A Day in the Life of a Middle School Student

As a 6th grade student at Fondy STEM, Ava is able to experience a true middle school experience for the first time. She’s able to experience having more than one teacher and is able to go from one class to another. Ava is also excited because a main focus of STEM is centered around being outside and doing project-based activities. She still gets to learn about Social Studies, which she loves, and is able to take Art and Spanish classes. But it’s being outside, learning about nature and spending time in the nature center that she loves most. The outdoor classroom is her favorite place to learn and her teachers enjoy doing lessons in that space. She always liked science, but never knew just how much science was happening in the world around her! Ava now knows so much about different animal and plant species and is excited to keep learning more!

Her schedule looks like this:

• On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, she has an 8 period schedule:
  • Mentor Meeting
    • This is where her class gets together in the morning twice/week. Announcements are made and the teacher often has a leadership activity, game or something else that’s fun.
  • 1st Hour: Math
    • Ava loves math. It’s full of activities and students work in groups and individually to solve problems. The teacher always does a mini-lesson. It moves at a good pace, but Ava does her homework and keeps up! She’ll be in Algebra 1 by 8th grade.
  • 2nd Hour: Social Studies
    • History is one of her favorite subjects. Ava is learning a lot and the class is doing a geography project that’s really interesting.
  • 3rd Hour: Spanish
    • Ava never thought she’d be able to speak a foreign language and thought she’d have to wait until 8th grade to even try. At STEM, she’s taking Spanish 1 with all the other 6th graders!
  • 4th Hour: Coding
    • Coding is a really cool thing to be able to do. It’s not as hard as Ava thought and she’s actually creating new things from code on her computer.
  • Lunch and Recess
    • No cell phones are allowed at STEM (students keep them in their lockers) so lunch is a great time to sit with friends. Some kids bring decks of Uno cards, others actually play board games. Most just sit, talk, and eat!
  • 5th Hour: Science
    • Often in the science lab. So much fun learning about the world!
  • 6th Hour: Art/Media
    • Art or Media are every day and a lot of fun!
    • Ava is also in Orchestra and has that twice a week during this hour.
  • 7th Hour: Band/Orchestra
    • Ava plays the violin and alternates between orchestra and study hall every other day.
  • 8th Hour: English/Language Arts
    • This is also a really fun class. Reading amazing, good books and learning about how to write papers. This often pertains to the projects we’re doing in our classes.
• On Wednesdays and Thursdays, the schedule is different. Mentor meeting is in the beginning of the day, but then it’s only hours 1-4 on Thursdays and 5-7 on Fridays. This is fun, because the classes are longer and it gives Ava time to go to the nature center, on a trip to the public library, or time to do a hands-on science lab. One Friday/month also includes a Clubs day. This is a half day devoted to a club of their choice. Ava decided to check out the gardening club. Next semester, she’s thinking she will check out the Science Olympiad Club, which does a lot of fun activities and includes a big competition.