Our project- and place-based curriculum draws on the resources of the Bay Area, rotating through 8‑week blocks. While 7th and 8th graders share core lessons in Humanities and Science, they work in smaller, level-based groups for Math, Spanish, and writing.
Outdoor Learning Spaces
Our middle school classrooms open directly onto gardens and open-air workspaces, making the outdoors a natural part of the school day. Students tend the garden, hold discussions and work sessions outside, and treat the natural world as a place to investigate and care for.
Learning also reaches well beyond campus. Through Going Outs, students plan their own research trips: they contact experts, arrange the logistics, and travel into the community to gather what they need. Teacher-led field trips across the Bay Area bring classroom studies to life throughout the year.
Each year, middle school students also take a week-long trip together. Recent trips include backpacking, river rafting, and exploring New York City.
Electives
Four times a year, middle schoolers choose from three electives built around their own interests. Because each group of students is different, the offerings change every year and grow out of what that year's students are curious about. Recent electives have included musical production, micro-economy, gardening, dance, music, and art. Electives give students the chance to explore a passion, try something new, and see their own ideas shape what they learn.
