Academics
PROGRAMS / Middle SChool
Specialty Classes
Beyond the core academic program, middle school students at Grace engage in a rich range of disciplines that develop them as artists, athletes, thinkers, and citizens. These are not peripheral pursuits, but rather where some of the most distinctive and formative learning of the middle school years takes place.
Skill, Voice, and Creative Risk
Visual arts in the Middle School asks students to look carefully, think critically, and create deliberately. Fifth graders build on their foundational skills in drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, and ceramics, with an emphasis on experimentation and developing novel methods. Their work connects directly to the classroom studies: A fall trip to the Cloisters introduces medieval art and architecture in connection with their history curriculum, and a collaborative Digital Arts Lab project—using image scanning and Adobe Photoshop—brings their drawings into a new medium.
In sixth grade, students expand these skills through exploring multi-step processes, practicing through printmaking, cardboard construction, and ceramic sculpture. Their work culminates in a lamp unit, in which each student designs and wires a working lamp with a sculpted ceramic base and hand-painted shade. In eighth grade, students use a broad range of media to interpret the world around them, developing a distinctive artistic voice through open-ended prompts that reward both technical skill and creative risk-taking. Students with a serious interest in visual art are encouraged to elect Art Language in eighth grade, a hybrid studio and art history course that examines how artists across time have made work that speaks to their particular moment in history.
Collaboration, Craft, and Performance
Performing arts in the Middle School encompasses musical ensembles, dance, and drama—three disciplines that share a commitment to collaboration, craft, and the courage to perform.
Ensemble
Ensemble participation begins in fifth grade, when students choose band, chorus, or strings, meeting multiple times each week including small group lessons by discipline. In seventh and eighth grade, ensembles combine across grades, pushing students to perform a wider and more demanding repertoire, with performances at winter and spring concerts in addition to many other opportunities throughout the year. Students with a passion for music history are encouraged to elect Classical Music History or Jazz Music History—courses offered on a two-year rotation and which include a field trip to the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, New York.
Dance
In dance, fifth graders explore ballet and contemporary movement, while sixth graders trace the history and technique of jazz dance from its African roots through hip hop. Seventh and eighth grade dancers may elect to participate in the Dance Company—a performance-based course that trains students across multiple styles while also introducing them to the behind-the-scenes work of costuming, budgeting, and staging.
Drama
In drama, fifth graders develop confidence and storytelling through improvisational theater. Sixth graders use Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed to explore questions of justice and empathy, culminating in a student-devised performance. Seventh graders study the American Method of acting, workshopping scenes in the format of a professional acting class. Eighth graders spend the year in an immersive study of Romeo and Juliet—approaching Shakespeare as actors, and leaving with both fluency in the language and compassion for the characters.
Growing Into a Language
World languages in the Middle School builds on the foundation established in the Lower School, deepening students’ proficiency and expanding their engagement with the cultures of the Spanish- and French-speaking worlds. In fifth grade, students continue developing vocabulary and conversational skills, with an emphasis on full immersion in the target language from the first day of class. Across sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, the focus shifts progressively from spoken fluency toward more complex grammatical structures, reading comprehension, and active written expression. By eighth grade, students are engaging with authentic texts, conducting oral presentations, and using language as a genuine tool for communication and deeper cultural understanding.
“The Grace Performing Arts program organically fosters collaboration, community and personal growth through artistic expression.”
Elizabeth Abrams
Middle School Choral Director and Grade 6 Advisor
From the studio to the stage, the Tech Lab to the debate team, students are developing as whole people. Every discipline asks something different of them, and every experience helps them grow.
Athletes, Competitors, and Teammates
Physical education in the Middle School continues to develop students as athletes, competitors, and teammates, with an emphasis on strategy, character, and a deepening understanding of the games they play. Students analyze performance, identify strengths and weaknesses, and problem-solve together—developing physical skills alongside the habits of sportsmanship and fair play. A wide range of sports units ensures breadth of exposure, and students in sixth grade and above have the opportunity to compete in interscholastic athletics, including cross country, soccer, volleyball, basketball, softball, baseball, and track and field.
Digital Literacy for a Changing World
Formal technology instruction continues in the Middle School, building on the foundations established in the Lower School and growing in sophistication with each passing year. Fifth graders develop the digital literacy and organizational skills essential for middle school success, including an introduction to design thinking, 3D printing, circuitry, and basic programming. Sixth graders deepen their understanding of digital citizenship—exploring bias, clickbait, and online safety—before moving into hands-on projects in artificial intelligence, filmmaking, and LEGO robotics. Across the division, students develop robust AI and digital literacy, learning to understand, evaluate, and work thoughtfully alongside emerging technologies that are reshaping the world they are navigating. In seventh and eighth grade, students are encouraged to elect Tech Lab, a creative arts elective that combines technology and imagination: seventh graders learn JavaScript, create stop-motion animation, and explore physical computing, while eighth graders dive into game design, 3D modeling, web development, and augmented and virtual reality.
From Awareness to Action
Service learning is one of the most distinctive features of a Grace education. In sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, students move beyond awareness to action, studying pressing social issues in depth and designing service projects that respond to them in a meaningful way. Sixth graders examine ability and accessibility, learning about the history of the disability rights movement and advocating for the disabled community. Seventh graders explore climate disruption and sustainability, investigating how young people can engage with these challenges in their everyday lives. Eighth graders study the roots of hunger in the United States, working with local organizations to help address food insecurity close to home. In each case, the projects students design are their own—research-driven, community-facing, and rooted in the belief that Grace students have both the responsibility and the capacity to contribute to a more just world.
Ancient Texts, Contemporary Questions
Bible in the Middle School is taught as a course in literary and historical study—an intellectually serious introduction to texts that have shaped human culture, ethics, and imagination for millennia. Fifth graders explore the New Testament, focusing on the four Gospels and the distinctive ways each tells the story of Jesus: his teachings, his parables, and the ethical questions his life raises. The course asks students to read carefully, think critically, and consider how these ancient texts speak to contemporary life, refining skills that serve them across every discipline.
