Teams

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Urbana Middle School offers a curriculum and a structure designed to meet the special needs of the early adolescent. The learning environment is centered around teams of teachers and students creating a small community in which each student is given the attention required to excel. Core academic subjects are offered in blocks of time within the team while the arts, foreign languages, career education, and physical development classes are offered during a time when team teachers plan for instruction.

Throughout the grade levels, computers are used by all students as part of the core curriculum. Practical application of current technology, including the Internet, is stressed as a tool for gathering and organizing information relating to areas of study for each student. The Urbana MIddle School program of study provides an academically challenging learning environment which promotes safety, equity and excellence for all students.

Team Activities

Interdisciplinary work and team activities will support instruction in the core academic subjects. Team time is devoted to the academic and learning skills inherent in each discipline. Computer skills, science labs, information gathering skills, math puzzles and problem solving skills and activities related to critical thinking skills are planned by the team teachers. Additionally, the teams provide the forum for projects which help students see linkages between the disciplines and interrelationships of knowledge which transcend the barriers of the formal curriculum. Interdisciplinary projects enrich the program and create new and exciting learning experiences for students. Field trips expand the scope of the learning environment to encourage lifetime learning habits beyond the school building.

Cooperation through learning teams is stressed to prepare students for the skills needed in the workplace of their future. Development of portfolios of student work assist teachers, students and parents in assessing progress. Opportunities through scheduled conference time are provided twice each year for parents, students, and teachers to discuss the contents of the portfolios. Informal meetings can be arranged at other times by contacting the team's facilitator.

The team serves as the focal point for the effort to provide each student with the support needed to grow during the three years at Urbana Middle School.

Sixth Grade Seventh Grade Eighth Grade