Middle School (6-8)
Welcome to the Jahn School Middle School section! Middle school is where our students are becoming young adolescents. Our team members are focused on addressing their intellectual, social-emotional, and developmental needs in a positive and supportive learning environment.
CURRICULUMS
English Language Arts (ELA)
Students in grades 6-8 use Skyline for English Language Arts. Skyline ELA is the district’s first digital standards-aligned, culturally responsive curriculum. Skyline was developed under the Curriculum Equity Initiative. The Skyline ELA curriculum incorporates contemporary and culturally responsive texts, with over 80% of texts uniquely selected for CPS students.
Some of the features of the Skyline curriculum for ELA include:
- Mini-lessons (challenge, review, and language support)
- Lesson-level supports for diverse learners and English learners
- Alignment to social-emotional learning (SEL) standards
- Chicago-based learning examples
Math
Students in grades 6-8 use enVision for mathematics. EnVision focuses on deep conceptual math understanding aided by visual models, student-centered projects, 3-act tasks, and personalized learning. EnVision offers comprehensive vertical alignment from Kindergarten through 8th grade to ensuring all mathematical standards are taught in the most effective way. EnVision combines problem-based learning with visual learning. Students learn more about math by solving rich, reality-based problems. They gain a deeper, clearer understanding of math concepts with visual models and scaffolds in every lesson.
Science
Students in grades 6-8 use Skyline for science. Skyline Science was created in partnership with Amplify Science by taking the foundational curriculum of Amplify Science and customizing for the specific needs and vision of Chicago Public Schools for an equitable, high quality instructional material available to all CPS staff and students. The Skyline science courses are highly interactive, with hands-on learning opportunities that support peer-to-peer interactions and laboratory experiences/digital simulations that allow students to test their hypotheses.
All 6-8th grade students will receive the CPS mandated Sexual Health curriculum (unless parents choose to opt their student out).
Social Studies
Students in grades 6-8 use Skyline for social studies. Skyline Social Science is a curriculum that incorporates proven and powerful social science practices that support student engagement in inquiry-based instruction. The materials are designed to ensure culturally sustaining pedagogical approaches to learning, including how the essential questions (EQs), enduring understandings (EUs), and content are designed to reflect the cultures, identities and lived experiences of students.
Students in grades 6-8 use Skyline for social studies. Skyline Social Science is a curriculum that incorporates proven and powerful social science practices that support student engagement in inquiry-based instruction. The materials are designed to ensure culturally sustaining pedagogical approaches to learning, including how the essential questions (EQs), enduring understandings (EUs), and content are designed to reflect the cultures, identities and lived experiences of students.
Courses offer opportunities for students to identify, gather, analyze, categorize, and evaluate information from multiple, culturally relevant sources/documents while considering the origin, reliability, point of view, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources.
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
Students in grades 6-8 use the Second Step curriculum for SEL lessons. Children need social-emotional skills to thrive both in the classroom and in life.
The Second Step curriculum teaches children techniques to:
- Gain confidence
- Set goals
- Make better decisions
- Collaborate with others in work and play
- Navigate the world more effectively
PARTNERSHIPS
Starting in 2024, Jahn's middle school team began a three-and-a-half year partnership with the University of Chicago's To&Through Project. This partnership is an incredible opportunity for Jahn to put into practice a more equitable and responsive learning environment where our middle grades students can thrive.
Our team, along with administration, attend quarterly professional development sessions, analyze and make meaning of quantitative and qualitative data, and work with a dedicated coach who visits Jahn monthly.
For more information, visit the To&Through Project.
MIDDLE SCHOOL EDUCATION TEAM
CLASSROOM PAGES