Students take one of the following courses as determined by the Mathematics Department after considering available grades, Math Inventory scores, teacher recommendation, and student application.
All courses are taught through the MYP lens, working to promote inquiry and application, and helping students become better communicators and problem solvers.
Pre-Algebra
This course is a standard 7th grade course; students should be proficient at operations with whole numbers and decimals, and work reasonably well with fractions and mixed numbers before beginning the course. Students will explore operations with positive and negative numbers (integers and rational numbers), proportional relationships (ratios, proportions, and percents), basic algebra (simplifying expressions and solving equations), and geometry (surface area, volume, constructions and scale drawings). The main text for this course is Big Ideas Math: Course 2.
Introduction to Integrated Math
This course is designed for students who need exposure to the 7th grade curriculum, but who have demonstrated that they would benefit from both an accelerated and enriched version of it. This course includes all of the topics listed above in Pre-Algebra but also includes advanced work whenever possible related throughout the course as well as geometry (transformations, angle relationships, triangles, circles and similar solids), data analysis (scatter plots, lines of best fit and data displays), and further algebraic concepts (inequalities, linear functions, exponents and scientific notation). The main text for this course is Big Ideas Math: Advanced 2.
Integrated Math 1
This course is designed for students who are ready for the study of high school level mathematics. Topics include solving linear equations and inequalities, graphing and writing linear functions, and systems of linear equations. Students also apply basic geometric terminology and reasoning skills to the topics of parallel lines, transformations, congruent triangles, and relationships within triangles. This course ends with the study of probability. The course has two main texts, Big Ideas Math: Algebra 1 and Big Ideas Math: Geometry.
Participation in the American Mathematics Competitions is expected of Middle School students in this advanced pathway.