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Curriculum
The Dalton Middle School curriculum is vibrant and intellectually stimulating. The curriculum includes courses in English, mathematics, social studies, science, foreign language, and the arts, as well as a physical education program. Fourth and fifth grade students are taught social studies and language arts by their House Advisors. Reading and math specialists are teamed with House Advisors in these grades to provide additional support and enrichment for students.
The sixth through eighth grades are organized around teaching teams that work with a core group of students. This ensures that every student is well known to the group of teachers and will be assessed in a thoughtful and meaningful way. Each child in these grades works with three core teachers: one each in English, math, and social studies. These teachers share a common set of students, a common schedule, and a common planning time. As a result, they have ample opportunity to meet and discuss the individual needs of students and the structure of curriculum within their grade level.
Foreign language, art, music, science, dance, and physical education are taught outside the core time. In these disciplines, students from different cores can interact and work together in common course work. The teachers communicate regularly with the core teachers to ensure that student progress is evaluated and advanced.
Middle School faculty members are highly skilled professionals who have special training and interest in working with children in this age group. In addition to the regular teaching staff, the Middle School employs specialists in the areas of psychology, health services, enrichment and remedial reading, developmental math, and organization and study skills. Children interact with these specialists individually or in small groups.
Dalton's commitment to "the city as a classroom" is evident in all curriculum areas. Teachers make use of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim Museum, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, The Cloisters, The New York Tenement Museum, The Bronx Zoo, The Museum of Natural History, The Cooper Hewitt Museum, The Jewish Museum, The Morgan Library, and many other resources within the city that relate to areas of study. Students take field trips outside the city to Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Black Rock Forest, in the Hudson Highlands, as well as community- building trips to Frost Valley, New York.
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