Grades 7/8
"Synapse caters to every individual student's needs in a way that makes learning fun and meaningful." Synapse Student
Social Studies
Synapse social studies Program Highlights
Inquiry-based creative projects that allow students to draw on personal experiences.
Cross-curricular integration, inspiring connections and student-driven inquiry.
Opportunity to experience various perspectives and understand the driving factors of decisions (e.g. motivations, thoughts, feelings, etc) through simulation.
Exploration of ethical and moral dilemmas.
Explicit active reading strategies with an emphasis on analysis of primary and secondary sources as well as supporting literature for each topic.
Utilizing Synapse’s EQ language and SEL competencies to reflect on and communicate student experiences.
Investigating Core Moments or Periods in History
Contemporary World History and U.S. Government
- 20th Century Events and Globalization
- History of Colonization
- World Wars
- Model U.N.
- Change Makers of Resistance
- The Constitution
- History of Indigenous People in the Americas
- Executive Government & Legislative Process
- Judicial Branch & Supreme Court
- Student-Inspired Study
Project Highlight
Article II of the Constitution
Students looked at examples of presidential powers in the news. They worked together in groups to simulate presidential Cabinet meetings, where they encountered crisis scenarios and advised their president on the best course of action. After the role play, students put on their reporting hats to write news articles about the crisis and how the president decided to handle the scenario, including which powers they used. Students enjoyed advocating for their political agendas in the simulations while developed reading, research, writing, and communication skills through the project.
Language Arts
Synapse language arts Program Highlights
Inquiry-based creative projects that allow students to draw on personal experiences.
Cross-curricular integration, inspiring connections and student-driven inquiry.
Opportunity to experience various perspectives and understand the driving factors of decisions (e.g. motivations, thoughts, feelings, etc) through simulation.
Exploration of ethical and moral dilemmas.
Explicit active reading strategies with an emphasis on analysis of primary and secondary sources as well as supporting literature for each topic.
Utilizing Synapse’s EQ language and SEL competencies to reflect on and communicate student experiences.
Project HighlIght
Curriculum Topics
Deepen language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) as they explore and respond to world literature and expository texts. Students focus on:
- Writing across a variety of genres, including: personal narratives, thesis essays, research papers, comic style biographies, poetry, literary responses, scripts, and short stories.
- Building writing skills from the basic building blocks of spelling, vocabulary, and parts of speech to understanding and implementing sentence grammar that they can apply to written projects.
- Interpreting and implementing literary devices, such as simile, metaphor, alliteration, hyperbole, and sensory detail.
- Reading to make connections and inferences, compose mental images, identify vocabulary, and annotate for meaning and cultivating confidence and taste as independent readers.
Literacy Electives
Literacy topics can deep-dive through elective courses that often explore topics outside of the core curriculum. These electives are often student run and a way for students to show their leadership and share their interests:
Examples of literacy electives:
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Voice of Synapse Newsletter
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Creative Writing
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Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X. Kendi
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Rolling Warrior by Judith Heumann & Kristen Joiner
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Things to Make & Do in the Fourth Dimension by Matt Parker
Math
Synapse MATH Program Highlights
Synapse Middle School Math is a community of problem solvers who build joyful connections and practice meaningful skills so that every student can express their unique mathematical voice.
Our philosophy:
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Mistakes are beautiful
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Use the best tool for the job
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Math is about more than just calculation
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Math is a creative endeavor
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Everyone is a “math person”
Middle School Math Program Overview
In the Middle School, Math meets several times a week. Students work through a problem based curriculum that develops standards based skills and mathematical practices.
Low floor, high ceiling mathematical tasks ensure all students are able to find appropriate level of challenge.
Rich investigations, from both applied and pure mathematics, provide students with the opportunity to apply their imagination, creativity, collaboration and experience the thrill of mathematical discovery.
Students develop authentic problem solving skills including learning to pose their own problems, identifying relevant information and making reasonable assumptions and estimation.
Understanding is developed by moving from concrete and visual representations towards more abstract models.
Computational fluency is built through puzzles, games and mathematical investigations that support number sense and deep conceptual understanding while deemphasizing speed and memorization.
Electives
Math topics can deep-dive through elective courses that often explore topics outside of the core curriculum:
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“Math Jam”
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Illustrating Flatland
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Sports Analytics
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Examining Injustice Through Mathematics
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Mathematical Art
MATHletics
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Practice for math competitions such as American Mathematical Competition, Bay Area Math Olympiad, MOEMS, and Girl’s Adventures in Math
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Focused on developing problem solving strategies, skills, and love of challenging problems
Project Highlights
7/8 Math Election Project - Winner!
The Puzzle Narwhal
The 7/8 Election Project exists at the intersection of mathematics, political science, social-emotional learning, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Students learn to detect gerrymandering by examining the geometry of congressional districts - how its area compares to its perimeter, how close to a circle the shape is, etc. The project concludes with students learning about statistics and random sampling by conducting a community-wide election on change-making topic that impacts the whole school.
A special thank you to Synapse alumna Claire Lu, who designed and nominated the logo!
Curriculum Topics
Students have explored:
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The Mathematics of Tetris: Geometric transformations,: similarity, congruence, dilation, rotation, reflection & translation
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The Mathematics of Democracy: Random sampling, data literacy, gerrymandering, circles & irregular polygons
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The Mathematics of Estimation: Proportional relationships, scientific notation, Fermi estimation
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Expressions and Equations, Determining “nth” Case from Pattern Progressions
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Polynomials; Expanding, Simplifying, and Factoring
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Solving Linear Equations
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Functions, linear equations, linear inequalities
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Systems of linear equations, exponent rules
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Intro to quadratic functions
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Algebra
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Geometry
STEAM
Synapse Science and STEAM Program Highlights
Low floor, high ceiling science projects ensure all students are able to find appropriate level of challenge and opportunities to dive deeper.
Guest experts in the current field of study provide expertise, perspective, and inspiration through virtual interactions, guidance of experiments, and accompaniment on field trips.
Philosophy of the STEAM Program at Synapse
We want students from Synapse:
To have the skills to question what they want, discover what they want and accurately and effectively communicate what they want.
To be confident and competent in their knowledge and skills.
To practice and develop their critical thinking skills.
To be creative in their ideas and in their problem solving.
To be curious about the world.
Electives
In the Middle School, STEAM Electives are offered, reflecting teacher and student passions in niche courses.
- Forensic Science
- Cryptozoology
- Art & Science of Letters
- Biomimicry
- Architecture Exploration
- Wildlife Conservationists
- Fun with Fermentation!
- Women in STEAM
Curriculum topics
Students have explored:
- Climate Science
- Biomechanics
- Physics
- Data Analysis
- Universal Design
- Bathymetry
- Weather Science
- Neurobiology
- Ecosystems and Human Activity
Project Highlights
Ninja Warrior
In STEAM 7/8, students embark on a trimester-long exploration of classic physics and biomechanics topics through the lens of the popular obstacle course TV show, American Ninja Warrior. By analyzing athletes movements, exploring concepts with hands-on experimentation, students develop a deep understanding of theoretical physics and biomechanics content that is strengthened by the American Ninja Warrior application.
To end the project, students go through an in-depth innovation/design-thinking process to highlight their content understanding by designing their own obstacle. With the help of athletes from the show, visiting engineers and scientists, students build their function and life-size designs in the Makerspace. For each version of this project, the project scope and details are informed by the year's Change Maker and theme.
For 2022, Judy Heumann, a disability rights activist was the Change Maker, and students designed accessible obstacles utilizing Universal Design principles.
SEL
Synapse Social-emotional learning Program Highlights
Students in the Middle School dig deeper into social-emotional learning through the following avenues:
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8 Competencies of the EQ Model
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More leadership through OASIS (Open Agenda Student Initiated Sessions)
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Identities and the power of knowing our own identity and be appreciated for our full identities
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Address current social-emotional issues, digital citizenship, health and wellness
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Student question and problem solve current situations as a group
EQ Seminar Questions
How might awareness of our social identities impact a positive learning environment?
How can we create an inclusive school culture that celebrates our social-emotional and academic differences?
How can we use our understanding of the “Choose Yourself” section of our EQ model to be more intentional with our thoughts, feelings, and actions?
How can the practices of pursue noble goal and increase empathy in the real world support our digital interactions so that our online presence is positive and inspiring?
Project Highlights
Curriculum Topics
Students have explored:
- The Big 8 Identifiers
- Understanding ourselves in the digital/global world
- Identifying our impact through understanding our perspectives and choices
- Acting intentionally to affect changes in our spheres of influence
- Perceptions surrounding adolescence
- Debunking common myths or labels associated with being a teenager
Performing Arts
Synapse Performing Arts program highlights
Our Performing Arts program includes all Synapse students, empowering them to express themselves through performance through age appropriate performance experiences. In addition to classes and ensembles, we offer regular informal performance opportunities for students of any level during our all-school assemblies.
The Middle School: Play, Listen, Choose & Innovate
In the Middle School, students begin playing instruments in small ensembles.
Students who study an instrument at home are invited to bring that instrument to school to play as a part of any ensemble. Ensemble curriculum is designed to accommodate and challenge students at every musical level.
Students are challenged in Collaboration, Inspiration, Empathy, Iteration.
Ensembles
Every 7th & 8th grade student chooses one ensemble to focus on for the year:
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Rock Band
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Jazz Band
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World Music Ensemble
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Musical Theater Ensemble
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Digital Composition
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Chamber & Composition
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Brass Ensemble
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Middle School Choir
Performing Arts in 7/8
Curriculum Topics
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Explore how rehearsal technique allows students to take action as leaders in ensembles and prepare unique interpretations of songs.
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Experiment with chord progressions, improvisation, leadership, self-directed learning, and music selection.
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Set challenging goals for themselves on their instruments.
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Develop instrumental, vocal, and compositional techniques.
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Collaborate to play and progress both individually and as an ensemble.
Visual Arts
Synapse visual arts Program Highlights
In Visual Arts and Design students use the Innovation Model to explore creative connections to academic areas of focus. Students analyze works in historical context, develop an understanding of artistic and design concepts and execute their visions through experimentation with new skills and a variety of media.
7th & 8th grades: Study of the self & social commentary in art
In 5th & 6th grades, students expand on their visual arts skills, with an emphasis on learning the impact of art in culture and creating original independent works.
Study how the human hand has been at the center of visual art history not just as the main tool of creation, but also as an important focus of representation, revealing the development of artistic skills and cultural trends in key periods.
Explore how we use hands to communicate and what function do they serve as an everyday tool in our lives.
Explore how works of art are transformed through performance, movement and dance.
Design a work of public art appropriate to and reflecting a location (site-specific).
Use the Synapse Innovation model to explore the stages of design thinking while upending traditional approaches and materials to unearth new ways of creating wearable art.
pROJECT HIGHLIGHT
The Hands Project
Develop increasing skill in the use of at least three different media while exploring the representation of the human hand in visual art history.
Language
Synapse language Program Highlights
The Synapse Language Program is an exposure program designed to inspire the love, excitement and joy for language learning promoting effective language acquisition and long-term retention. Teachers curate and design the innovative academic resources and curriculum promoting student agency. The program facilitates rewarding, relevant, respectful and celebratory cultural engagement opportunities between Synapse students and the communities of their target language.
Middle school: spanish & mandarin
In the Middle School, students can choose to learn either Spanish or Mandarin. All Middle School students take a language, and some students will take both in the course of their middle school career.
Program elements
Practice written & spoken language acquisition, including Chinese calligraphy for Mandarin students.
Celebrate cultural context, learning the history of the language and cultural festivals & practices.
Explore the yearly Change Maker in the vocabulary of your language.
Project Highlight
Our Middle School students selected an Ancient Chinese poem where they get to learn about the history and read the words in Mandarin. Students learn about the important poets and look at historical Chinese museum artifacts in different art formats like calligraphy writing, painting, carving, etc. After selecting a format, they get to teach the poem to our Interactive Lab guests.
