Curious scientists & explorers. Lifelong Problem Solvers It's more than what I achieve. It's who I become.

Middle School

Grades 4-5 & 6-8

Detroit Country Day Middle School provides an exciting, innovative, and experiential learning environment. Based on research and built on a solid, proven educational foundation, our customizable curriculum benefits each child’s development. Our goal is to create independent and resilient learners by encouraging students to extend themselves beyond their comfort zone and celebrate success in a community that values the student-teacher relationship. Our Advisory program provides students with a place of belonging, an adult advocate, and a person that understands cognitive development in these critical years.

Our dedicated faculty recognize that every child develops and matures at their own rate. Students tackle challenging curricula and are encouraged to think critically, collaborate, and make mistakes fearlessly. We take great pride in our history as educators and in seeing our students become resilient and successful as they continue to shape fulfilling futures.

One of our foundational goals is to inspire students to pursue excellence and achieve their best as they explore new interests and ideas and stretch themselves to discover their talents and abilities. As educators, we care deeply about providing a relevant and challenging curriculum, and we work tirelessly to develop relationships with the students that support them in pursuing their dreams.
~ Peter Gordon, Middle School Director

Core Curriculum

The first academic priority in the Middle School is the development of thinking, writing, and study skills.

English

The Detroit Country Day Middle School English program focuses primarily on the development of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The program also seeks to foster the enjoyment of language, the appreciation of literature, the expression of creativity and the development of logical, critical thinking.

Middle school language arts teachers employ a variety of student-centered approaches to create activities designed to further develop students’ abstract, logical and critical thinking skills:

Directed independent reading projects
Student-directed literature circles
Emphasis on active reading, including directed reading activities, note-taking and reader response journals
Use of reading blogs to share thoughts about literature
Use of Google Docs to facilitate the writing process, particularly reader response and revision
Presentation of textual evidence in literature paragraphs and essays
Combining research evidence and personal reflection to defend a thesis
Film study

History

The goal of the Middle School history department is for students to develop a sound understanding and appreciation for people, places and events that have shaped the world in which they live today.

The history department believes that in order to foster and reinforce academic growth a variety of learning techniques must be utilized. Skills strongly emphasized and practiced throughout the history curriculum are: technical reading, identifying main ideas, note-taking formats, paragraph and essay writing, interpretive analysis and oral expression. Historical information and academic skills are explored through cooperative learning exercises, interdisciplinary activities, computer web quests, individual research projects, audio-visual aids and roleplaying activities. We are striving to develop students who will be able to take factual material and apply it to formulate thoughts, ideas and conclusions of their own.

Math

The Middle School math department offers a rich variety of course to meet the individual needs of the student. Emphasis is placed on applying computational skills to quantitative situations. The aim is to present concepts in a manner that is engaging and allows students to think critically while developing mathematical understandings and connections.

For students who complete the Middle School mathematics sequence early, advanced courses are offered within the Middle School and for some, the Upper School. The department provide numerous opportunities for students to compete in local, regional, state, national and international competitions.

Science

World Language

Electives

include a variety of offerings to meet the skill levels and interests of our students.

Music

The primary goal of the Music department is to provide excellent musical experiences through performance in instrumental music (band and orchestra) and choral music. Through its multi-level structure, the instrumental program offers the beginning student the opportunity to perform while giving the advanced players the proper environment in which to further develop their skills and express their musicality. The choral program is open to every student who wishes to participate. Each ensemble offers a unique experience.

Physical Education

Theatre, Dance, and Communications Arts

The Theatre, Dance, & Communication Arts department offers students the opportunity to explore their creativity in a nurturing and supportive setting. Courses offered include combined speech and theatre courses for each grade level in addition to an honors level for eighth grade students, and dance rotator courses for each grade level as well as a year-long course for the more advanced dancers.

Visual Arts

The Middle School Visual Arts department offers arts instruction for all students. In 6th and 7th grades, we offer both a rotating and a year-long art class. In 8th grade, student choose a in-depth, year-long option.

The program embodies creativity in a collaborative, safe, approachable environment. The focus is to create artists by instilling the eight Studio Habits (Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education, 2007). While core artistic skills are emphasized, fun and enjoyment of learning is an important element as well.

STEAM

STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, art and math.

The mission, philosophy and purpose of the Detroit Country Day Middle School STEAM education is to foster a learning environment in which students solve problems and create new designs using concepts and skills from math, science and technology and integrating the Design Thinking Process.

Through authentic projects based on real-world endeavors and involving a range of engineering disciplines, students will learn problem- solving strategies, apply math and science knowledge, and grow in their capacity for creativity, fun, and hands-on learning. All sixth grade students will attend STEAM for one goal. In addition, we offer 2 additional rotator options in STEAM for 6th graders, optional goal elective courses for 7th graders, and yearlong STEAM coursework for 7th and 8th grade students.

Students in the yearlong STEAM courses participate in local or national competitions relevant to STEAM based topics. The foundation of learning in all STEAM coursework is the Engineering Design Cycle.

Specialty Programs

Specialty programs help our students assimilate to the Middle School community and grasp an understanding of the physical and emotional changes often encountered within this age group.

Advisory

The advisor/advisee program is based on sound counseling principles. Advisory groups are created before the start of school based on input from the teachers and student-peer history. Advisories meet regularly during the week. Meetings may be spent on formal programming, social or service activities. The advisor acts as a mentor and is a communication link between the home and school. The advisory program and responsibilities of an advisor is a high priority for DCDS faculty. The advisory program provides a supportive group for the student and an opportunity for individual growth and teamwork.

Clubs

Library Services

Our Values

We believe...

that intellectual freedom is a fundamental right for all
that literacy is an essential skill across all platforms and disciplines
that reading for personal information and enjoyment leads to lifelong learning
that respect for intellectual and creative property is everyone's responsibility

Our Mission

Teach, Inspire, Explore

The Library is staffed by a professional librarian, and it is open to all students before, during, and after school. Students draw from a diverse collection of print and digital materials, and the Destiny Library Catalog gives access to the library’s print collection and OverDrive ebooks. The Middle School Library website provides access to online reference databases from multiple vendors.

A crucial mission of the Library program is to collaborate with each department to support the curriculum. All students are given “just-in-time” instruction to meet their academic needs, and instruction emphasizes several areas:

Reading
Research skills and information literacy
Responsible use of resources

Real Life

The Real Life program introduces important health and developmental topics that will allow students to become better informed, helping them to make good choices and decisions which will have healthy, positive consequences. This curriculum emphasizes respect for self and others, becoming aware of health and wellness, and provides coping techniques to deal with all of the changes students go through in Middle School.