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Middle School Grades (6th - 8th Grades) » Math

Math

In middle school, students build upon their understanding of concepts which were presented in the elementary grades.  Students delve deeper into basic concepts, using fractions, decimals, integers, multiples, and factors.  Students are taught how to solve equations using strategies and formulas, how to interpret data sets, how to compute probability, and how to translate word expressions into algebraic expressions and equations.  Pre-Algebra is the standard math course for our eighth grade students.

For the very highest of our math achievers, the school offers a full Pre-Algebra class to seventh grade students and a 9th grade Algebra class to eighth grade students.  Students gain entrance to these two higher level math courses through scores received on the Iowa Assessments standardized test, which is administered each year at the school. 

Textbooks used: 

  • Sixth grade:    
    • Mathematics:  Course 1
  • Seventh grade:
    • Mathematics: Course 2
    • Mathematics:  Course 3
  • Eighth grade: 
    • Mathematics:  Course 3
    • Algebra 1
  • Use appropriate language and vocabulary to represent mathematics in both oral and written formats
  • Solve problems using multiple strategies
  • Recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas
  • Understand relationships among numbers, including whole numbers, fractions, decimals, integers, multiples, and factors
  • Identify and use the properties of math, including the commutative, associative, identity, inverse zero, and distributive property
  • Understand important aspects of measurement, including customary systems, the metric system, perimeter, area, surface area, and volume
  • Use appropriate strategies and formulas to solve equations
  • Describe spatial relations using coordinate geometry
  • Create and interpret data sets to include histograms, stem and leaf plots, box and whisker plots, and scatter plots
  • Make predictions and conjectures to formulate questions based on data
  • Compute probabilities and use proportionality
  • Understand relations and functions
  • Use algebraic symbols to solve equations