Grade 7

Puberty is in full swing as the seventh graders’ limbs lengthen, movements become awkward, and interest in sexuality emerges. Physical Education presents exercises and games emphasizing precise movements that help the students adjust to their changing bodies. The Physiology Main Lesson further expands the seventh graders’ understanding of their changing bodies by emphasizing the reproductive system and nutrition. The Seventh Graders experience a fair amount of inner turmoil, and their social interactions may become intense and dramatic. Language Arts, Drama, and Creative Writing are tools for expressing the breadth of human emotion, whereby students learn to bring feeling into conscious expression.

Their attitude towards authority changes as their individuality emerges. The teacher works with the students’ developing capacities for independent critical thinking while also imbuing them with a sense of personal responsibility. Biographies of Renaissance artists, explorers, and inventors who present a picture of an individual living up to his potential and highest ideals are studied. The Social Studies lessons focus on the Renaissance and Reformation, and students must use research and writing skills to give written and oral presentations on the historical figures and periods studied.

Seventh Graders become increasingly interested in their surrounding environment. The study of African Culture and Geography brings awareness to the diversity of human culture and the students learn how to honor others for their individual gifts and talents. Algebra classes exercise the Seventh Graders’ faculty of abstract thought. Chemistry and Physics continue to employ the scientific method and further train the students in rigorous observation and the drawing of accurate conclusions.

The students continue to learn German, Spanish, Art, Handwork, Woodwork, Eurhythmy, P.E., Chorus, and Instrumental Music.