Your average Twelve year old has a lot of energy and creativity, but is able to sit still for longer periods of time and have some self-control. This is a transition year as your child will grow into adolescence, and be attending a middle school possibly for the first time if your district keeps sixth graders with the elementary school. Your seventh grader will develop more interpersonal or social skills while becoming more self-reliant.
The following is a short listing of core subjects that your seventh grader should learn by the end of the school year. Unfortunately, the books that I have noted throughout the series titled “What Your _ Grader Needs To Know” by the Core Knowledge Foundation only goes through sixth grade. The organization also has a teacher/school resource titled “Core Knowledge K-8 Sequence” that gives detailed information about what to include in the curriculum for each grade. There are also many other resources available at your local library or accessible via the internet.
Language Arts will help prepare your students for the rigors of middle school and class changes by enabling them to read from different texts in different classrooms. Often times schools use an eclectic mix of textbooks from different publishers, which read quite differently from each other. Your student should be able to understand and read proficiently from all assigned materials. Students should be able to write papers that are more than one page in length utilizing proper grammar and spelling. Increased skills in oral communications should be evident. Students may begin to learn a Foreign Language this year.
Through History and Geography, students will learn a lot of information including important facts about the World War 1 and World War 2, and the emergence of America as a superpower. There will be a large focus on learning about the agricultural, industrial, economic, political and social evolution of your home state.
In Music and Art, classes become more specialized and may not be required for all students. Taking an interesting art or music class may help the student to be more well rounded. Studies prove that students who play a musical instrument typically perform better in school than children who do not play an instrument. If your school offers music and art classes, your student will likely learn more about music & art history, including American music such as the Blues and Jazz. Students will have the opportunity to make personal artworks in varied medium.
Math will focus on geometry and pre-algebra with an emphasis on statistical analysis and working with different forms of data.
Through Science, your student will be able to conduct scientific experiments using various means to come to a workable conclusion. Students will learn about genetics, atomic structure including the famous periodic table of the elements, and the history of the earth and solar system. Interestingly their understanding of the planets of the solar system will be different then when we were in school. Last week scientists added three more planets to the list, and just today decided that Pluto in not a planet after all!