Middle School Montessori Program - Oneness-Family School

Mind and Body

In addition to traditional sports, Ambassadors students take elective classes each Friday; options include yoga and tai chi, which develop mind-body awareness, promote personal well-being, and help support the brain for academic success.

Photo of a group of students sat on bleachers or the rug, immersed in their own work. — Middle school students move through themed cycles, exploring concepts through the lens of disciplines including literature, science, and social studies. Students plan and organize their work in consultation with teachers, helping them to establish the focused attention, time management, and organizational skills essential to success in higher education.

Photo of students in a classroom environment focused on their work. A teacher is sat assisting one of the students. — Internally motivated and empowered to learn as much and as quickly as they desire, our eighth graders enter high school at an advanced level in all academic disciples. Working collaboratively on group projects, they learn to lead and be accountable to the team, share responsibility, and gather input towards a common goal.

Quote: Felix Jäger

My favorite memory of OFS is probably all of the different teachers I had over the years. They were all formative for me in their own unique way and the environment they created let me explore a lot of interests I had. They also helped me develop a lot of skills such as proficient reading, maths and typing that all benefitted me greatly throughout my school years. Besides that, I loved our field trips in the old bus back in the 90s!

Felix currently works as a sound editor for films at Shepperton Studios near London, UK. There he mainly works on dubbing blockbuster films for the international market. His favorite parts of the job are getting to put his language skills to use and being able to see upcoming films many months before they hit the cinemas! He also does freelance photography on the side.

Key Program Components

Personal Growth

This component of the Middle School curriculum is intended to empower students to speak with their own, true voices and find out what they are passionate about: the key outcomes identified by Maria Montessori for early adolescence.

The daily morning meeting is student-led and includes a short period of silent reflection, a quote of the day, acknowledgments, brain gym exercises, and an informal check-in. Students do advanced lessons in the MindUP mindfulness program, during which they learn how to manage stress, keep emotions in balance, and concentrate more effectively.

All sixth to eighth graders take a daily 30-minute period of personal reflection to draw, write, or simply sit quietly. The class does a yearlong program called the Heroic Journey, where they choose a personal challenge to overcome. They also study Steven Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens.

Students in the Ambassadors class learn to think “outside the box” by exploring multiple perspectives in their literature, history, science, music, and art classes. Elective options include yoga, drumming, coding, and animation. During group work, the assignment rubrics call for the incorporation of multiple intelligences into class presentations. Including art, music, poetry, and/or drama helps students recognize and express knowledge through many forms.

Photo of students singing in front of an organ

Athletics & Fitness

Physical education classes are offered a minimum of four times per week, with the knowledge of the key role fitness plays in reducing stress and regulating the moods of early adolescence.

Having gained basic athletic skills at the earlier levels, Ambassadors students engage in friendly competition through team sports while continuing to develop strength, flexibility, and coordination. Team sports include volleyball, basketball, soccer, Frisbee, and tennis.

As at the earlier levels, there continues to be an emphasis on teamwork and sportsmanship and students learn to value the contributions of all team members. Ambassadors students develop strong leadership skills by being a captain of a team and bringing together the talents of all teammates as a unit. Students often spend a few minutes after class winding down and sharing some of their favorite highlights of the day, acknowledging members of both teams.

The school offers a wide variety of after-school sports programs, including basketball, soccer, tennis, squash, and running. After-school sports programs are mixed gender but are organized according to age level.

Community Leaders

Being the elders of the Oneness-Family Lower School student community is a powerfully affirming experience for the Middle School Ambassadors. At the threshold where childhood turns to adolescence, our sixth to eighth graders bond into a tight-knit community that navigates the dramatic changes of adolescence while maintaining a sense of responsibility for the student body of 130 children.

Middle School students run for and serve in elected offices of the student government and represent the school on public occasions, including at regional school fairs and during major school festivals open to the public.

Each middle school student works for and learns for the sake of the wider community. The sixth and seventh graders perform a week of community service each year for a program they select after a period of research and discussion. The eighth-grade students work at week-long internships for area institutions and businesses whose mission correlates to each student’s area of interest. They participate in the Walk for Water to raise funds to build wells in the drought-stricken Azawak region of Niger and develop a substantive understanding of global development issues during their study of current United Nations initiatives.

Upon graduation, each eighth grader delivers a major speech about their experiences at Oneness and aspirations for the future. Historically these speeches have contained mature insights and candid expressions on the challenges of adolescence that captivate both parents and younger students alike. The graduates embody the well-rounded maturity of a Montessori-educated teen, a vision to which their younger classmates aspire and one that affirms for parents the value of a Oneness education, year after year.

A smiling student in a grey blazer sits at a desk

Global Citizens

Maria Montessori recognized the most important thing for adolescent students is to do meaningful work and feel they are making a relevant impact in the world. At Oneness-Family School we call our Middle School the Peace Ambassadors because they are ready to manifest their global perspective, creative thinking, and capacity for connection with real-world projects.

Seventh-graders do a collective community service project each year, while eighth-graders choose individual internships at various locations in the area. All middle school students participate in the Montessori Model United Nations program, which requires them to choose three current United Nations initiatives to research and debate. The program culminates every three years in a spring trip to New York to join students from across the country, present their projects, and debate on the floor of the United Nations General Assembly.

Middle School students at Oneness are the official greeters for the many international dignitaries who participate in our United Nations Day Festival each year, and they dine together at the international luncheon following the ceremony. Middle School students are eligible to become elected officers of the school’s student government and they assist in classes with the younger students. They also periodically lead our all-school meeting on Friday mornings, manage our school store during special events, and conduct fundraisers to raise funds for their annual trip.

Photo of children with various nationality flags in the background

More Than Academics

Our middle-schoolers grapple with questions on “Who am I? Who am I in relation to others?” “Where do I fit into human society? How can I serve other members of this society?”

Two students are in front of a world map. — Evaluating and Solving Problems Together
Students are learning how to assess problems, engaging in processing skills as individuals and in groups.

A student is chatting with a teacher. — Preparing for High School
Students plan learning cycles in consultation with teachers, this helps them establish the organizational skills essential to success in higher education.

The Tools To Prepare For High School

The middle school curriculum ties abstract concepts together with the information learned across subjects so that students develop systematic and strategic, big-picture thinking skills in preparation for high school studies.

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Learning Cycles & Benchmarks

Academic Curriculum

Cross-subject integration informs deeper academic studies in our Middle School and a challenging course of study in every subject is matched to the pace and ability of each student.

Math & Language

Mathematics features multiple levels, including a transitional course, pre-algebra, algebra, and geometry. Literature selections correspond to the themes covered in the social and science studies during each two-month learning cycle. Writing assignments deepen students’ creative engagement with the subject matter, and vocabulary work expands related language skills. Each student takes French, Spanish or Italian language lessons four times a week.

Science

The three year Science curriculum covers biology, which concentrates on cells, animals, and humans, and how we are related to other living things; physics, which concentrates on forces, motion, energy conversions, and human interactions with non-renewable and renewable sources of energy; and chemistry, which concentrates on the composition of matter and the interactions between matter and energy.

Social Studies & Geography

The three year Social Studies and Geography curriculum covers Africa, Asia, and Latin America from ancient times through the Middle Ages, with a focus on the impacts of isolation and invasion on culture and economics; U.S. history from the American Revolution through the Civil War, with a focus on revolutions and the causes of war; and European history from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance, with a focus on the Abrahamic religious traditions’ contributions, conflicts, and commonalities.

Students embark on trips that are related to the curriculum each year. Past destinations include the desert Southwest of the U.S., Philadelphia, Puerto Rico, and London.

Learning Cycles

The middle school curriculum ties abstract concepts together with the information learned across subjects so that students develop systematic and strategic, big-picture thinking skills.

Each year, the Ambassadors program moves through four, themed cycles on concepts such as Connections, Identity, Development, and Interdependence. Students explore each concept through literature, science, and social studies. By graduation, they have studied 12 themes at the highest level of the school’s cross-subject approach.

Students plan and organize each two-month learning cycle in consultation with their teachers. This process helps them establish the focused attention, time management, and other organizational skills essential to success in higher education.

Working collaboratively on group projects, they learn to lead and be accountable to the team, share responsibility, and gather input to achieve a common goal. Presentations must meet guidelines for effectiveness, accuracy, and creativity and they are evaluated by peers and graded by teachers. The communication skills built through this process are a notable characteristic of OFS graduates.

Internally motivated and encouraged to learn as much and as quickly as they desire, our eighth graders graduate at a very high level of math, science, English, and foreign language achievement. They also possess an understanding of the meaningful use of knowledge.

Assessment

Middle School students at OFS score in the 90th percentile on the Stanford 10 Achievement Test in both math and reading, well above the U.S. national average.

The strong student-teacher relationship and our Montessori focus on the student’s being the driver of the educational process are the foundations of this success.

Sixth to eighth graders are grouped according to ability level in math and literature, regardless of grade. Teachers perform regular assessments of each student based upon class presentations, weekly assignments, and quizzes and tests. Four progress reports and three parent-teacher conferences per year review each child’s academic progress and social-emotional development.

Self-evaluation is emphasized at the Middle School Ambassador level. Students complete self-assessments after each learning cycle and undergo peer evaluations for group presentations. They also curate a portfolio of their best work every year.

Overall, the assessment process for sixth to eighth graders reinforces central tenets of the school: to value learning; to honor each person’s talents; and to contribute one’s best to human society. Our goal is for every student to be challenged to her or his ability level and embrace the continual growth and learning that we call self-transcendence.

Assessment Approach

Tracking is done on each individual student’s progress by grade and subject following the school’s annual subject goals and a scope and sequence developed by Dr. Montessori. Tracking is based on conversation, presentation, observation, self-assessments, and student portfolios, and progress is shared in detailed reports.

Quote: Martin Tamang (’24)

From the moment I stepped into my new classroom, I was met with nothing but warm welcomes and smiles.

Martin shares his 8th-grade graduation speech, given on June 6, 2024.

For the past 7 years of my life, I have been a student at 3 different public schools. There were 25 kids crammed together at desks in one classroom being taught by a single teacher. In 6th grade, there were 7 different subjects that were taught in intervals of 45 minutes with only 5-minute transitions in between each class and a 25-minute lunch break. Every. Day. It was exhausting. I hated school. The noise, the repetitive work, state testing, the mean people, it was all too much for me.

My mother noticed how exhausted I was getting, so she enrolled me at Oneness for 7th and 8th grade. She wanted me to have a new start. At the time, I thought that it was the worst decision she had ever made for me. I didn’t want a new start; change was my worst enemy, and I figured that it wouldn’t make a difference anyway. I thought it would be the same thing in a different place.

But it makes a big difference. From the moment I stepped into my new classroom, I was met with nothing but warm welcomes and smiles. There were two teachers, Pearl and Hannah, for a classroom of just 18 kids, and they were extremely caring and accommodating. They were always there when I needed extra help on an assignment or I didn’t understand math questions. Oneness has not only helped me academically, but it has also helped me build my social skills, efficiency with working with other people, and, most importantly, being who I am. I will carry these lessons with me for the rest of my life.

As I step out of the ambassador classroom as a student one last time, I will forever be grateful for the lessons I learned, the memories I made, and the friends I met and have made along the way. I have been a part of so many beautiful moments and I will cherish these memories forever.
Thank you.

Explore The classroom

Illustration of a figure speaking on a platform with flags either side — Ambassadors
Ambassadors is the classroom space where our Middle School Curriculum is taught. The program is characterized by a student-centered approach that enables students to manage time, exercise choice, organize themselves and practice self-regulation within the classroom.

Mind and Body

Quote: Felix Jäger