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Middle School Program Overview

 

Our middle school is fully accredited and meets the requirements by the State of Oregon Department of Education and Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI).

Along with our normal academics our school provides STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math), Bible, Sports, and Music programs. The students that move through our program are growing intellectually while they develop emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Middle School Areas of Study

To help launch boys and girls into the Christian discipleship process by giving them a challenging environment to grow biblically, spiritually, and socially. Each student will be prepared to face the obstacles of high school life by the time they are promoted from the eighth grade.

Essential Components:

  • Students interact with their teacher who gives them the necessary means to discover spiritual content (and life skills) on their own. Bible is the primary instrument used to communicate the truth about God. Students are encouraged to encounter God in the holy writings of Scripture.
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  • Students are expected to apply what they learn to their relationships with teachers, other students, family, friends, and in their churches.
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  • Students complete projects to learn content and express the spirit of their teachings through Christian service. Opportunities will be given to the students so that they can do what they are learning. This includes the opportunity to pray.


6th Grade

Discipleship starts early for students at East Linn Christian. They are challenged in this grade to understand and apply the lessons from Genesis to Deuteronomy, the Pentateuch. As in our entire Bible curriculum, a focus on Jesus as the central figure of each and every book is also highlighted in the LAW.

The young men and women are encouraged to hide the Word of God in their hearts (Psalm 119:9), and to become examples of the believer in all of their behavior (1Timothy 4:12).

We acknowledge that the sixth grade student still sees his/her world in a black and white way. They are still leaning on the adults in their lives to inform them. The teachers are instructed to stay as close to the text of Scripture as they can. Speculation and opinion is no replacement for clear biblical instruction.

Sixth graders' relationship to the Word (John 1:1; Hebrews 4:12) is budding at this point in their lives and it is the teacher's responsibility to water the seed that has been sown in their lives. The constant attention to nourishing the students spiritually will, we believe, translate into a full grown disciple some day.

We do not overlook the importance of the student's social involvement. Guidance is given to equip him/her here.

7th Grade

As the disciples mature, more and more is expected out of them. A greater amount of memory work is assigned and the scope of the biblical material is broadened to include Joshua through 1Kings 11.

Commitment to Christ is emphasized in the class. Most students, having made an initial response to the gospel, are now in a place where their life with Christ will begin to grow like Jesus taught in the gospel (John 15). Therefore, students are encouraged by their teacher to remain in Christ and bear spiritual fruit from that relationship.

Some students at this age begin to branch out and formulate opinions on their own, and they can handle wrestling with more advanced issues in regard to their faith. This knowledge will be helpful when the class deals with the more difficult issues that come up in the Conquest and Settlement time periods in the Old Covenant.

Students will memorize two chapters from the epistle of James during the course of their study. These key passages of Scripture will enlighten the pathway of their faith walk.

8th Grade

This is the final stopping point before high school. Students will be expected to take their time in Bible very seriously. Time in Scripture, in class and out, is preparation for the challenges of life ahead. Some would say that junior high is the most traumatic time period in a person's life; but while this may be true from a physical growth and identity perspective, it is the high school years that have the greatest impact on the long-term choices students will make.

At this grade level a strong emphasis is placed on the student owning their faith and growing in their commitment to Christ. Students will work on projects that will enable them to make good life choices; for example, in the study of the Divided Kingdom they are faced with the examples of the Kings who either abandoned the God of Israel or led reforms to lead the people back to God. These biblical models serve to help them make the right decisions about the kind of friends they will pursue, as well as the attitude they should have toward sin and modern idolatry.

At this point in the student's bible memory they will have finished the entire book of James.

Through Scripture, the Holy Spirit, and the teacher our young disciples will be ready to handle the challenges of a rigorous high school life.

At East Linn Christian Academy, we teach the language arts in order to develop a program that promotes a lifetime love of literature, communication, and language. Just as Christ used parables in his ministry, we read stories to empathize with others, broaden our worldview, and understand complex truths. Our curriculum primarily emphasizes works from the literary canon in order to develop students' aesthetic tastes, as we recognize the inherent beauty of God-given language. Similarly, we teach writing in order to prepare students to be effective communicators of the gospel, express themselves artistically, and be competent citizens. Ultimately, our curriculum is evaluated in the light of God's Word and chosen to cultivate Christian maturity.

Based on this philosophy, the language arts department goals include teaching writing, grammar, speech, listening, and reading. Language arts classes in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades provide our students' foundation in grammar, through a systematic study of sentence structure, punctuation, spelling, and parts of speech. In the seventh through twelfth grades, writing takes the form of persuasive, expository, and narrative essays; creative writing in prose and poetry; research, technical writing, and literary analysis.

When teaching reading and literature, we choose novels, short stories, poetry, and nonfiction with moral themes and recognized literary value. Our program aims to develop effective and critical readers, who can locate literary works in historical context and recognize literary elements such as plot, theme, character, and setting. We also use literature to continue vocabulary development and reading skills. Throughout, we encourage students to study literature through the lens of God's Word.

We aim to teach students to express themselves competently and confidently in speech and to develop listening skills that allow them to receive and process information.
 


Math Philosophy

We are witnesses to God's glory and his existence through the study of mathematics. "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse" (Rom. 1:20). Mathematics is also a testament to God's creation and the order He has made for us in this universe, which only further proves his existence and divine nature. "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or power. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist" (Col. 1:16-17).

6th Grade

Sixth grade mathematics students refine their understanding of decimals and fractions. As they develop fluency with operations on fractions and decimals they learn how to estimate, model, and solve problems dealing with fractions and decimals. Additionally, they apply their knowledge of multiplication, division, fractions and decimals to concepts of ratio, rate, percent and probability. Finally, they explore the foundations of Algebra where they learn about the order of operations, variables, and solutions to basic algebraic equations.

7th Grade

Seventh grade mathematics students refine their understanding of surface area and volume. They develop both an understanding of and fluency with various measurement formulas. They also develop an understanding of operations on all rational numbers and greater fluency with linear equations. Finally, they deepen their understanding of proportionality and applications thereof.

8th Grade

Eighth grade mathematics students refine their understanding of Algebra where they learn about slope of a line, various applications and representations of linear equations and functions, and solutions to systems of linear equations. Further, they learn how to explore data sets by organizing, modeling, interpreting, describing and making predictions. Finally, they learn to analyze two or three-dimensional spaces and figures and how to apply the Pythagorean Theorem to solve various measurement problems.


Science reminds us that we live in an intelligently designed and ordered world (Genesis 1). Through the years of middle school science, students will learn to find the existence of God in the natural world by exploration, observation and inquiry. Students review the fundamentals of the scientific method as applied in the following areas of study: the science of life, earth science, and basic physical science. Students also examine the beginnings of time as part of their study of the Earth and apply their Biblical framework through scriptural references. Science students build their understanding of the complex interactions between the living and non-living world. Topics covered (but not limited to) are: space science, meteorology, animal classification, plants, microorganisms, oceans, volcanoes, the water cycle, properties of matter, the human body and electricity and magnetism. The nature of the sciences is to reveal God, and the purpose of science is to glorify Him (Romans 1:20...since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made).

6th Grade

Sixth grade science students refine their understanding of living and non-living systems as organized groups of related parts that function together, interact, and change. They investigate physical and chemical properties of matter, and energy. They study waves, electricity, and magnetism. Students learn about types, functions, components, relationships, and interactions of cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems, and changes in populations and ecosystems. Students study objects in the solar system, the layers of Earth and the relationship of the water cycle to landforms and weather. They use their scientific inquiry skills to investigate the natural world through observing, proposing questions or hypotheses, and collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data to produce justifiable evidence-based explanations. Students apply their knowledge of science principles to engineering design by identifying problems, and proposing, testing and evaluating potential solutions.

7th Grade

Seventh grade science students refine their understanding of how the components and processes within living and non-living stems interact and affect their characteristics and properties. They learn about gravitation, forces, and laws of motion. They study atoms, elements, and compounds. They develop and understanding of reproduction, inheritance, phenotypes, genotypes, chromosomes, and genes. Students learn about the processes plants and animals use in order to obtain energy and materials for growth. They study how Earth's atmosphere, land forms, resources, and climate change. Students deepen their understanding of scientific inquiry as the investigation of the natural worked based on observation and science principles that includes proposing questions or hypotheses, collecting, analyzing, and interpreting multiple forms of produce justifiable evidence based explanations. They build their understanding of engineering design as a process of identifying needs, problems, and constraints, and developing and evaluating proposed solutions.

8th Grade

Eighth grade science students build their understanding of the complexity and interaction of living and non-living systems. They learn about the Periodic Table, the atomic model, states of matter, and physical and chemical properties. They study physical and chemical changes and the law of conservation of mass. Students examine energy transfers, transformations, characteristics, natural selection, and evolution. They learn about gravity, the motion of objects in the solar system, and Earth's seasons. They study atmospheric and oceanic movement and the effects on weather and climate, and geologic, climatic, environmental, and life form changes over time. Students use their scientific inquiry skills to ask questions or form hypotheses, design and investigation, collect, organize, display, summarize, and analyze data, explain results, and provide interpretations and implications. They use their engineering design skills to define a problem, use science principles to investigate possible solutions given criteria, constraints, properties, and trade-offs, collect data, evaluate a solution, and identify possible design improvements.