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Grade 6 at Riverstone
A Heroic Journey: Beginning with a week in Yellowstone Park, students become heroes in a real-life story as they read and create narratives while engaging in heroic quests, uncovering the secrets of science, math, the environment, and themselves.
Solving Real Problems: Students are introduced to the design cycle allowing them to solve real-life problems using digital and analog tools. They have the opportunity to design and prototype in our 3D printing lab and build in our Maker Space.
Understanding Our Community: The spring concludes with a week-long camping trip during which students discover the forces that have shaped the history and geography of southwestern Idaho.
Experiencing the World: Students immerse themselves in the cultures of India, Mexico, China, and Europe through music, art, and language fostering a deeper connection to the many cultures of our world.
Conservation and Land - Nature's Beauty and Our Responsibility: Explore texts that convey the beauty of the natural world and emphasize our duty to preserve it for future generations. Analyze language, devices, and ideas to inspire action in conservation. Develop skills in research, persuasion, informational writing, intertextuality, and critical thinking.
Culture and Assimilation - Unveiling Cultural Identity: Delve into the novel American Born Chinese, exploring cultural assimilation through folklore, oral tradition, and visual texts. Understand genre, characterization, analysis, visual communication, and the evolving nature of culture.
Heroes and Transformation - The Journey Within: Discover the hero's journey in The Hobbit, focusing on character growth, setting, plot, creative writing, and self-identity exploration.
Combating Prejudice and Injustice - Unmasking Bias: Examine prejudice and injustice through fictional characters in The Rock and the River. Explore context, purpose, character development, idea organization, perspective, and systemic issues.
The Importance of Natural Environments: Uncover the intricate web of life in diverse environments, fostering sustainability for the future. Engage in case studies and stakeholder discussions in regions around the world. Explore Systems and Sustainability through an article for a leading nature and history magazine.
Geography & Culture: Location shapes cultural development and sustainability. Discover the influence of time, place, and space, and create a documentary for a major culture and history network.
National History Day: Unravel the power of history's people and events, exploring our short-term and long-term impacts. Showcase your knowledge through an interactive presentation in a national history competition.
Civil Rights Movement: Witness the transformative force of individuals in shaping society. Engage in a formal debate, delving into the evolution and future of civil rights in the United States.
Engage in a comprehensive and unique approach to mathematics education. Develop a well-rounded understanding of math that builds sequentially with added complexity and depth every year, applying your skills in both familiar and unfamiliar situations that help you independently and effectively apply the math you learn. Excel to your highest capabilities in our flexible program that allows you to enroll in courses not based solely on your grade level but individually tailored to your specific math-learning needs.
Whole Numbers and Integers: Dive into whole numbers, ratios, and integers. Apply your understanding of integers to a real-life Living Ocean Institute oceanographic research project.
Multiples and Factors: Expand your understanding of divisibility, prime and composite numbers, highest common factors, and lowest common multiples.
Fractions and Decimals: Extend your ability to manipulate fractions and decimals, and apply what you’ve learned to adjust the recipes for peppermint bark and other delicious candies in a recipe book.
Expressions and Linear Equations: Develop your understanding of writing and evaluating algebraic expressions and both single and multi-step equations. Use your knowledge to help Harry Potter complete a Hogwarts House Cup application.
Coordinate Geometry: Plot points on all four coordinates of the cartesian plane, create a line from a table of values and learn about the equation of a line.
Percentages: Understand percentages, convert fractions and decimals to percentages, and connect your knowledge of percentages to real-life applications involving money.
Measurement: Extend your knowledge of area, length, perimeter, and volume of a variety of two and three-dimensional shapes.
Data: Interpret an array of graphs and tables, analyzing data and identifying mean, median, mode, range, and the effect of outliers. Display your knowledge in a math Investigation, examining the effect of outliers within a data set.
Introduction to Design: Explore the design cycle and overcome obstacles by creating and testing spaghetti bridges in small groups.
Interior Design - 3D Modeling: Students design and 3D model a room to fulfill a chosen purpose and/or audience. They turn the 3D models into physical replicas and evaluate our designs.
Introduction to 3D Printing: Develop 3D modeling skills and print personalized nature-inspired pieces to be part of a collaborative classroom design.
Rube Goldberg Design: Use recycled resources to design and build functional Rube Goldberg Machines.
Intro to Coding: Create and evaluate simple apps to solve common problems using coding skills.
Sensory Walk Design: Enhance the school community through sustainable and collaborative design of a sensory walk.
Fluid Ink - Printing Perfection: Did you know that Printing originated in China roughly 4,000 years ago?! Though the practice of printing has changed dramatically in recent years, you can still create printed art using techniques that have stood the test of time! Learn how to draft, etch, ink, and display your own printed art!
Watercolor Workshop- Dive into Watercolor Workshop: Start by building skills and learning new techniques. Find inspiration in famous works of art by Georgia O'Keeffe and Claude Monet. Then, complete the unit by creating your own 3D framed piece of art.
Annual Auction Art: Students kick off the year with a collaborative art project for the Riverstone Annual Auction Gala! This unit is a quick refresher course of the Elements of Art and Principles of Design. Students use these skills to create a unified art piece to donate to the Riverstone Annual Auction Gala!
The Elements of Music: What are the key elements that go into creating a great piece of music? In this unit, we dive into music, hone our listening skills, write in our music reflection journals about melody, harmony, and rhythm, and draw ideas from great modern-day musicians like Jon Batiste and Natalia LaFourcade. We’ll also be building skills in note-reading, writing, and creating short ideas in our process journals!
Music from Mexico - Son Jarocho: In this unit, we learn about Son Jarocho, a traditional folkloric genre from Veracruz, Mexico, and how communities in Veracruz come together through a celebration called “fandango” to create, play music, dance, and eat with one another. By the end of the unit, we will have the opportunity to play a piece of Son Jarocho on an instrument of our choice, as well as learn the basic dance patterns that are intricately woven into the genre.
Indian Classical Music: Ragas: In this short culminating unit, we will learn a new musical system called “sargam” that is used in India and look at how ragas are created. The focus of this unit will be on melodic exploration and how an effective melody is created. By the end of the semester, we will compose a short introduction to a raga.
Final Performance: The semester will culminate in a short class musical performance.
Nature of Science: Fosters creativity for evidence-based discovery, developing inference and critical thinking skills. Students analyze bias, reduce personal bias, and practice qualitative and quantitative observations. They apply these skills to confront a simulated challenge involving inferences, models, and bias.
Scientific Measurement in the Lab: Encourages collaborative exploration of relationships, change, and evidence patterns. Students make observations, inferences, and models using quantitative and qualitative data, and create explanatory models. They apply these skills to unveil the identity of an unknown predator in a practical scenario.
Engineering Design Process: Students engage in STEM/STEAM projects, employing problem analysis and creative solutions. They follow the engineering design process, including blueprint creation, prototype construction, and testing, to address real-world problems.
Arda: The New Continent: Explores environmental aesthetics shaped by engineering endeavors. Students utilize topography maps, cross-sections, and geological knowledge to understand past processes. They demonstrate our understanding through topography mapping, relative dating, rock analysis, and absolute dating to locate buried treasures.
Physical and Health Education with a focus on exercise, training, and sports while working in a collaborative environment. During the year, we engage in a variety of units all focusing on four topics listed below, to fully engage in full body and mind as a healthy young adult.
Sports: Students work to become familiar with a variety of different sports, strategies, and skills both individually and as a team.
Movement and Health: Connection of personal health, movement, and mindfulness to improve overall health.
Life Sport: Exploration of a variety of lifestyle sports that cultivate interest in lifelong health and activity through movement and focus on a variety of skills and strategies.
Community Building: Working together to complete a variety of daily tasks in a positive environment and learning to communicate in a dynamic environment.
Spanish 6: Written and spoken Spanish, vocabulary and usage, specifically as they relate to grammar and structure, Spanish traditions, and introduction to Spanish literature.
What day is it? Prepare to take on the role of a weather forecaster for a news station. Students practice vocabulary in self-introductions, days, times, seasons, temperature, weather, and the basic present tense in order to tell our audience about the forecast for the day.
What do you like to do? A focus on sharing activities enjoyed by oneself and with others. Students create our first Spanish picture book where we write about our favorite activities and our loved one’s favorite activities. Students share our stories with others in our classroom and around our school community.
Friends and Family: Explore friendships and family relationships, practicing conversations with new and old friends. Students prepare to take on the role of a teacher and teach the class a favorite game they enjoy playing with friends or family.
Let’s celebrate! Take a deeper look at celebrations in Latin America and celebrations in our own culture. Students focus on a particular holiday celebrated in Latin America and create an infographic to showcase the holiday. Students also learn how to create a piñata and have a celebration of their own!
Mandarin: Written and spoken Mandarin, vocabulary and usage, specifically as they relate to birthday celebrations, school life, and culture.
Dates, age, and numbers: Learn to write and speak about the day of the week, your age, and birthdays.
Self-introduction: Gain confidence in introducing yourself and describe your family members and your occupations.
My daily life: Discover how to communicate about your daily life and understand the lives of others regardless of cultural differences.
Personal details: Develop the language skills to describe and introduce others.
Makerspace: Build your skills, be a maker! Powertools, textiles and entirely hands on learning in how to make and build incredible cool things.
Ologies: Do penguins have flippers or wings? What’s up with pebble gifts? Are you curious about “penguinology”? Perhaps you have asked yourself, “Why does my voice sound this way?” Maybe you’re more interested in “larynology”. Or maybe you have questions about wolves and you want to explore “lupinology”! Perhaps you have more big questions related to climate change and the forest fires in the PNW. If any of these topics sound interesting, you’re in the right place!
Music Ensemble: Collaborate with your friends and play in a band! Open to instrumentalists of all levels and vocalists. You’ll have the opportunity to rehearse and perform music from different musical genres - rock, pop, classics, holiday favorites, etc. and learn how to interact and lead with other musicians.
Computer Science: Explore the world of programming through Python as well as concepts of networking and cybersecurity.
Outdoor Education/Leadership: Take a deeper dive into outdoor education learning outcomes we examine during our outdoor trips throughout the year. Students will spend more time learning about skills that are necessary to safely recreate outdoors and reflect upon their own leadership styles as they continue to grow into outdoor leaders. Each academic unit will be based off of Riverstone’s Outdoor Education Learning Outcomes. Through inquiry and project based learning, students will grasp a deeper understanding of how important outdoor education is and the necessary skills and traits needed to be successful and impactful to others.
Creative Writing: Build new worlds! Explore the one we live in. Develop skills in character development, writing across genres, story telling, poetry and drama. Class concludes with a published anthology of peer reviewed work from the course.
Gamification: Delve into the history and evolution of games. What makes great games great? Design your own games and test and evaluate concepts. How do games help us learn and explore our world?
Spanish Language and Culture: Explore and more deeply understand and appreciate the cultures and traditions of the Spanish speaking world. Students have the opportunity to select a favorite Spanish speaking country and do a deep dive of that country throughout the school year. Students will also participate in a Duolingo challenge to see who can keep the longest streak and most XPs on a weekly basis!
Drama and Dance: Welcome to Dance and Drama, a dynamic middle school elective that combines the thrilling worlds of drama and dance to ignite creativity and self-expression! This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamental principles of both drama and dance, fostering an appreciation for the performing arts while developing essential skills in communication, teamwork, and confidence. Throughout the year, students will engage in a variety of activities and exercises to explore the rich and diverse realms of drama and dance. We anticipate presenting two performances, one each semester. From improvisational games to scripted scenes, and from basic dance techniques to choreographed routines, participants will embark on a journey that encourages self-discovery, artistic growth, and fun!
Grade 7 at Riverstone
Being a Maker: Students utilize Newton’s laws and principles of materials science to create a chariot, continuously improving its safety and performance through scientific data collection and analysis
Growing Ourselves and Others: Fall and spring cycling adventures help students develop essential skills for leadership, collaboration, and thriving in the outdoors while understanding their limitations and staying safe.
21st Century Communication: Students design and build informative and interactive museum exhibits. Conduct thorough research create compelling arguments supported by evidence and even delve into the art and language of CSS coding.
Understanding Change: Exploring how individuals and societies can come to terms with dark moments like genocides and refugee crises, students develop strategies for positive change.
Power and Voice: Explore how people have the choice to exercise power to educate and affect change in our community. Read I Am Malala, detailing how Malala Yousafzai endured tremendous hardships in order to empower women and education in Pakistan and across the globe. Deliver a public relations speech on behalf of Yousafzai’s organization, advocating for global access to education.
Language and Human Dignity: Discover the power of language and perspective, especially in times of horrific injustice like the Holocaust. Analyze The Book Thief, discovering the ways in which language can build respect for human dignity. Create a Holocaust memorial exhibition in collaboration with the Humanities class.
Mythology and Storytelling: Embark on the journey of the monomyth, discovering how the obstacles that a hero faces can mimic reality. Authors use myths to express our culture, choosing different perspectives to tell the hero's story. Write a modern-day recreation of a classic myth, using both visuals and text.
Strength and Transformation: Determine if individuals truly have the power to transform themselves and our community. Argue debatable themes found in The Power of One, a story set in South Africa during the apartheid that details one boy’s journey to become a welterweight champion, shaping his identity and the identity of his community.
How are societies governed: Explore diverse historical government types and collaboratively create and role-play a government structure to understand its formation, decision-making, and societal impact.
Holocaust and Human Behavior: Study how communication and identity are tools of oppression and power. Students create Holocaust memorial exhibits to showcase our understanding.
National History Day: Choose and research individual historical topics for a nationally competitive event, emphasizing deep understanding and effective communication through various media.
Where are all the People: Investigate societal population changes and sustainable development's role in promoting equity over time. Develop projects to explore pathways to greater equity in society.
Engage in a comprehensive and unique approach to mathematics education. Develop a well-rounded understanding of math that builds sequentially with added complexity and depth every year, applying your skills in both familiar and unfamiliar situations that help you independently and effectively apply the math you learn. Excel to your highest capabilities in our flexible program that allows you to enroll in courses not based solely on your grade level but individually tailored to your specific math-learning needs.
Number Properties: Explore order of operations, factor trees, exponents and ratios and rates.
Integers and Roots: Examine square and cube roots, absolute value, and computations using positive and negative integers. Apply your knowledge to a math Investigation identifying patterns of positive and negative bases with integers.
Fractions and Decimals: Review operations with fractions, mixed numbers and decimals, and extend your knowledge using simple negatives.
Percentages: Compare quantities to find percentages, and apply your knowledge of percentages to learn about compounding interest.
Expressions and Advanced Linear Equations: Expand your understanding of algebraic expressions, solving equations with multiple variables, applying the distributive property, and multiplying binomials.
Coordinate Geometry: Extend your abilities in coordinate geometry and learn linear equations. Apply your understanding to find the break-even point of costs and revenues when planning a school dance.
Pythagorean Theorem and Measurement: Learn Pythagoras’ formula and apply it to solve for hypotenuse and a side.
Probability: Discover the key elements of theoretical probability and our relation to single and compound events.
Geometry: Dive into angles, parallel lines, triangles and quadrilaterals, all with added complexity.
Understanding the Design Cycle: Explore the design cycle to develop a deep understanding of the creative process in areas of student interest throughout the school year.
Interior Design - Blueprinting and Modeling: Individually draft interior design concepts, collaborate in small groups to select and refine one design, and construct a scaled model. Evaluate the group's solution individually.
Identity through Website Design: Plan and execute website development, showcasing HTML and CSS skills, with explanations for plan modifications.
Rocket Modeling: Develop innovative model rocket designs, incorporating physics principles, and provide reflective, detailed evaluations.
3D Printing for a Purpose: Investigate and analyze functional 3D designs for clients, emphasizing detailed inquiry processes.
Natural Play Area Design: Design and implement natural play areas based on safety and success criteria, documenting each design cycle strand in the event-planning process.
Linear Graphics and Illustration: Imagine if you could control space and time… with drawing in perspective you can! Linear perspective drawing is a technique that creates the illusion of depth. This method of creating tricks your eye into seeing 3D by manipulating space and the proportion of objects. Once these skills are mastered, add color and your creations come to life before your eyes.
Connections Through Color: Why so Blue? Did you know that mood and tone can be conveyed through art by color? Students choose a message, a medium and a means for getting our point across through purposely selecting colors to create canvas art. The challenge is; can we capture mood and tone without relying on content?
Annual Auction Art: Students kick off the year with a collaborative art project for the Riverstone Annual Auction Gala! This unit is a quick refresher course of the Elements of Art and Principles of Design. Students use these skills to create a unified art piece to donate to the Riverstone Annual Auction Gala!
Music of the Andes: Discover the rich musical tradition from the Andean region in South America. Learn about some of the most ancient instruments created on earth and delve into how these simple yet beautiful melodies have evolved throughout time.
Music of the Middle East: In this unit, we’ll listen to music from the Middle East, explore what makes this music so different, understand how the musical form takes shape, and learn about Middle Eastern mode (or makams). This unique musical tradition will heighten your understanding of world cultures, help you to appreciate global music, and awaken your ear to new musical ideas.
Culminating Performance: Showcase your musical skill in our final performance of the semester where we perform either a piece from South America or from the Middle East.
Chariots on Fire: Discover the principles of motion using Newton’s laws. Create physical and virtual models to show how macroscopic energy combines motion and relative particle position. Explore the impact of forces on object motion, relationships between force and motion, and the role of friction. Demonstrate your understanding by building model chariots for a jousting competition protecting a raw egg occupant.
Energy Systems and Natural Disasters: Uncover factors influencing the planet's health, focusing on energy conservation and its quality degradation. Analyze energy costs in item production and assess the "carbon footprint." Learn cost-benefit analysis in energy planning for urban and non-urban settings. Showcase your knowledge through a scientific investigation as an academic paper.
Geology from Layers to Waves: Experience plate tectonics through a role-playing earthquake quest. Study the structure and evidence of plate tectonics and the development of scientific theories. Demonstrate your understanding by successfully completing the quest.
Atomic Structure: Explore the world of atomic science, including matter patterns, the Periodic Table, atomic models, chemical reactions, and field study methods. Dive into the debate on society's control over scientific research. Express your knowledge by creating characters with magical powers based on the atomic structures of chosen elements.
Gates Of Mordor: Investigate the consequences of global issues, human rights, and responsibilities. Analyze resource sharing and the impact of climate change on conflicts and peace. Take on roles either to build a campaign calming fears about global warming with scientific evidence or to lobby for measures to combat global climate change on behalf of a non-profit Environmental protection Agency.
Physical and Health Education with a focus on exercise, training, and sports while working in a collaborative environment. During the year, we engage in a variety of units all focusing on four topics listed below, to fully engage in full body and mind as a healthy young adult.
Sports: Students work to become familiar with a variety of different sports, strategies, and skills both individually and as a team.
Movement and Health: Connection of personal health, movement, and mindfulness to improve overall health.
Life Sport: Exploration of a variety of lifestyle sports that cultivate interest in lifelong health and activity through movement and focus on a variety of skills and strategies.
Community Building: Working together to complete a variety of daily tasks in a positive environment and learning to communicate in a dynamic environment.
Spanish: Written and spoken Spanish, vocabulary and usage, specifically as they relate to health, civics, cultural celebration, and idioms and expressions.
School life: Are you proud of your school and the IB program? In this unit,we get to show off all the qualities that make our school awesome. Students select another IB school from Latin America and compare and contrast the schools.
Clothing: Have you ever dreamed of being a supermodel? This is your chance! Students learn all the names for clothing types and share our clothing styles through a fashion video.
Understanding the past: Students explore past events in history by creating a timeline and researching influential persons in the Latin world.
When I was a young kid: Students share favorite stories and events that happened to us as young children.
Mandarin: Written and spoken Mandarin, vocabulary and usage, specifically as they relate to understanding cultural differences, games, ordering in a Chinese restaurant, Chinese media and entertainment
Countries, Languages, and School Subjects: Build vocabulary and usage skills to understand some academic language in Mandarin.
Weather, Seasons, and Sickness: Sharing common conversation topics is a great way to explore language. Learn to make “small talk: in Mandarin and build conversation skills.
Sports, Music, and Dance: When we play and create together, we get to know each other better. Learning vocabulary and structures for expression helps to create stronger bonds of friendship
Vegetables, Fruits, Three Meals a Day, and Eating out: Eating together is a wonderful connection point of culture. Learn to eat, order food, and interact over food with Chinese cultural sensibility.
Makerspace: Build your skills, be a maker! Powertools, textiles and entirely hands on learning in how to make and build incredible cool things.
Ologies: Do penguins have flippers or wings? What’s up with pebble gifts? Are you curious about “penguinology”? Perhaps you have asked yourself, “Why does my voice sound this way?” Maybe you’re more interested in “larynology”. Or maybe you have questions about wolves and you want to explore “lupinology”! Perhaps you have more big questions related to climate change and the forest fires in the PNW. If any of these topics sound interesting, you’re in the right place!
Music Ensemble: Collaborate with your friends and play in a band! Open to instrumentalists of all levels and vocalists. You’ll have the opportunity to rehearse and perform music from different musical genres - rock, pop, classics, holiday favorites, etc. and learn how to interact and lead with other musicians.
Computer Science: Explore the world of programming through Python as well as concepts of networking and cybersecurity.
Outdoor Education/Leadership: Take a deeper dive into outdoor education learning outcomes we examine during our outdoor trips throughout the year. Students will spend more time learning about skills that are necessary to safely recreate outdoors and reflect upon their own leadership styles as they continue to grow into outdoor leaders. Each academic unit will be based off of Riverstone’s Outdoor Education Learning Outcomes. Through inquiry and project based learning, students will grasp a deeper understanding of how important outdoor education is and the necessary skills and traits needed to be successful and impactful to others.
Creative Writing: Build new worlds! Explore the one we live in. Develop skills in character development, writing across genres, story telling, poetry and drama. Class concludes with a published anthology of peer reviewed work from the course.
Gamification: Delve into the history and evolution of games. What makes great games great? Design your own games and test and evaluate concepts. How do games help us learn and explore our world?
Spanish Language and Culture: Explore and more deeply understand and appreciate the cultures and traditions of the Spanish speaking world. Students have the opportunity to select a favorite Spanish speaking country and do a deep dive of that country throughout the school year. Students will also participate in a Duolingo challenge to see who can keep the longest streak and most XPs on a weekly basis!
Drama and Dance: Welcome to Dance and Drama, a dynamic middle school elective that combines the thrilling worlds of drama and dance to ignite creativity and self-expression! This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamental principles of both drama and dance, fostering an appreciation for the performing arts while developing essential skills in communication, teamwork, and confidence. Throughout the year, students will engage in a variety of activities and exercises to explore the rich and diverse realms of drama and dance. We anticipate presenting two performances, one each semester. From improvisational games to scripted scenes, and from basic dance techniques to choreographed routines, participants will embark on a journey that encourages self-discovery, artistic growth, and fun!
Grade 8 at Riverstone
Making Change: Students take action by using their scientific knowledge and strong writing skills to influence agricultural and environmental legislation. They also apply math and historical understanding to address today’s environmental challenges.
Authentic Decision-Making: Through practical applications of linear equations, parliamentary debates, and mock trials students learn effective group decision-making skills while analyzing personal and corporate outcomes.
Traveling Far and Well: Starting with the summer trip to Washington DC, students learn independence, teamwork, and resilience through once-in-a-lifetime experiences including 5 days rafting the wild Salmon River and 5 days backpacking the world-renowned Hell’s Canyon.
Preparing for the Future: With high school right around the corner, the MYP at Riverstone provides a comprehensive middle school education that sets the stage for internationally competitive high school education.
Culture And Identity: Explore the culture and identity of our peers as well as our own through the story of Tell Me Who You Are, a story of two high schoolers who traveled to each state in the U.S. to interview people about our cultures and identities. Create our very own personalized book page that mimics our style, contributing to a Tell Me Who You Are class book!
Dystopian Fiction: Dive into the magical and dystopian world of Children of Blood and Bone, analyzing forms of oppression that mimic reality. Consider how authors encourage our communities to change with stories of dystopia through complex characterization and symbolism. Craft a story world and plot for a dystopian novel and pitch your book to a mock panel.
Systems of Injustice: Read and discuss Just Mercy, a true story about the United States criminal justice system. Consider how it illuminates systems of injustice and reveals that people of privilege and power have a responsibility to help those who are oppressed. Participate in a mock trail, inviting our faculty and parent community to attend, calling to action a review of cultural practices in our own Riverstone community.
Poetry History and Practice: Exercise creativity by exploring different structures and styles of poetry across history and craft different pieces of written and cultural expression. Participate in a poetry slam, practicing all elements of verbal and nonverbal communication.
How can new technologies affect our identities and relationships?: Understand how technology has developed alongside humans for thousands of years. Explore the relationship that is ever-changing with new technologies on human behavior. Reflect on our own relationships and the role technology plays in today’s world. Debate whether technology helps or harms our relationships with others.
National History Day: Choose and research individual historical topics for a nationally competitive event, emphasizing deep understanding and effective communication through various media.
Just Mercy; A Historical Analysis of the American Justice System: Explore the foundations of the US justice system. Discover how countries around the world differ in our justice systems. Investigate different profiles of real cases to see what sentencing each person received.
Why do Societies Experience Revolutions: Understand different types of revolutions. Explore the causes and consequences of various revolutions around the world. Analyze key figures and thought leaders of revolutions. Uncover the role of propaganda in revolutions and compare major revolutions in history.
Engage in a comprehensive and unique approach to mathematics education. Develop a well-rounded understanding of math that builds sequentially with added complexity and depth every year, applying your skills in both familiar and unfamiliar situations that help you independently and effectively apply the math you learn. Excel to your highest capabilities in our flexible program that allows you to enroll in courses not based solely on your grade level but individually tailored to your specific math-learning needs.
Exponent and Root Laws: Extend your knowledge of exponents, properties of radicals, and multiplying roots.
Ratios and Percentages: Apply your knowledge of percentages and ratios to real-life examples including profit and loss, interest, and percentage change.
Expansion and Factorization: Expand your ability to solve complex algebraic expressions, apply the distributive property, and factor expressions using highest common factors.
Boxplots: Calculate interquartile range, identify outliers, and graph and interpret data using boxplots.
Angles, Lines and Polygons: Identify angle properties and measure all types of angles in triangles, quadrilaterals and polygons.
Triangle Geometry: Extend your knowledge of Pythagoras’ formula to all elements of a triangle, and use trigonometry ratios to find sides and angles of right triangles.
Systems of Equations and Coordinate Geometry: Rearrange and solve complex equations, learn the slope formula, graph lines using m and c, and solve linear equations using a variety of strategies
Understanding the Design Cycle: Explore the design cycle to develop a deep understanding of the creative process in our own areas of interest throughout the school year as a community project.
Interior Design - Aesthetics: Collaboratively create a classroom mood board collage to understand the influence of color psychology and aesthetics on the learning environment.
Interactive Digital Design: Plan and execute interactive digital game development skills. Research what type of game we would like to make and why, considering what skills we will need to have to do so.
Toy Design: Develop toys for the St. Luke’s Children's Hospital. Our goal is to enhance human connection by creating a product for play!
3D Printing for Good: Create a 3D-printed invention with moving parts to help make a classmate's life easier. Develop ideas for our product and practice our communication skills with a classmate. Create a prototype of the product and present it to a peer.
Adventure Race Design: Design and implement a school-wide event to practice designing a successful collaborative end-of-the-year celebration.
Surreal Expressions - Self Portrait: Students explore the meaning of “looks like” vs “is like” in lessons on surreal self-portraits. Sometimes the answers aren't always on the surface. Attention to facial details will be explored before diving into personal expression and true identities.
Vibrant Vessels - An Introduction to Ceramics: The earliest practices of pottery date back to 4,000 BC Egypt and the same techniques are still in use today. Investigate how and why vessels are constructed, painted, glazed, and utilized throughout history. Replicate historical ceramic objects and create modern vibrant vessels to keep.
Annual Auction Art: Students kick off the year with a collaborative art project for the Riverstone Annual Auction Gala! This unit is a quick refresher course of the Elements of Art and Principles of Design. Students use these skills to create a unified art piece to donate to the Riverstone Annual Auction Gala!
Singing the Blues: Have you ever wondered where rock, pop, and jazz come from? Look no further because these genres emerged out of America’s Blues. In this unit, we’ll study the Blues, a genre uniquely created in America out of spiritual song and a history of persecution with People of Color. We’ll listen to great artists such as Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Nina Simone, Muddy Waters, and B.B. King. We’ll learn the twelve-bar blues, a simple yet effective musical form and each student will compose a twelve-bar blues as our final project.
Jazz - A Global Language: How was jazz born out of the blues? Creativity is the process or ability to make or create something new. We’ll learn how different jazz artists created our own styles of jazz, as well as delve into improvisation, the act of creating music on the spot. Students will play a piece of jazz and practice improvising. A fun project that we have during this unit is to visit Boise State’s campus and attend a jazz improvisation class with the Director of Jazz.
Culminating Performance: Students will perform either a piece of Blues music or a piece of jazz for each other and our parents.
Introduction to Environmental Science: Dive into Environmental Science, examining the delicate equilibrium between human population growth and ecosystems. Engage in hands-on experiences, such as field trips and projects, to unravel the intricate relationships between humans and the environment.
Ecology and the Biosphere: Develop and Apply knowledge to design enclosures for endangered organisms, analyzing community growth with limited resources and drawing inferences about organism health based on biomass.
Soil and Water: Investigate the impacts of soil and water interactions through local river field studies. Explore resource extraction effects, including mineral impacts on geology.
The Hydrosphere: Evaluate water quality using USGS parameters, proposing effective solutions for oil spills and promoting public awareness to reduce plastic usage.
Energy Resources: Construct turbines powered by wind or water, researching and debating the environmental impact of various energy sources.
Human Impacts: Assess the influence of urban planning and architecture on the environment. Plan sustainable living buildings to enhance communities, urban areas, and preserve native habitats
Physical and Health Education with a focus on exercise, training, and sports while working in a collaborative environment. During the year, we engage in a variety of units all focusing on four topics listed below, to fully engage in full body and mind as a healthy young adult.
Sports: Students work to become familiar with a variety of different sports, strategies, and skills both individually and as a team.
Movement and Health: Connection of personal health, movement, and mindfulness to improve overall health.
Life Sport: Exploration of a variety of lifestyle sports that cultivate interest in lifelong health and activity through movement and focus of a variety of skills and strategies.
Community Building: Working together to complete a variety of daily tasks in a positive environment and learning to communicate in a dynamic environment.
Spanish: Written and spoken Spanish, vocabulary, and usage, specifically as they relate to neighborhoods and communities, daily life/routines, food, and professions.
Neighborhood and communities: Students dream up what our dream home and neighborhood would look like and create a video to showcase to our classmates.
Daily routine: Students create a picture book of a character and show what the character’s daily routine looks like.
Food: Students research foods from the Latino community, and create and compare the tortilla española vs tortilla mexicana. Students also teach and share how to make their favorite meal.
Professions: We research our dream profession. Students create a plan to reach those goals and interview a person from that profession.
Mandarin: Written and spoken Mandarin, vocabulary and usage, specifically as they relate to sports, daily life, Chinese numerology, and shopping
All about school: Discover how to use Mandarin in school settings and begin to understand the cultural difference in different school systems.
Birthday and Festival Celebration: Appreciate how celebrations differ across cultures and experience the language, songs and traditions of Chinese celebrations
My house and neighborhood: Everyone has a neighborhood. Discover how to talk about your life and where you live using your new language skills
Relatives and Personality: People relate to each other in both similar and different ways across cultures. Discover how to communicate about your family and your way of life using the Mandarin language.
Makerspace: Build your skills, be a maker! Powertools, textiles and entirely hands on learning in how to make and build incredible cool things.
Ologies: Do penguins have flippers or wings? What’s up with pebble gifts? Are you curious about “penguinology”? Perhaps you have asked yourself, “Why does my voice sound this way?” Maybe you’re more interested in “larynology”. Or maybe you have questions about wolves and you want to explore “lupinology”! Perhaps you have more big questions related to climate change and the forest fires in the PNW. If any of these topics sound interesting, you’re in the right place!
Music Ensemble: Collaborate with your friends and play in a band! Open to instrumentalists of all levels and vocalists. You’ll have the opportunity to rehearse and perform music from different musical genres - rock, pop, classics, holiday favorites, etc. and learn how to interact and lead with other musicians.
Computer Science: Explore the world of programming through Python as well as concepts of networking and cybersecurity.
Outdoor Education/Leadership: Take a deeper dive into outdoor education learning outcomes we examine during our outdoor trips throughout the year. Students will spend more time learning about skills that are necessary to safely recreate outdoors and reflect upon their own leadership styles as they continue to grow into outdoor leaders. Each academic unit will be based off of Riverstone’s Outdoor Education Learning Outcomes. Through inquiry and project based learning, students will grasp a deeper understanding of how important outdoor education is and the necessary skills and traits needed to be successful and impactful to others.
Creative Writing: Build new worlds! Explore the one we live in. Develop skills in character development, writing across genres, story telling, poetry and drama. Class concludes with a published anthology of peer reviewed work from the course.
Gamification: Delve into the history and evolution of games. What makes great games great? Design your own games and test and evaluate concepts. How do games help us learn and explore our world?
Spanish Language and Culture: Explore and more deeply understand and appreciate the cultures and traditions of the Spanish speaking world. Students have the opportunity to select a favorite Spanish speaking country and do a deep dive of that country throughout the school year. Students will also participate in a Duolingo challenge to see who can keep the longest streak and most XPs on a weekly basis!
Drama and Dance: Welcome to Dance and Drama, a dynamic middle school elective that combines the thrilling worlds of drama and dance to ignite creativity and self-expression! This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamental principles of both drama and dance, fostering an appreciation for the performing arts while developing essential skills in communication, teamwork, and confidence. Throughout the year, students will engage in a variety of activities and exercises to explore the rich and diverse realms of drama and dance. We anticipate presenting two performances, one each semester. From improvisational games to scripted scenes, and from basic dance techniques to choreographed routines, participants will embark on a journey that encourages self-discovery, artistic growth, and fun!
Middle School Electives
Makerspace: Build your skills, be a maker! Powertools, textiles and entirely hands on learning in how to make and build incredible cool things.
Ologies: Do penguins have flippers or wings? What’s up with pebble gifts? Are you curious about “penguinology”? Perhaps you have asked yourself, “Why does my voice sound this way?” Maybe you’re more interested in “larynology”. Or maybe you have questions about wolves and you want to explore “lupinology”! Perhaps you have more big questions related to climate change and the forest fires in the PNW. If any of these topics sound interesting, you’re in the right place!
Music Ensemble: Collaborate with your friends and play in a band! Open to instrumentalists of all levels and vocalists. You’ll have the opportunity to rehearse and perform music from different musical genres - rock, pop, classics, holiday favorites, etc. and learn how to interact and lead with other musicians.
Computer Science: Explore the world of programming through Python as well as concepts of networking and cybersecurity.
Outdoor Education/Leadership: Take a deeper dive into outdoor education learning outcomes we examine during our outdoor trips throughout the year. Students will spend more time learning about skills that are necessary to safely recreate outdoors and reflect upon their own leadership styles as they continue to grow into outdoor leaders. Each academic unit will be based off of Riverstone’s Outdoor Education Learning Outcomes. Through inquiry and project based learning, students will grasp a deeper understanding of how important outdoor education is and the necessary skills and traits needed to be successful and impactful to others.
Creative Writing: Build new worlds! Explore the one we live in. Develop skills in character development, writing across genres, story telling, poetry and drama. Class concludes with a published anthology of peer reviewed work from the course.
Gamification: Delve into the history and evolution of games. What makes great games great? Design your own games and test and evaluate concepts. How do games help us learn and explore our world?
Spanish Language and Culture: Explore and more deeply understand and appreciate the cultures and traditions of the Spanish speaking world. Students have the opportunity to select a favorite Spanish speaking country and do a deep dive of that country throughout the school year. Students will also participate in a Duolingo challenge to see who can keep the longest streak and most XPs on a weekly basis!
Drama and Dance: Welcome to Dance and Drama, a dynamic middle school elective that combines the thrilling worlds of drama and dance to ignite creativity and self-expression! This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamental principles of both drama and dance, fostering an appreciation for the performing arts while developing essential skills in communication, teamwork, and confidence. Throughout the year, students will engage in a variety of activities and exercises to explore the rich and diverse realms of drama and dance. We anticipate presenting two performances, one each semester. From improvisational games to scripted scenes, and from basic dance techniques to choreographed routines, participants will embark on a journey that encourages self-discovery, artistic growth, and fun!
