BKG Course Work

“Humanities define who we are as a people. That is their power – to remind us of what we each have to offer, and what we all have in common. To help us understand our history and imagine our future. To give us hope in the moments of struggle and to bring us together when nothing else.”
​– Michelle Obama

In Humanities, The Brooklyn Green School students will become powerful writers, engaged readers, budding historians, and global citizens. Our Humanities curriculum, which integrates reading, writing, and Social Studies, focuses on ecoliteracy and global citizenship. Throughout the year, students will discover the roles belief and value systems play in their lives, the lives of the characters we read, and throughout history. They will work to understand and debate multiple perspectives.

Students will complete multimodal projects that have a real-world impact, connecting the classroom learning to their enacted global citizenship. They will give “TED Talks” and produce travel writing, poetry anthologies, and infographics. By the end of the school year, sixth graders will have developed a robust writing portfolio and showcase of projects to inspire and enhance their ability to make meaningful change in the world.

Students are actively involved in the learning process as they develop sound mathematical habits. Students explore mathematics as a language of communication and reasoning. They learn important questions to ask themselves about any situation that can be modeled mathematically. They use mathematics as a tool for solving a wide variety of problems, involving many different approaches and styles.Students learn that it is more important to be able to explain their mathematical reasoning than it is to get a “right answer” by following an algorithm without understanding their process.
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We focus on strengthening students’ skills in the areas of accuracy, note-taking, study habits, organization, and test-taking skills. The middle school math curriculum strengthens and expands on students’ work in all mathematical operations with fractions and decimals. Other topics include: measurement, ratios, proportions, percentages, 2-dimensional geometry, and probability.

“We will always have STEM with us. Some things will drop out of the public eye and will go away, but there will always be science, engineering, and technology. And there will always, always be mathematics.” -Katherine Johnson

Science—and therefore science education—is central to the lives of everyone. A high-quality science education at MS 898 means that students will develop an in-depth understanding of content and develop key skills—communication, collaboration, inquiry, problem solving, and flexibility—that will help them be successful in navigating their lived environments now and in the future. In line with this, MS 898 scientists will start the year off with a strong foundational unit in design thinking with technology, mathematics and engineering innovation embedded in each investigation. Students will discover that problem-solving is a process that involves brainstorming, prototyping, testing, refining designs and retesting in the design unit. Additionally with a focus on project learning and issues of sustainability, ethics and innovations, sixth grade scientists will explore the following big ideas based on the newly written.

Next Generation Science standards:

• Energy
• From Molecules to Organisms
• Heredity
• Earth Systems
• Sustainability: Human Impact on the Environment

The BKG Health Education Curriculum will build students’ knowledge and skills in relation to mental, physical and social-emotional health. This course will will address each dimension of health in a culturally relevant manner. Students will participate in real world application of ideas and theories that will expand their knowledge of their own personal health, the health of their community and ways they can be proactive to help themselves and others to live a healthier lifestyle.

The health education program motivates students to improve and maintain their health, prevent disease, and reduce risky behaviors. Students will participate in a variety of health education units outlined by the New York State Health Education Framework.These units include: mental and emotional health, substance use and abuse, injury prevention and safety, family life and sexuality, nutrition and physical activity, HIV/AIDS, disease control and prevention, consumer, community and environmental health. This course will culminate in a service learning project related to improving the health of our community. ​