Ancient History:

This course aims to tell a story about human civilization. Geographically, the focus of the course will extend from ancient Persia’s eastern border to the Roman Empire’s western frontier. Chronologically, the course will begin with some of the earliest written records left by the ancient Mesopotamians, and it will end with Rome’s military decline in the western Mediterranean.

Quarter 1: Introduction to history; Mesopotamia; Egypt

Quarter 2: Levant (Canaan, Phoenicia, Hebrews); Persia; Greeks I

Quarter 3: Greeks II; Rise of Roman Republic

Quarter 4: Decline of Roman Republic; Roman Empire; Early Western Christendom

Mathematics:

Intermediate Algebra lays the foundation necessary for Algebra I.  Students will continue to be fluent in the language of mathematics, while developing the habits necessary for success in future math courses.  They will strengthen their proficiency in the basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers, integers, fractions, decimals, and percentages; with greater emphasis on applying these operations in real-world problem solving, geometry, data analysis, probability, and solving linear equations.

Literature/Composition:

The purpose of 7th Grade Literature and Composition is to increase students' appreciation and understanding of literature through careful reading and intentional writing. This year, we will delve into a variety of literature, from mythical tales to historical fiction, learning about elements of literature like plot, characterization, personification, etc. Students will be building on the paragraph-writing skills they learned in 6th grade and will begin writing essays, with the goal of confidently composing five-paragraph essays. By the end of this year, students will be prepared for 8th Grade Literature and Composition, where they will be further exploring great literature and practicing discussion and essay writing.

Life Science:

This course investigates life and will help students to understand the living world around them.  In life science, they will expand and deepen their understanding of life, while encountering new ideas, new questions, and new facts about plants, animals, and humankind.  Life science is an introduction to the biological concepts on life processes, relationships of structure and function, classification of organisms, interdependence of living things, the cell as the basic unit of living things, reproduction, and genetics.  Biochemistry and physical science concepts, which affect living things, are also included.  Laboratory activities are included to develop inquiry, laboratory skills, and the use of equipment. This class will include: readings, research, lab experiments or dissection, demonstrations, simulations, and projects, which will supplement the daily class discussions.

Latin II:

Latin II at Cicero Preparatory Academy is the continuation of students’ journey building fluency and grammatical knowledge of Latin language and literature. Students will acquire Latin through various tasks, activities, and readings based on the long history and wonderful literature written in Latin. By the end of this year, students will have been introduced to many essential concepts of Latin, including first, second, and third declension nouns and adjectives, present, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect and future tense verbs in active and passive voices, and many high frequency adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions. Our goal is to lay a firm foundation for future language study while building comfort, confidence, comprehension, conversational ability, and enthusiasm for Latin.

Music:

Through participation in a fine arts course each of their years at the academy (including music, studio art, poetry, and drama), students will learn the language of these art forms and be given the opportunity to participate in their practice – to participate in the process of creating beauty. The seventh-grade course assumes limited training in music and focuses on music literacy through ear training and accurately vocalizing rhythm and tonal patterns, vocal performance, and music history by way of listening and learning to discuss great works. On Soprano Recorder (instrument), students will experience performance through an accessible, yet historical, repertoire in which they will apply the above music literacy skills. In the area of music history and listening, this course will include an overview of historical periods in music. Students will be using Concert Repertoire (song selections) to reinforce previously learned rhythmic and tonal patterns and instrumental performance skills (e.g. posture, pitch matching, ensemble blend, etc).

Studio Art:

The 7th grade art curriculum will focus on Observational Drawing. Students will primarily be using Dry Drawing Materials. Students will be introduced to great works of art from the western canon of art, students will study these works in a manner focused primarily on understanding the work’s connection to the academic study of Drawing. These great works include representational and abstract works. Some of these pieces can be found at local museums so that you may take your child to see works they have studied in class.

Physical Education:

At Great Hearts, we seek to cultivate within our students a love for that which is true, good, and beautiful. This pursuit of the transcendental naturally extends to the proper care and use of the physical body. A holistic approach to education addresses all elements of the human person: the intellectual, the emotional, and the physical. Through physical education, students have the opportunity to put virtue into practice while learning more about the inner-workings of the human body. Just as we train students’ minds and hearts through authentic engagement in content, we recognize the vital importance of training their bodies. Students improve their creative thinking skills, build on their understanding of the human anatomy, and increase their physical, mental, and social acuity through traditional and non- traditional sport activities. They will experience failure and success throughout the year as they participate in competitive play and work to set and meet personal goals in physical activity. These experiences allow them to develop the tools needed to navigate the mean between the vicious extremes of doubt and arrogance. Such tools are vital to human flourishing.