom.
• Every teacher continually practices the following 4 habits which we believe contributes to the success of middle schoolers:
  • Time management
  • Effort
  • Attitude
  • Motivation

These key words add up to TEAM. Building a TEAM is our strength and what we're all about. The key to success is teamwork. Teachers, students, parents, administrators… all working together for our children’s future.

• Math 
  Math is taught in different groupings. Each group will study and learn the same core material at an appropriate level of complexity and intensity, allowing each student to grow at his or her own rate. Additionally the higher level groups will explore non-standard topics as well as extensions of standard concepts. They will also use advanced reasoning skills to solve problems that link more complex math concepts one to the other.
  
  Students are also given the opportunity to work at least once a week on the Larson Math Program. This is an individualized program set up by the teacher for each student to progress at their own pace while reinforcing the concepts taught in class. We also participate in the Math counts competition and the Math Olympiad.

Science

• The approach of our science program is Project-Based Inquiry (PBI). This approach not only teaches students the facts and formulas, but they learn science practices, scientific reasoning, and how to apply the facts and skills that they learn. This combination of project execution and inquiry-driven investigation is a hallmark of PBI learning.
  
• Language Arts
  This course consists of three distinct, yet integrated disciplines: literature, grammar/writing, and vocabulary.
  
  There is much emphasis on the study of grammar and writing, focusing on traditional grammar to provide a basis for instruction that shows the connection between principles of grammar/usage, mechanics, and effective writing. An understanding of the writing process is taught in order that the students learn to organize their ideas into clear, coherent paragraphs and essays. To assist in this at the beginning of every language arts lesson the students practice writing from prompts.
  In 6^th Grade the emphasis is on Dialogue writing style
  In 7^th Grade the emphasis is on the Persuasive Essay and Interviews
  In 8^th Grade the emphasis is on Research papers
  

We also participate annually in the Spelling Bee.

• Social Studies
  In 6^th grade the areas of study are American History from Colonization to Manifest Destiny.
  In 7^th grade American History we start with the Civil War through the mid 1900's.
  The studies culminate in 8^th grade with WWI to the Present, with a unit dedicated to WWII and the Holocaust.

In 7th and 8th grades, we also spend time learning how the United States government works and      focus on the Presidential Election. 

We also offer a course on the History of Israel.       

For Judaics see the Middle School section under the Judaics menu.

Support Services are available for both General and Jewish studies

1. School trips
   6^th Grade – Charleston in the Spring
   7^th Grade – Washington in the Spring
   8^th Grade – Israel in the Spring
   
   

   Mrs. Franeen Sarif has been a member of the GHA faculty since 1993 and is currently the Director of our Middle School. She has taught math and science in the 6th grade for several years as well as Pre-Algebra to 7th and 8th graders. Mrs. Sarif was born in Cape Town, South Africa and emigrated to the United States in 1986, where she made Atlanta her home. When she taught in Cape Town, Mrs. Sarif was the lead math and science teacher in the 7th grade for 4 years as well as the coach for the tennis team. In addition to Mrs. Sarif's administrative duties at GHA, she is also collaborating with 7th grade math and curriculum development.